Topic: Vase with internal bubbles possibly Monart or other British...?

[Greg.]

Hi M, thanks once again for your thoughts. I have taken a handful of photos from different angles of the casing around the bottom of the vase; please let me know if you need any other views or better shots. The depth of the casing at the bottom of the vase is around 8mm.  The vase is fairly heavy; it’s just a shade less than 2kg, weighing 1945 grams.

I had a look through the Keith Murray examples in Hajdamach’s 20th Century Glass, as you mention the bubbles on the amethyst bowl on page 148, tend not to look quite right, they also generally look wider and less elongated than the bubbles in my example, I gather these were simply named ‘Cased Bubbly’.

The pink vases on page 148 and the blue example I see are called ‘Silver Showers’, I think one is a similar vase as you posted a link to earlier. There is another example in the following link, which allows you to view the bubbles closer, perhaps these bubbles do look a closer match, when zooming in, it’s hard to tell for sure. Although I am still trying to find an amethyst/purple example in a similar shape to mine:

http://www.wellersauctions.com/e-catalogues/antiques-jewellery/archive-2012/fri-21st-sep-jewellery-watches-pocket-watches-decorative-arts-costume-textiles/decorative-arts-at-10-30am/lot-58.html

I see on page 105 in reference to S&W and Elwell, there’s also a reference to ‘Shower Bubbly’, which I will try to look into further.  I presume the bubbles here are different to the ‘Silver Showers’ example in the above link.

I’ll keep the focus on S&W, certainly seems the closest thus far. One things for sure there's certainly a lot of different bubbles out there when you get looking!

Thanks for all your help to date.
Greg
 

[flying free]

Greg great pictures - I'm going off on a bit of a tangent here as I'm not really sure what I'm explaining or asking, but looking at your close up base pics, it appears that the vase was made with a layer of purple, then a layer of clear with bubbles over the top then a layer of clear certainly at the base.  It's interesting, yet you said you can feel the bubbles on the interior of the vase.  That thick casing reminds me of a cloudy vase I have by S&W which also has a very thick clear cased base.

The only thing I noticed is that compared to the pink one you linked to, your bubbles look as though they are closer together and more of them if you see what I mean?  So perhaps it's not a S&W range.  Sorry to not be more helpful
However if your base is flat despite the wreathing on it, then I can say it looks very similar to my cloudy vase.  The difference is the clear casing on my cloudy vase is about 12mm thick.  On balance I'd still be searching for an S&W link to your vase 
here's a link to the base pic of my pink cloudy http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,41369.msg228957.html#msg228957

I think the pink one you linked above looks like the ones by KM in the book but is just a different shape. The way the colour graduates from darker at the top etc is very similar to the pink ones in the book as well.  If it's the same range then perhaps they got the range description wrong in that linked ad when they called it 'Silver Rain'? Maybe they meant 'Silver Showers' ( or even Shower Bubbly or Cased Bubbly' - see explanation below)  as the bubbly ones in the book are  described as:

'This range appears in the Murray pattern book about 1938 and is called 'Sapphire Cased Bubbly'.  The first pattern number, 1039A, for the pink bucket vase has a pencil annotated title of 'Silver Showers'.  The two vases in pink and blue, are part of the same series.  The amethyst bowl and the green vase are part of the later range, added one hundred pattern numbers later, and simply called 'Cased Bubbly'. '

So it appears they were called three different names, and from the description perhaps two different 'ranges' since they were 100 pattern numbers apart (even though they look very similar)? I'm speculating because I really don't know anything about Stevens and Williams and have never seen any pattern books. Then added to which you have the reference to S&W and Elwell range being called 'Shower Bubbly'.  So maybe they produced four bubbly ranges.  There doesn't appear to be a picture in the book of the Elwell Shower Bubbly to compare to.
m

[nigel benson]

Hello All,

The vase in question is:

1 - A known Stevens & Williams shape
2 - A known S&W colour way
3 - A known type of bubbling by S&W - as also proved by the link to the pink Keith Murray vase. Random bubbles on each individually made item are not likely to be identical because of the way they are made - sometimes larger bubbles predominate, sometimes small, then again there can be a good mix. Why make identifying things so narrow??

The name Silver Showers on Keith Murray does NOT apply to pink pieces, nor to those with silver (or mica) inclusions. It applies ONLY to the pale sapphire blue colour with random bubblng. The bubbles reflect and refract the light, making it appear like rain - hence the name.

So S&W 

Nigel

[flying free]

Thank you !
 you're a great tutor Nigel   
m

[Greg.]

Hi Nigel,

Thank you for putting me out of my misery and also for the clarification regarding 'Silver Showers', much appreciated indeed. 

Just to check, would the colour way or type of bubbling on my vase have a specific name at all..? and in terms of date, would the late 30s also be an accurate assumption?

Finally, many thanks also M, for all your help.

Greg
 

[flying free]

on page 148 of the book it says the range was designed by Keith Murray c 1938/1939 and appears in the KM pattern book about 1938.
Interestingly the book says ''Bubbly Vases' and bowl designed by Keith Murray for Stevens and Williams - their has been discussion of when they changed their name to Royal Brierley on other threads and as far as I can see it was thought to be post a Royal visit in 1932.  I wonder if they were still called Stevens and Williams then in 1938/1939?  I'll have another look through the book later and see if  there is any further evidence for the date of the name change.

m

[Greg.]

Thanks for clarifying M, forgive my misunderstanding, I wasn't completely sure my vase fitted into the same range as the Keith Murray designs as shown on page 148. Its good know, thank you.

[nigel benson]

Hmm,

Whilst Stevens & Williams produced designs by Keith Murray and their own production items, these should not be confused. Sometimes it would appear that Murray influenced the production items with his initial designs, but to be honest that has not been proven - it is an assumption.

In order to prove it one way or another, the original records would need to be compared. However, even then it would be difficult as the Description Books, which show the recorded designs with production information, are not dated specifically. The one concerning Murray is continuous and no dates are shown to determine which year they were produced. That has to be compared with trade catalogues, adverts, contemporary articles and the like in order to get an approximation of a year of production.

The production ware has similar problems as the dates for each book are not for one specific year but a number of years and the fresh year is not marked in the book.

I am not aware of a specific name for the bubbled range at this point in time.

It is possible that, like 'Rainbow Ware' these pieces could be both pre, and post war.

Cheers, Nigel

[flying free]

Thanks    The caption to the bubbly vases in the book is  confusing in  the way it has been written.
m

[Greg.]

Thanks for the explanation Nigel, much appreciated. 

Greg