Hi Bernard,
Firstly thanks to everyone who has posted encouraging comments about the website. Bernard, I haven't seen the Molineaux & Webb pattern book, except for the pages printed out in the Manchester Art Gallery Ancoats exhibition. I live some distance from Manchester these days and haven't had time to view it. Someone is sending me a later pattern book containing Molineaux & Webb pieces shortly, but I haven't heard any indication of such a piece. By the way I certainly don't claim to be an expert in identifying glass... I am keeping an eye out for Molineaux & Webb pieces as they pop up on eBay to build a list of what the factory produced.
Since I launched the website, Dave Peterson (Vaseline Glass) has sent me details of a speciality glass piece. It looks like a bit like a hip flask, in cut uranium glass, with a metal screw top. It has "Thomas George Webb" printed on the front, and it could be a one-off piece for the man who ran Molineaux & Webb from the 1860s to 1887, maybe a retirement gift. Or perhaps it's just a coincidence that it bears the name Thomas George Webb - we're not sure of the history of the item at the moment.
For those interested in the history of Manchester glass, I noticed the other day on the Rootsweb board that somebody is researching both the Derbyshires and the Walton family, who had various glass interests in the locality. According to this researcher, one of the Waltons was amongst a group of British glassmakers who "went at the request of the Japanese government to help Japan establish its first Western-style glassworks" in the 1870s - the researcher is looking to put together a book about it.
Neil