Topic: Davidson 'hobnail' Rd. 153858.

[Paul S.]

These criss-cross hobnails are a larger pattern than the usual diagonal design (the 1885 suite) that I see , and doesn't seem to be as common - at least where I go.          Are both the small and large hobnail design covered by the one Rd. No. 153858 do people know?           This Rd. No.  was registered on 2nd August 1890, although it had apparently been in use for a year or so before that date.

[Sid]

Paul

There are two different patterns here but only the later one is registered.  The one you show, with the big button with rosettes between the buttons, is the pattern that Davidson called their 1891 Suite and it was registered.  The other pattern, with the smaller hobnail or cane pattern, Davidson called their Hobnail Suite and I don't believe that it was registered. It certainly was not covered under the 1890 registration as it predated that.

Sid

[Paul S.]

thanks Sid.          It does look as though you're correct, and the earlier (1885 'hobnail' suite) with smaller buttons wasn't in fact registered  -  I'm unable to find reference to a Rd. No. anywhere.              Hobnail was a fairly common design in cut glass on both sides of the pond - which was what the pressed variety was copying - and maybe it was thought to be too universal a design for any one company to register  -  although only a few years later Davidson did see fit to go ahead and register this larger button variety.         Perhaps they considered the design of this 1891 suite to be more distinctive compared to others, certainly something changed their minds.

This particular shape is possibly a tea caddy.                     

[Sid]

Paul

Your piece is shown as a pickle in a Davidson catalog.

Sid

[Paul S.]

hi Sid.....     you do surprise me.              Although I'm not suggesting the catalgue is incorrect (in fact I don't have any G. D. catalogues)   -  it's just that pickles are an item that I collect in a general way  -  I've something like twenty different patterns/designs  -  and I've yet to find one that has a loose fitting lid such as this.               All those that I've seen  have the typical ground-glass type of fitted lid.

My reason for suggesting this might be a tea caddy was prompted by seeing a very similar square section loose lidded container of similar size, on page 56 (item 5) in Jenny Thompson's book, 'The Identification of English Pressed Glass 1842 - 1908'.              Thompson's caption for this item (on page 52) says  ..  "G. Davidson & Co. 14 July 1903.  Tea Caddy". 
Had a feeling that I did in fact have an example of this 1903 design  -  but the draws in the wooden chest in one of the garden sheds has jammed tight due the exceptionally damp English winter, and I now can't open the b......   thing to check if it's there.

I can't off-hand find a book example of a pickle showing anything other than the typical ground-glass stopper.             However, I've just noticed that Raymond Notley - "Popular Glass of the 19th and 20th Centuries", page 14, shows what he describes as a 'Manchester made cobalt blue pickle vase c. 1890', of which he says........   "this has a rim suitable for a lid of some description, such as waxed paper with a string closure.    Other similar designs exist, all made by John Derbyshire, and most have Patent Office Design Registration marks  etc. etc."

Perhaps this Davidson loose lidded type are also meant to incorporate some form of wax paper or other similar seal, under the lid  -  otherwise the pong of pickles would permeate strongly, and presumably the liquid would evaporate

As a matter of interest, does any GMB member have a pickle that is not of the ground-glass stopper design?

[Sid]

Paul

I don't know if it is a company style or a time frame thing, but the pickle jars in the Davidson catalogs of the late 19th century are the type where the lid sits on top of the jar - none have the ground glass stopper.  A catalog image of your item is attached.  Sowerby appears to have gone the route of the ground glass stopper.

In North America, the pickle jars with ground glass stoppers went out of style after the 1870s.  After that, most if not all of the jars had the lid that just rested on top.

Sid

[Paul S.]

Sid  -  thanks for the info.  ....    I guess you'd need to be careful when moving this loose lidded type of pickle  -  the tops really are very ill-fitting.           Meant to say that Thompson doesn't quote her source for the caddy description  -  perhaps that was also a Davidson catalogue.

In the U.K., pickles with ground-glass stoppers seem to have continued well into the C20  -  I have a Webb Corbett design that dates to probably the 1940 - 50 period.           I've seen the Sowerby ones you mention, and my opinion would be that in the main ground-glass stoppers seem to have been the more usual type in Europe, rather than the exception.

[Lustrousstone]

Here's an example of an American pickle
http://lustrousstone.co.uk/cpg/displayimage.php?pid=417
http://lustrousstone.co.uk/cpg/displayimage.php?pid=418

[Paul S.]

thanks Christine - nice piece  -  am sure I've seen that surface pattern elsewhere on my travels, probably not on a pickle tho  -  intriguing as to why the States dropped the ground stopper style that far back.                   I'd like one of the cobalt examples mentioned by Notley.
attached is pic of my matching W/Corbett pickle and vase - the backstamp is for 1930 - 1947, apparently  -  so undoubtedly the youngest of my pickles