Topic: "W" mark on base of gondola dish

[ckscot]

I wonder if anyone can tell me what firm used this "W" mark with something like a wheel and spokes around it.  I've tried Ivo's little book and the glass marks photos on this site to no avail.  The gondola itself is just over 12" long (31.5 cm).  The base has a concave egg shape, almost 2 cm deep, that I've never come across before.  I have a few others with flat bases that I think are Scandinavian, could this be too?

[chriscooper]

Hi Iain, could it be a company logo? I know companies like Bentley and Parker often commissioned pieces from glass makers like Whitefriars and etched  their logo on and presented them to customers and staff ?
Car manufacturer maybe?
Chris

[Max]

I think this is Randsfjordglas - designed by Torbjorn Torgersen.  See Fire & Sea, page 135.  

The dimensions given are 12.5" long and (curiously?!) 8" high.  Does that match what you have there?

(this is only the glass design, not the W marking)

[ckscot]

Thanks to both of you Chris and Max.  I don't have the Fire and Ice book but I will chase it up when I next visit a friend who does have one.  The 12.5" quoted in Fire and Ice is right but mine is 8 cm high (just over 3") not 8", so maybe someone got their wires crossed when the book was being published? 
I hadn't thought that the W might be a company logo rather than a glass makers logo but it sounds like a possibility - Norwegian car company? bicycle manufacturer or dealership? Where to start looking :huh: :huh:

[Anne]

I wonder if it's an M than a W - and as there appears to be tyretracks behind the letter and a wheel at the apex of the pattern, perhaps a tyre company logo, or a tyre changing business. Not necessarily in the UK either if this is a Scandi piece - it could have been made for a local business. A search of various IPO databases might help. (IPO = trademarks etc.)

[Max]

Yep, try and have a look at your friend's copy of Fire & Sea.  Your does look identical (having said that, it's quite a common shape and style) but the thing that dinged my bell particularly was the 'heavily indented bottom', that from the pic looks in keeping with yours.