Topic: no idea at all - help please on where or who?

[flying free]

I only bought this because my Bo Borgstrom vase didn't seem to sit right with anything else 
oh and I love the colour - despite my pictures it is a lovely amethyst colour.

However, I don't even know where to start on searching. It isn't heavy and isn't cased and is quite light.
Height 6"  just over 4.5" at it's widest point and just over 2.5" across the rim.

It does have a lot of wear on the base around the edge as the base is very slightly concave.

any help or direction to search would be gratefully received 

with thanks
m

[Patricia]

When around 1850 in England a new type of hyacinth vase was invented it looked more or less like this one. The bulging ring in the cup was made on purpose, it served to add a support later for when the flower would grow too tall to stand on it's own.
It worked so well that for decades afterwards this type of hyacinth vase was in production everywhere, not just in England. Bohemia made them, but also America and  Holland.
I don't know where you live or where you bought it. By looking at the colour and the cup I would guess it to be English from around 1920. But then again, they had a good thing and everybody had a go at it for years.
If you can, do your research in old bulb catalogues. Bulb vases were regularly offered there together with the bulbs. As these catalogues always offered the latest novelties and had pictures of what was new, it should give you an indication of it's age.
Good luck,

Patricia

[flying free]

Patricia thank you so much for taking the time to reply and in such detail   

(and I am thinking I might be getting a little better at this glass thing, because I quietly thought it might be a bulb vase but didn't want to embarrass myself by guessing  )

However, I wouldn't have had the faintest idea where to start.  I will now have a good search round and see if I can add to the information.
I am in England, in the South West

many thanks
m

[Patricia]

Looking at eBay under hyacinth or bulb vases might be an eye opener as well.
You even might come across it's little 4" brother!

Patricia

[flying free]

   Now I do feel foolish.  However, in my defence I probably wouldn't have come across them just searching for 'amethyst vase'. 
Amazing that there are so few for sale and two of them are very similar to mine!
Once you'd told me  I asked my OH (Mr non-glass person) what he thought it was for.  His first reply was 'haven't a clue' followed swiftly by 'it's one of those things for growing crocuses in' 

thanks so much!
m

[Patricia]

No need to feel foolish, sometimes the dealers selling them don't know what they are!
It's the right time of year to put it in action you know...

Patricia

[flying free]

'It's the right time of year to put it in action you know...'

Bizarrely I grow hyacinths indoors every year for Christmas!  Mine are already on their way but in soil in a victorian glazed pot and I'm hoping they will flower at exactly the right time.
I shall also  try out the new style method now I have the vase.  I've just done some browsing on various hyacinth vase collecting sites and it's a whole other world out there - I had no idea.  By next Christmas I hope to have found a variety of vases to grow them in.

m

[Patricia]

Hope by next Christmas you are a member of our club as well!!
And be careful which site you look at, not all of them are accurate.

P