Topic: Ruby Glass Bookends - Sand-cast(?) with Galleon Impression

[David E]

I took a photo of these bookends whilst at the home of the daughter of a former Chance worker. She isn't sure that they were made at Chance, or even if they were friggers (known as foreigners in the Midlands), which is what I suspect, but I have never seen anything like them before and thought that it was about time I tried to nail down a maker.

I have already mailed my contact who worked at Chance from 1950 to 1976, and his reply is as follows:

I am not well up on foreigners, I only saw glass bombs, hopscotches and swans, all simple to make.
This to me is extremely complex to make as a foreigner, you have got to cast the angle in ruby then the galleon in dark. The whole thing is well
fire polished all over. If cast in sand then maybe a mould in core sand and baked then the finished casting fire polished. An original mould would be needed and the
glass very hot. The guy that did this was a better man than I. Sorry it's beyond me.

I suggested that perhaps a metal object, such as the stamped brassware that was so proliferate in the 1950s, was used to form the original impression in the sand. However, the depth of the impression makes me think perhaps not. The above comments casts (pardon the pun) doubt on whether they were foreigners.

Does anyone have any ideas? Can you recognise similarities to any other cast-glass ware?

[bfg]

Hi David, I have a similar object to this but without the backing and a bowl of fruit rather than a ship - in bottle brown, so not really that similar I suppose. Rather hoped it was a door stop - nothing sadder than one bookend.
Had also been lead to believe it was late Victorian - you're thinking more mid 20th C?

[David E]

Thanks. Would like to see a photo of your half-bookend if I could trouble you to post one.

Apart from the the [possible] link to Chance, galleon-inspired decoration seemed to proliferate in the 1950s, which made me think of this as well.

[bfg]

Ah yes, Galleons very 1950's    I think fruit bowl decor is usually regarded as a viccy thing along the same line of logic?

anyway, here's pics

6 inches high x 5 inches wide x 0.5 inches deep

[David E]

Hmm, plenty of similarities! Yours does appear thinner, but the same very deep impression and a similar size (from memory: I didn't measure them... and it was about three years ago )

I remember that the edges were ground, and this shows up in the photo - also the difference in the finished edge: yours follows the outline, whereas the galleon doesn't. But they could still be by the same maker. I can't begin to date them, other than my spurious 1950s link, but would still like to attribute it.

[bfg]

can you update this post if you ever manage to attribute these David? I've drawn a blank so far but would like to know, cheers Mel

[David E]

Actually, I'm wondering if yours is a bookend? It seems so slim, with no real base to act as a support when books are stacked up against it.

Anyway, I'll definitely post here if I should find any more information on them.

[David E]

As an update to this topic, the lady who owns them is pretty convinced they were made at Chance Brothers. Given that her father worked there from c.1920 (mentioned on 1921 marriage certificate as a glassworker) it could be an item made between the wars.

If made by Chance then I doubt that it is a regular production item - it's far too fancy and is such a niche item for them to bother with, but given Ray Drury's comments (above, 1st post) it does seem quite complex to be made as a frigger. But who knows what they made in the 1920s and 1930s...

If it is a frigger then I can't think of any way this will be resolved, unless someone else can corroborate it.

[cubby01]

This one's not in the same league as the one in the first post but I thought I'd link to something somewhat similar from this side of the pond.  New Martinsville glass made these in the '50s.  All I've ever seen were crystal (no color).  Maybe they got the idea from somewhere.
http://www.rubylane.com/item/804636-05012012-0683/Martinsville-Viking-Crystal-Ship-Bookends

[David E]

Thanks cubby, that's quite a close match! There are some differences, such as the galleon impression is different (although the style and depth is very similar) and the edges on the ruby one are ground and rounded. Also a difference in the cross-section.

Could this be the original maker? Alternatively, perhaps someone at Chance Bros fabricated some of these bookends from the US originals?