Topic: Bright Green Vase: NOT Jacobean or Balmoral.

[paradisetrader]

Even well away from the window in fading indirect light this vase picks whatever light there is and pumps out the most extraordinary bright fresh green. It has to be one of my favorite pieces of pressed glass.

These pics apart from cropping and a little sparpening have not been doctored at all.
They don't do the brightness and brilliance of color justice but you will get the idea.
Front
From above  

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-705

4 part mold
Mold lines cleverly concealed
Star faux-cut base
17cm / circa 6.5"
(funny I could have sworn it was bigger than that !)

Concave windows ape the designs of Josef Hoffman WW a real piece of which was at Liberty's Arts & Crafts gallery at Chistmas....I wonder if it's still there ...could be a cheap outing for the 'holics.

Any ideas of maker please ?
thank you Pete

[Ivo]

Jacobean, by any chance?

[paradisetrader]

Thank you Ivo
I am only dimly aware of the name Jacobean as a pattern name but I knew it had been mentioned here previously.

A search on previous topics turned up several references, particularly Chris & Val Stewart's article on importers and wholesalers Clayton Mayers, http://www.cloudglass.com/ClaytonMayers.htm.

From the article  which deals extensively with this hugely successful pattern, I have learned that Clayton Mayers started importing Jacobean in 1923 from Inwald, Czechoslovakia. Then in 1932 Davidson started making the pattern. No explanation is given as to what arrangement was made with Inwald for this !! Perhaps that isn't known ?

Some items in the range were made in colors by Davidson including Emerald which is what this vase could be. I wonder if Inwald also made it in colored glass ?

My vase does have the same basic concave window pane design and star base but it also has gaps/grooves between line of panes and a scalloped rim. I need to compare it with a known vase example but I'm having great difficulty in finding one !

Worldwide, full description searches on ebay for Jacobean, alone or +glass/vase, brings forth a very paltry selection of half a dozen or so and not one vase !! This seems extrodinary given the number which were made and the good length of time this pattern was produced !

From the article I quote:

The distinctive style of Jacobean glassware made it a favourite from 1923, when it was first introduced, right up until the 1960s and beyond. There is probably more Jacobean glassware around than any other style of pressed glass.  

So why can't I find any online ?

If the vase IS Jacobean, is there any way to tell if it was made by Inwald or Davidson ? Pre or post war ? Press molded or machine made ?
Help !!!
Thank you, Peter

[Anonymous]

I'm sure Glen will be along later to ellucidate, but here's her page on Inwald Jacobean. I think it's a totally different pattern.

http://www.geocities.com/carni_glass_uk_2000/Jacob2.html

It says Walther to me, but I'll just go through what I've got here and see whether anything matches. Hopefully Glen will see the thread and be able to help.

Cathy

[Ivo]

there is a chapter on Chippendale and Jacobean in Notleys "Pressed Flint Glass" (shire album 162) but no mention of it in his "Popular Glass of the 19th and 20th Centuries".
The Davidson production may have had something to do with the 50% ad valorem import tax levied on imported pressed glass from 1933, after the compulsory "foreign made" sticker of 1929 failed to reduce imports.

Clayton Mayer owned the moulds, got them back from the continent and sent them to various glassmakers around the country for continued production.

The same year the main Chippendale dealer bought the moulds from from Central glass, and had his production transferred to Davidson.

[paradisetrader]

Hi Cathy & thank you
By co-incidence I was just about to post this :
---------------
More reading, this time from Glen & Steve's excellent article Josef Inwald's JACOBEAN here http://www.geocities.com/carni_glass_uk_2000/Jacob2.html.
So from this I learn that Inwald bases were mirror polished. My vase having a rounded rim on the base must be by Davidson then, ... if it is indeed Jacobean.
----------------
Edited for Ivo's post

The Davidson production may have had something to do with the 50% ad valorem import tax levied on imported pressed glass from 1933, after the compulsory "foreign made" sticker of 1929 failed to reduce imports.

Yes thats exactly it according to Chris & Val Stewart

Clayton Mayer owned the moulds, got them back from the continent and sent them to various glassmakers around the country for continued production.

How interesting and curious that a wholesaler should own moulds ! This makes me wonder where and by whom the pattern was designed ??

[Anonymous]

So from this I learn that Inwald bases were mirror polished.

Thanks for positively ID'ing my mustard pot as Inwald, then.  
Ivo

[chopin-liszt]

 :?
I'm sure that the Jacobean-like pattern that has these "gaps" is called "Balmoral". However, I'm equally sure that "Balmoral" has horizontal gaps as well.
Was it not also the case that even in "Jacobean", there were two ranges - ordinary pressed glass, and crystal, with the crystal having polished star-cut bases?

[Adam]

One or two comments on some of the above postings.

1)  The colour looks like chrome plus iron to me.

2)  It is certainly pressed, probably by hand.  I don't understand the   distinction "press moulded or machine made".  If "machine" means automatic, that is possible but highly unlikely unless there were an immediate market for hundreds of thousands.

3)  It is unusual but by no means unknown for customers to own a mould set.  This would normally mean that, although made in the first factory to use them, the moulds were paid for by the customer for commercial reasons.

4)  It was only after first using this Board that I heard of the existence of a factory called Inwald.  I have previously mentioned (although no one seemed to follow it up) that there was a J K Inwald working at Davidsons in the 1950s.  I knew "JK" well, although he had left the firm shortly before I joined.  JK was certainly of mid-European origin (accent) and I am almost certain that I heard something about him being responsible for introducing Jacobean toughened tumblers to Davidsons.  These were made throughout my time there, i.e. long after JK left.  I think he later worked for British Gas.  I haven't a clue what significance this might have to the current discussion.

Adam D.

[Anne]

Peter, I don't think your vase is Jacobean either.  The Jacobean designs I've seen have continuous squares, there are no dividers between the blocks of squares (if you follow me).

Raymond Notley's book which Ivo referred to gives the Jacobean pattern as being introduced by Clayton Mayers in 1923, although the pattern does pre-date WW1. The range was extended considerably, and Notley gives that there were 90+ shapes in 1924, and 250+ shapes by 1930. There are copies of two pages from the 1929 CM catalogue of the Jacobean pattern - again not showing your vase. 

Some Jacobean, he says, is marked as such, some has Reg Design numbers, and some is marked Foreign. In 1933 the moulds returned from the continental glass factories and were sent to various glassworks in Britain for production. This, as Ivo quite rightly said, was to avoid having to pay the protective 50% ad valorem duty on imported glass.

Incidentally, Jacobean is still being made (or has been until recently)... the salt/pepper and vinegar bottles are available. I have a vinegar bottle in this pattern which I bought within the last 20 years.

Now having told you all that, I still feel it's not Jacobean, although I don't know what it is. I do like it though.

Added extra bit... see also this earlier thread with more info about Jacobean... http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,1800.0.html