Topic: Cased Glass Rose Bowl Id Help Needed

[Carolyn Preston]

Attached is a picture and an explanation of a peach blown vase found in the Portland Museum of Art, Portland Maine.

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8827

and

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8826

Carolyn

PS, Darn, I've forgotten how to put in thumbnails, but these are links to the gallery.

[Bernard C]

...   the styling of this piece is very walsh like.   ...

Not in my opinion.   I've only been specialising in Walsh for about seven years, but I've never seen early or turn of the century Walsh fancies with that pontil finish, nor with that rim crimp.  The handles are not Walsh, nor is the spout on my ewer.   Walsh always paid attention to the inside colour, so a Walsh shaded version of Crushed Strawberry would have had a cream or other colour inside, not a hard white.   And finally I've never seen one-sided decoration on Walsh fancies.

Also please remember that I am discussing the real products of actual glassworks, not the ludicrous attributions promoted by many optimistic eBay sellers and auction houses, based not on any concrete evidence, but possibly on the number of characters remaining in their title, or perhaps their ability to spell.   Mervyn Gulliver, ignoring many dubious or unexplained attributions in some earlier publications, and working from the surviving original records, has shown that most of these fancies are unattributable, and most of these will probably stay that way.

Bernard C. 

[krsilber]

I am getting the impression that it is believed that temperature sensitive glass has to contain either uranium or gold.   This just isn't the case.   Hajdamach recognised in his book that Walsh Crushed Strawberry, launched in November 1883, was temperature-sensitive glass.

Are you referring to this passage on pg. 319?

"One of the first to introduce shaded wares when they advertised their 'Crushed Strawberry' in November 1883, The Birminghan factory of Walsh Walsh introduced their version of opalescent glass, entitled 'New Opaline Brocade', in...1897." 

To me this doesn't imply that Crushed Strawberry was heat sensitive, just that it came in a shaded version.  The heat-sensitive shaded glasses like amberina, Burmese and peachblow appeared shortly after that, and it seems that Crushed Strawberry would play a prominent role in the histories of heat-sensitive glasses if it were indeed heat-sensitive and preceded the others.
 
Hadjamach says heat-sensitive glass can be made with the addition of uranium, gold, or arsenic, but arsenic (with bone ash) is used for opalescence rather than the kind of colored shading we're discussing. 

Seems to me there's not enough concrete evidence for anything to be said about these pieces' origins.

[Bernard C]

Kristi — Please don't attempt to give the impression that I sit at home sourcing just from books, journals, and this GMB.   You are fully aware, for example, that I stand as an exhibitor at the two greatest glass shows on the planet, where I spend most of my time talking glass with knowledgeable authorities, not just from Britain but from all over.   That's in the car park, while we are setting up, during the exhibitor-only hour or so, while the show is open to the public, and at the end of the day.   Only last week I was in Broadfield House discussing glass.   Two weeks ago I had a most enjoyable and productive day long visit here at home from a name you would recognise.   I'm a regular on two other discussion boards, and an intermittent visitor to others.   And I am in regular or intermittent personal contact with other authorities.

I would offer to show you around if you come over for one of these shows (fairs for British readers), except that I never have enough time.

Bernard C. 

[krsilber]

I was attempting to give no such impression, I was merely replying to your reference to Hadjamach.  I don't know what you're talking about or what your point is.  Are you saying you know from other sources or your own observations that Crushed Strawberry is heat-sensitive, and if so, what is the ingredient that makes it so, if not uranium or gold?

[azelismia]

I wasn't implying this vase was crushed strawberry. I was saying that it looked like it could be from the same glass house as the upper part of this shaded glass was so similar to crushed strawberry.

Is Walsh a very documented and cataloged glass house?

ditto what Kristi said.

[Lustrousstone]

Is Walsh a very documented and cataloged glass house?

Up to a point, there is a good book with pattern book pages (mainly cut glass) but a lot of the company's documentation has not survived

[Bernard C]

I was recently shown a photocopy of a page from a Victorian coloured glass recipe book showing no uranium or gold in the Crushed Strawberry mix, but, interestingly, selenium oxide.

At the last Cambridge fair, I asked Charles Hajdamach whether he was being diplomatic by hiding his recognition of Crushed Strawberry as heat-sensitive in a sentence on a completely different subject.   He declined to reply, and just smiled.   As it turns out, he need not have worried about rocking the Frederick Shirley / Burmese boat, as it looks as if Walsh R&D had come up with a completely different recipe for producing a similar effect.

Christine is right in saying that a lot of the company's documentation has not survived, but Eric Reynolds' more recent research has yielded useful information, some of which is in Gulliver.   Walsh was quite large — at one time in the late Victorian period their output of fancy glass was roughly twice that of any of their Stourbridge competitors.   They were sophisticated and successful sellers in the US market, with several of the finest pieces in Eric's collection being sourced from the USA.   Yet there is much we don't know.   For example, we know that they were by far the largest glass button manufacturer in the UK, and probably worldwide, but we have not found one single example of a fully attributed Walsh button, yet.

Bernard C.  

[Lustrousstone]

Selenium oxide is a fairly standard colorant for red/pink glass though. Copper is another option.

[krsilber]

(Edit: As I was replying, Christine beat me to saying...)It's no surprise that selenium oxide was in the mix.  It's a common constituent of yellow and red glass.  But now that you mention it, "modern" struck amberina is made with selenium and cadmium, and no gold.  Come to think of it, I don't know how you got the idea that anyone implied heat-sensitive glass had to be made with uranium or gold.

We don't know whether Walsh made a shaded version of Crushed Strawberry like Peach-blow and Burmese

I'm confused.  Hadjamach says the Nov. 1883 ad was for a shaded Crushed Strawberry.  And how come he declined to comment, that's what I want to know!

Bernard, could you show us your Crushed Strawberry pieces?