Topic: ABP cut glass bowl

[mhgcgolfclub]

KarenR thanks for looking at this bowl

Another cut glass bowl which I found this year, I cannot find the pattern in my limited books I have

Measures about 9" in diameter or 21cm , height 3.75" or 9cm and weighs 2.2 kg

Many thanks Roy

[KarenR]

Roy, I've studied this bowl quite a bit and even with your four photos am not convinced all of the cutting is polished.  Maybe it's the way the light is hitting it.  The design is striking but I suspect the quality is less than the excellent sweet pea vase you posted in another thread.  From the way the line of light reflects over the main miter cuts of the bowl, the blank appears to be figured. 

Some photos of the cut side might be helpful. 

[krsilber]

I find it's sometimes hard to tell what is polished/unpolished when looking at the cutting from the uncut side of the glass, but I agree some of it (such as the flashing on the pinwheels) looks unpolished.  Karen, which photo are you looking at when you say it looks figured?

It would be so nice to find some catalogs from European companies that made ABP-type cut glass!  I wonder if Frank has any.

(Karen has undoubtedly seen this, but here's one page showing some work by Yasemin in Turkey.)

[KarenR]

Really only Roy would be able to tell for sure about the figuring because he can feel the uncut side.  In photos 2 and 3 at about the 10 o'clock position where the deep miters cross each other is where I see a disturbance in the reflection line.  I don't see it on the other side but it does appear the light source is slightly more directed to the left than the right. 

[mhgcgolfclub]

Thanks for your help so far, I think I would find it very difficult myself to tell if polished or unpolished. I am also not sure what you mean when you say figuring , please help ?, I have added some pictures of the cut side only taken with flash not sure if they will help, if not I will take some tomorrow.

I bought this during the summer for £10.00 which I thought was worth a gamble, although I have never been 100% convinced that it is Brilliant cut, when handling it does seem to feel right feeling quite sharp to handle plus the rim teeth which look OK to me

thanks Roy

[krsilber]

Still a bit hard to tell, but I think it's polished.  If it was entirely hand-polished (no acid polishing) it's possible some parts weren't polished to as high a gloss as others.  I don't think you'd get same the gleam off any of the flashing if it weren't polished.  The teeth are typical ABP, as Roy points out.  I don't think the sharpness of the pattern is very good indication of where it was made, but I could be wrong, and there are exceptions.  For example, Waterford is fire polished, so their cut patterns aren't as sharp.

A figured blank is one in which part of the design was molded, usually the main, large miters.  If it's mold-blown you can often recognize a figured blank by raised areas on the uncut side corresponding to the miters.  On pressed pieces that doesn't work, but except for boxes and really odd shapes few ABP pieces were pressed.  Figured designs were often cut as well to sharpen them and remove mold traces, so the presence of wheel lines isn't any indication of whether something is figured.

Roy, do you have many cut pieces that you know are European?  Karen was telling me she heard that you can tell European cutting by sticking the corner of a business card (or something else that's stiff, with a 90 degree angle) in a large miter cross section.  If it fits, it's American, and if the cut is wider, European.  I'm skeptical.

[mhgcgolfclub]

Thanks Kristi for explaining a figured blank, there are no raised areas on the uncut side corresponding to the large miters, I still think It may be polished but do not have enough experience to be sure, I have taken some better picture of the cut side in day light.
I only have one large bowl which I believe is European but does not really tell me anything

Many thanks Roy

[Jindra8526]

I would gues that this bowl came from Czechoslovakia, glassworks Bohemia, Poděbrady - from 80ties.
I have found same bowl in Poděbrady catalogue from 1982, simmilar but a bit different pattern.

I will check catalogues, but it takes time, please focus your investigation also to this direction.
I did try bowse Czech web sites, I have found only current production with pattern PK500, so rather paperwork than web can help.

Jindrich

[KarenR]

Roy, I've been trying to post some photos here of figured and non-figured blanks but don't wish to permanently reduce the size of my pictures to accommodate the restrictions of this board.  I did create a gallery for some of my own glass earlier this year, which still exists, figuring it'd be easier to post them there and give you a link.  For some reason I have apparently been banned from using the Glass Gallery so that option is not available either.  Oh well.   

[Pip]

Karen, save a copy of your photos first before resizing so your originals remain unchanged.