Andy — Manufacturer specialists can be rather rigid in their interpretation of information.
In general, a catalogue showing every cut pattern, size and shape combination would have been so big as to become both useless and too expensive to produce. British trade catalogues illustrated shapes and cut patterns separately. So, in the main, a well known cut pattern would be chosen and shown in the variety of shapes and sizes, together with one or two examples of each of the other cut patterns available. An order would comprise a shape from the first set "Blank X" cut either in the pattern shown on "Y" or in the pattern supplied by the customer.
So, for example, my Clyne Farquharson Signed Range
Rainsford atomiser could have been specifed as:
Blank W14702 cut as A5709, orBlank W14702 cut with the Rainsford pattern.So the cut pattern itself does not disqualify it as Whitefriars. I can't comment on the millefiori work stopper — not my interest area. The only other aspect which should be taken into consideration is the apparent imprecision of the cutting towards the base — not what you would have expected from Whitefriars. This doesn't necessarily disqualify it as Whitefriars, as I am sure apprentice and Friday afternoon pieces found their way past the Whitefriars inspectors, as I've seen with both Walsh and Webb, but it's unusual.
Bernard C.
