hello Antoinette - congratulations, and lucky you
I don't think the lack of response to your post is in any way one of indifference - quite the opposite, in fact, and I dare say you have so gob-smacked us all with the knowledge that there are members here who can throw a grand at a piece of pressed glass that we are lost for words.
I believe that the correct colour description for the Burtles & Tate piece is 'rose opalescent - possibly because the appearance is very similar to a mineral that goes under the name of rose quartz - but that is only my personal assumption.
I have seen an example at Cambridge some year or so back - but can't from memory recall whether the piece carries the Rg. No. 64234 (1886) or not - for that sort of money I think I'd want to see the No. very clearly
I didn't see this auction - was it a recent one - so have no knowledge of how the bidding went, but would surmise that the difference between the figures that you quote are indicative of the current market levels, and illustrate perhaps how values for some of the top end pieces of pressed glass have weakened over the past year or two.
As you will be aware from your time on the GMB, members tend not to discuss values - not from a sense of avoiding such vulgarities - but because the worth of anything is very subjective, and relies on so many factors, that a fixed value would be meaningless, generally.
If you want something badly, and you have the dosh, then many would argue that you should pay whatever is required to make the piece yours (and I would agree) - whether it be one thousand or three thousand. To miss out on this elephant, might mean you never get to own one, and possession is everything. On the other hand, it does depend on having that sort of money available for investment in the first place.
Had I the spare grand, then yes I would also have bought it - I think it is one of the iconic pieces of late C19 pressed glass - and I guess there aren't too many left out there, so my opinion - for what it's worth - is that you have made a good long term investment.
I understand that the elephant was alos produced in other opalescent colours, although in view of the compexity of the mould, there were, I beleive, quite a lot of unsuccessful pressings.
Ref. Popular Glass of the 19th & 20th Centuries - A Collectors Guide - Miller's - Raymond Notley - 2000
Topic: Glitterati Advice needed -Stunning Burtles & Tate Elephant Posy - advice needed! (Read 5912 times)
