Topic: Help identifying cut glass vase please.

[Sendhandfran]

I know nothing about this.
I guess it dates to about c.1900 ish but not certain, nor know who or where it was made.
Love to know more about it if anyone can tell.
Thank you

[Paul S.]

regret to say Fran that highly unlikely you'll discover a maker or specific country of origin.
Judging by the flat base and what appears to be a slightly yellowish colour to the glass - I'm tempted to suggest it's Continental rather than the U.K.                 British vases often have a star cut base of some sort.            It may well not produce any ring when flicked, so possibly not lead glass.
The cut decoration looks to be lines of relief diamonds in spiral form, with fan escallop/fan cut edge  -  designs which go back well into the C18.
Does the cutting feel sharp, or perhaps acid polished, and therefore less sharp??

for what it's worth my opinion on age would be rather vague  -  somewhere in the first quarter of the C20 - but not easy to be sure.          With vases, water staining can be a problem, but this looks to be quite clean, so perhaps not as old as you've suggested.

Pieces like this are impossible to attribute, usually, and difficult to date accurately - but let's see what others think - someone might have a better idea.              Always useful though
 

[Sendhandfran]

Hi Paul, interesting. It could be French, this ones another thats passed down the family who have French connections:) & dates to at least the early 20th c. I'd say it feels sharp, which is why i think its cut, its certainly sharper than moulded glass i have, but is the only cut glass i think i have. :-S

[Sendhandfran]

I've always thought it has a bit of a continental, Edwardian era look to it.

[Paul S.]

could be from anywhere - although as I say, probably Continental in view of the ground/polished flat base.
Glass travels around a lot, and no doubt a lot of importers, sellers etc. helped to shift glass from one country to another.

As a generalization slim waisted shapes like this might owe their origins more to late art nouveau than post 1920, so you may well be correct re the date.         Since you posted this one I've looked around at lots of vases from after that date, and there does seem to be a tendency for the majority of later designs to have convex/bulging middles rather than slim like this - but that's not a hard and fast rule.

If you look, with a lens, cut glass will almost always show some remains of the grinding marks - unfortunately a lot of modern pieces have been so over acid polished that the sharpness is lost completely.    Comparing cut material from 1920 or earlier with modern pieces will give you an idea of the difference in feel.

Unfortunately there's a lack of books in general for cut glass, and pieces like this are hardly exciting, so interest in run of the mill material is minimal.        But............there is some stunning cut glass around, so you mustn't leave your collection standing at just one piece.    

[Sendhandfran]

Thanks Paul, very interesting. I've looked at this with a magnifyer & still can't tell if its cut or not. A lot of the tips & edges of the points have broken or have tiny chips, which aren't noticeable without magnification. Some of the points going down the stem i thought looked cut, as they're not evenly sized.