Topic: Iridescent Gold Overshot Jug / Pitcher with Blue Handle

[mhgcgolfclub]

Help to ID this gold iridescent overshot jug / pitcher with iridescent blue handle.
I thought it may have been Loetz but the nearest pattern I could find was Candia Mimosa but was still not right so I carried on searching.

Later I found that Alfredo of https://sites.google.com/site/loetzandglass/Home showed 2 Loetz overshot jugs in blue and red at 5" and 7" in height of very similar shape but with a clear ribbed handle and a very slightly different spout. Over similar jugs or Pitcher are sold as Sandwich glass but they all seem to be frosted glass with clear ribbed handles.

This jug is 7" in height has a polished pontil and weighs 808gm.

Thanks for any help Roy   

[flying free]

You may struggle to get a match for this. My first instinct would be Harrach based on the handle/body colour combination.
Kralik might also be worth a search.
m

[mhgcgolfclub]

Thanks m

A link to Alfredo red Loetz pitcher which shows how similar they are except for the handle and the slightly downward tip of the spout.
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/82664-loetz-red-overshot-pitcher-at-the-passau?in=666

Roy

[flying free]

yes and Harrach and Kralik also made many jugs. Look up overshot versions and also pelaton overshot versions - you'll find the similar shape but id'd as Harrach or Kralik (think Harrach).

I'm not saying it's not Loetz,  but the colour combination makes me think Harrach and the shape is not a match to the Loetz version.

m

[flying free]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Boston-Sandwich-Overshot-Blue-Handled-Pitcher-/381154848271?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58be996e0f

similarity in colour way with yours although the blue looks different.

I'm not sure about the reference source given in this listing for it being Boston and Sandwich.  There has been at least one other vase on here 'listed' on the net as Boston and Sandwich generally, but when the query was raised on here it was confirmed by the Bston and Sandwich museum that it is not.  There have also been crackle or overshot pitchers/jugs 'listed' on the net as Boston and Sandwich or Sandwich, which I know were Harrach.

m

[Ohio]

The Glass Industry In Sandwich (Barlow/Kaiser) series is the gold standard for Sandwich Glass in the U.S. Only problem is they are not inexpensive to assemble the series.

[mhgcgolfclub]

Thanks m and Ken

I can see that the sandwich pitchers are very similar and in various colour combinations but all seem to have ribbed handles not smooth as my jug.

If someone could show me a picture of a Sandwich one with a smooth handle I would think a good chance that it was , but I still tend to agree with m that Harrach was a possibility although mine tends to be the odd one out without a ribbed / scalloped handle.

Another link to one of Alfredo's postings on collector weekly  http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/124828-harrachov-kralik-pitchers I think says that Sandwich overshot pitchers used clear frit even on coloured pitchers and were not colour coded to the base colour of the jug.

Thanks for all your help Roy

[flying free]

Roy are you based in the UK?
Not that this precludes your jug being American but might make it a little more likely it's a Bohemian piece (although of course with Ebay it does mean that item travel from the US to here is more likely than in the past I guess)

I can't give you a definite on unribbed handles on that shaped jug, but I can tell you that Harrach definitely made jugs with plain blue handles on a different coloured body certainly in 1878 (I have one definitely dated and id'd) and I'm very sure later as well.

Ken thanks for that information
I think the blue handle is quite a different colour to the one I linked to but the iridescent crackle effect and colour does seem quite similar doesn't it?  Were Boston and Sandwich known for making iridescent crackle glass?  It's difficult without seeing the reference source, who knows whether the picture was identical to the ebayer's jug?

I have also seen overshot jugs (that appear crackled) listed as Phoenix but when I dug a little deeper I believe it transpired it was Harrach.

m

[mhgcgolfclub]

Thanks m

I am in West Sussex, the jug came from a house clearance and was bought from The Kempton antique fair in Sunbury Surrey.

The one you linked to is similar in colour but darker and quite a lot of the crackle / frit does look to be clear rather than the base colour of the jug. As you say the handle is a different colour blue , is not ribbed and a slightly different location .
I agree maybe difficult to ID 100%.

Thanks for your help Roy

[Ohio]

M I don't know if this helps or not however it is from the Phoenix book by Marple:
"The surface of Phoenix Cracquelle has what appears to be slightly raised islands, giving a brecciated appearence. This effect is formed by the re-expansion of a shaped surface cooled piece into the final shape mold. Examples of Cracquelle made by Hobbs Bronkunier lack this characteristic. In addition the fractures in Phoenix products do not extend into the glass wall while those on Hoob's products do. Cracruelle from either firm should not be confused with the overshot effect, where crushed or pounded glass is applied to the surface of a nearly finished object".

Now looking at the examples I'll use plain English & say that the surfaces look nothing like Sandwich or European Cracruelle for that matter as they are big, bold raised lines that at not at all tightly spaced (large spaced gaps that form a definate pattern) almost as if these were not formed by rapid cooling (although they were) but were molded in the piece.

Boston and Sandwich made Cracruelle & overshot but then again Boston and Sandwich made just about every design/treatment in 63 years production.

Not that many years ago you could find large colorless Cracruelle jugs around here with Czecho - slovakia (split) signatures &  unscrupulous pickers would polish out the signatures & sell them as Sandwich.

Just thought of something that might help with Phoenix, a visual of a molded Cracruelle finish on a McKee barrel decanter that is exceptionally close to the pattern of Phoenix Cracruelle...you have to take my word on this one as I cannot post out of the book a pic of a Phoenix Cracruelle as not legal on the board, but large bold raised lines not at all connected. .