Topic: Numbers etched on decanters and stoppers

[Anik R]

These marks are not usually etched, rather they are incised using a stylus. Etching is when acid is used to make the mark, which would preclude its use in this situation, since speed would be of the essence.

I used the word 'etch' only because I felt the numbers were (quickly) made with a sharp instrument -- one of the definitions my dictionary provides.  But I'm glad to learn that 'incised' is a more appropriate choice in this case.  
Thank you, Nigel.

[johnphilip]

Hi Anik i read somewhere a few years back that some firms had a person who was called a stopperer whos job it was to grind and polish in each stopper to a decanter and mark both with the corresponding number to save any mix up . sounds about right to me . :thup: :fc: :ho:

[Anne]

JP, if you could recall where you read that it would be immensely helpful.

[Anik R]

Thank you, JP -- that does sound logical (and terribly mundane for the 'stopperer'...  good thing the decanters were empty, or else he/she would be tempted to drink away their boredom  )

[johnphilip]

Anne if i could remember it would be a B miracle probably at least thirty years ago , (before you were born ) :fc:
I have a whole double wardrobe full of glass books...! no clothes .

[Anne]

 :ooh:  JP I now have a mental piccie of you sat naked reading glass books....    I'm far too young for that sort of thinking, you know!  :thud:

[johnphilip]

Anne you have made my year , never too young never too old always just right ... may you get all you wish for Happy new year . jp

[nigel benson]

Hello,

Certainly, in some cases, stoppers were made by a seperate company and bought in by the maker of the vessel. Therefore the stoppers would be made as blanks, either to be cut, engraved or etched to match the base should it be decorated, and/or, for the peg to be ground into the base. This would be true even if the stopper were made in-house.

Logically then, a stopperer would be required to fit the stopper to the base, wherever it was made, and numbers would likely be placed on each matching piece to ensure that they did not get mixed up.

That much we know, however, if the term 'tie numbers' was coined on the GMB, which I believe it was, (by Bernard, if memory serves well) then that should be acknowledged in the way it is referred to, in order that readers both now, and in the future, understand that this is the case. (For instance "They're becoming known as 'Tie numbers' would indicate recent usage.) This will then stop the need to track down the terms' origin  

On a lighter note, I'm not sure that I'm looking forward to your next visit to a glass fair JP........

no clothes

:huh:

Nigel

[chopin-liszt]

When Allister Malcolm made my claret jug, he told me the stopper had to be made first because it's easier to make the bottle part to fit a stopper than it is to fit a stopper to a bottle.

However, I do know that Isle of Wight Studio Glass have a grindy machine which makes stoppers and bottley bits fit each other.

[Cathy B]

With nothing but a dilly duck for modesty? :ooh: