Topic: Art deco sun ray jug marked 'OLT'

[Tigerchips]

I love this jug, it's rather odd too. It's pressed glass but it has a hand blown handle! I don't know about you but it's the first time I've ever seen pressed glass with a hand blown handle.  :huh:

Anyway, it has a sun ray type pattern and the base is marked 'OLT', though i can't say for sure that that is what it says.

It looks nicer in real life than it does in my photo. I haven't cleaned it yet either.

I would love to know more about it and why it has a pressed/hand blown combination going on.

Cheers, Tony.

[krsilber]

A lot of American Elegant/Depression glass is pressed with an applied (not "blown," but handmade) handle.  Perhaps it was easier to press successfully without the handle, molds were cheaper, or people just liked the look, I don't know.  They aren't hard to make or apply.

[Tigerchips]

Slightly confused, are you saying that this handle isn't hand blown?

[glassobsessed]

I would guess that the handle is hand made and applied to the jug after it was removed from the mould but the handle was not produced using the process of blowing air into a gob of hot glass. Is the handle solid glass (i.e. not blown) or is it hollow (can you see an air cavity inside it)? Two problems I can envisage with a hollow blown glass handle would be a less solid and durable attachment of the handle to the body of the jug and less overall strength in the handle itself. Handles can break off as there can be considerable shearing forces at the point of attachment especially when a jug is full of liquid. If in doubt, pick an object with handles up by the body to protect the handles (especially if old and valuable).

John.

[Lustrousstone]

I think hot worked or hand applied is perhaps the phrase you are after Tony. Hand applied handles aren't so common on pressed jugs; I can only see one on all my stuff and that's a late 19C Edward Moore. The jug of kind of makes me wonder if it was made in a bottle/jar plant that was trying to branch out, but not buying any new moulds and using a bit of hand finishing instead

[krsilber]

Oh, sorry, I should have been more explicit regarding the "blown" part.  Christine and John summed it up nicely. 

I haven't seen many actual blown (hollow) handles; those I have were on brilliant cut glass.  What about others?

[Tigerchips]

You will have to forgive my lack of glass making knowledge. Yes, i think it's hand applied or hot worked, just like those found on hand-blown jugs. It's solid glass but it's not pressed like those found on pressed glass jugs.

Yes, i too thought the rim looked a bit like it was originally a bottle. The quality of it seems good, very clear thick heavy glass. Two mold lines on each side of the rim though, however, the body has no visible mold lines.