Topic: Frosted/satin glass stopper in Stevens & Williams book The Crystal Years

[flying free]

he apparently came in grass green as a stirrup cup as well
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/2233432_a-plated-fox-head-stirrup-cup-and-a-glass-stirrup
Sold 27July 2006 Gorringes

He's an incredible work of art - very very heavy.
Has what I do think is a small raised L carefully impressed above his eyebrow.  I don't think it's an error or part of the mould as it's not like any other marking on the glass.
It's kind of like pate de verre almost. 
Like this pate de verre hat pin:

http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2693B/lots/236

In fact close up he does indeed look like that hatpin! 

But would think with the mould marks left on it that it must be mould made somehow. And what are all those grinding or carving marks on the top of his head?

m

[flying free]

I think the hound is a Borzoi btw.
The head on the fox appears to be made of blue glass as it's core of the head and then the snout and ears are clear I think although it all reflects as blue.
It must be pate de verre I think if that is the case? or some technique similar?
m

[Ohio]

I think its a push between your choice & a Greyhound.

[flying free]

you may be right in fact as the ears are higher on the head on a greyhound than a Borzoi.
I saw lilac and gold and immediately thought Borzoi, but yes quite possibly greyhound instead
And perhaps lilac for a grey greyhound , mmm.  A lovely hatpin. Thanks.

Just noted my fox has a frosted merese collar between it and the clear glass cup, whereas the green one has a polished glass collar.


m

[flying free]

pic of fox angled for comparison to greyhound stick pin here
stick pin link   
http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2693B/lots/236

There also appears to be a small lozenge at the bottom of the head where it joins the glass.
Pic attached - it's oval and between three and four o'clock inside the circle of the merese.  Pic taken from inside the glass viewed down to the bottom where the bottom of the head would be
m

[flying free]

I don't even want to ask this question for fear of being laughed at    but I don't suppose this head could have been made by Lalique could it?
So far it comes in this blue (mine plus one broken one), a green (Lalique also did green)
https://rlalique.com/rene-lalique-flacon-pendant-5941
and a frosted version, which is in the Stevens and Williams book propped in a decanter painted with a hunt scene ( I've seen subsequently a decanter from that range but different hunt picture painted on it, in Charles Hajdamach's British Glass book with a normal mushroom domed stopper in it (it's a different decanter so that doesn't mean the fox stopper isn't S&W)

Mine has polished shiny eyes in the matt body. Lalique appears to have polished the eyes of their satin pieces?  Is there another maker who might have made these foxes and polished the eyes?

The frosted one is in the book, the green was sold many years ago, and the blue was badly broken but I believe still a stirrup cup.  Then there's mine.  So it's fairly unusual.  So I was wondering whether it might be quite early (early compared to nowadays I mean)  The hunt decanter dates to around 1935.  The book with the frosted clear version in dates to 1983 so it is at least earlier than that.  I know... an absolute long shot 
m

[flying free]

The owner of this etched glass version thought it was 19th century?
The fox is different to mine but is from a mould and the pic 3 appears to possibly show evidence of the strange cutting patterns shown on the top of my fox. 
I've no idea of etching or engraving whatsoever.
Would anyone know if this looks like a 19th century engraving please?

http://bid.igavelauctions.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=2835110

thanks
m

[flying free]

This might be the link I needed
This one here as in my post above is a different fox and is engraved, however it is still a frosted fox on a very similar style stirrup cup
to mine (mine is not engraved)

http://bid.igavelauctions.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=2835110

My fox shape but in uncoloured frosted glass (rather than my blue glass) appears as a 'stopper' in a decanter in the Stevens and williams book The Crystal Years.  I'm not sure if it is a stopper or if it is the broken head of the fox set in the top of the decanter.

This hunt cup here is a strongly possible candidate for a Stevens and Williams glass as they did a range with opaque lampworked figures set into their stems in the 1930s (discussion has been on this board before and I have owned a number of these pieces).  The caveat is that the shape of this glass stem/foot is different to those I owned I think.  But I'll try and find some pics to compare in a minute.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/17998068_a-glass-rummer-with-engraved-hunting-scene-to-the-bowl

And that glass is engraved with a hunt scene, as the stirrup cup is engraved with a hunt scene.

The other caveat is that the engraving on the stirrup up with the frosted fox (similar shape bowl to mine but different fox mould) is less sophisticated/more crude than the engraving on this hunting scene glass with inset in stem though. 

However, if the glass rummer is a Stevens and Williams glass then they did engrave some of their glasses in their 'hunt' range, and so it is possible that they engraved the stirrup cup with fox head and therefore may have made the fox head cup and indeed the 'stopper' in the Stevens and Williams book. 

Obviously bearing in mind the two caveats of that it might not be a Stevens and Williams glass and that the engraving on the Stirrup cup like mine appears to me to be less sophisticated than that on the rummer.

m

[flying free]

mm, mine are on this thread as are the glasses that Mike M posted.
They do not look the same shape as the engraved goblet with lampworked stem.
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,43098.msg240681.html#msg240681

m

[flying free]

progress at last!

This decanter is a cut glass horseshoe shaped decanter with an engraved scene. The one in the Stevens and Williams book is a cut glass horseshoe shaped decanter (same shape) and similar design but the cutting is different and the panel is enamelled one the one in the book.
Both contain the frosted plain glass fox head stopper!!
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/andrew-smith-and-son/catalogue-id-srandr10022/lot-7639ee4e-1e6e-4dce-8e2b-a43c0174e4e8
Click on the picture for it to come up in the correct shape

So ... do we tentatively conclude that since one is in the book as Stevens and Williams with the artist specified, and that they are both the same shape though different cutting and one is engraved instead of enamelled, and that both contain the frosted fox head stopper, that the frosted fox head stopper is likely to be from Stevens and Williams?  Therefore if my blue frosted fox head on my stirrup cup is the same design fox head, then it is likely that the stirrup cup might be Stevens and Williams and the fox head made by them?  This is made more likely because the design of the stirrup cup and the feel of the glass is very much in the vein of other STevens and Williams pieces I've owned (goblets with horses in stems) and alabaster pieces. 

The book appears to describe the picture in the text as ' In the works museum a "horseshoe" whisky bottle survives, with... '  It goes on to say
it is partnered by a goblet with a similar picture.

So I think it is reasonable to conclude that the fox head was made by someone at Stevens and Williams.  There are two known stopper both in clear frosted, one broken blue one described as a stopper but I think it actually came off a stirrup cup, and  my blue stirrup cup fox, as well as one grass green fox on a stirrup cup that I think is probably the same shape (bad photo).
So ... who made the fox at Stevens and Williams?  how is it made? is it pate de verre? or is it cast somehow? It's massively heavy.

The only spanner in the works is this
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,56463.msg320124.html#msg320124
Charles Hajdamach shows in 20th Century British Glass page 115 the same cut decanter as the one in the Crystal Years, with an enamelled panel on the front but a different enamelled picture to the one in the Crystal Years (same theme/style etc though) with a stopper that appears to be cut to match the decanter. 
Were the ones with the fox stopper specials?



m