Topic: Victorian Milk Glass OR Porcelain Enamelled Wall Pockets ?

[Greg.]

Hi All,

Following on in a similar vein to an earlier thread on GMB, I wanted to double check that the following two Victorain wall pockets are indeed Milk/White Glass rather than Porcelain? They have a high gloss finish all over apart from the backs which have a very matt finish. I wondered if the backs were matt due to them being ground or were possibly unglazed porcelain.  I suspect they are glass as they came with other Victorian pieces, however, would appreciate your thoughts. 

Pictures attached.

Greg

[Paul S.]

hi Greg  -  I'll do the head on the block bit.

I'll go for hard paste porcelain - which from memory does tend to have a slightly glassy look, even when you break it.
Could be wrong, but can't somehow see pieces with this shape needing to have such a large area as their backs, ground down.

Not that it really helps much but most of the wall brackets, in glass, that I've seen, have been press moulded.

What is their size please?                If they are glass, then unusual.

[chopin-liszt]

Glass, Greg. I can almost see through it when I enlarge the second last pic, around the hangy-hole. It goes pale blue, slightly opalescent looking, but I don't see any reds. And the surface marks look like marks on glass, not pits in porcelain. Porcelain would have been smoother anyway - the glaze would have helped cover any defects, not emphasise them.

[Paul S.]

............. but you can also see through bone china            So how were they made Sue?

[chopin-liszt]

But it's not blue,
When you do. 
I imagine they were pressed into a mould. Where the body sticks out to make the flowery bits, it looks like moulded glass, the edge between the body and the bit that stands proud is not really "edgy" at all - it seems to flow.

[Paul S.]

you could well be right

[chopin-liszt]

Can you see, when you enlarge the second last pic, then use the + bit to get it even bigger, that just around the bottom left hand side of the hangy-hole, that where it curves up to be thinner, it is blue-ish?

Bone china tends to be white/beige-y/grey when you look through it. And wouldn't have so many surface marks.

[Lustrousstone]

I go with glass too. I suspect the backs were ground.

[Greg.]

Thanks all for taking a look your feedback is much appreciated.  -  I've found it tricky to determine even looking at them in my hands.

Measuring both pockets the sizes are identical, measuring 12.5cms tall and 6.5cms across the tops. They weigh 84 and 86 grams each.

I have added a couple of additional pictures, which I took earlier, not sure if they help any more than the others, however, thought I would add them just in case.

[Lustrousstone]

You can see they are glass when you look at the chipped edges