Topic: Cut Glass Dish - Georgian?

[briana5125]

Pics of second piece ...

Cut glass long dish - wider at one end than the other ?

Georgian???

A real head scratcher.....

[KevinH]

Hi Briana,

I have split this out from your original thread. Having more than one item in an ID request can become confusing if the pieces are by different makers or have differing details.

Also, as with your initial thread for these two items, it would be much easier for people to consider them if the photos were taken against a plain background (perhaps a dark background to show the details).

[briana5125]

Thanks Kevin

I know what you mean about the black background , i will look for something i can use in the future as it is a little hard to make out.

[Paul S.]

A large sheet of charcoal or black paper from stationery shop makes a serviceable background.              Try oblique lighting rather than full glare which will only bounce of the glass and destroy the contrast.

Assume no markings at all..........       of course, always the possibility this might be Georgian - i.e. C18/early C19 - but the likelihood is small bearing in mind the survival rate of glass that is two hundred years old, or more, when compared to the volume produced since - with more recent material having a progressively higher survival rate the nearer you it approaches the present time.

You say this is a head scratcher - are you suggesting you have searched the literature exhaustively without success, or perhaps just the internet.

As you can appreciate, there have been vast amounts of cut glass produced in the world, over the past 100 years alone, and unlike a lot of pressed material it's less easy to find attributions/provenance, especially in the absence of a backstamp.

There are factors that might help to narrow down period and country, possibly  .............   colour, wear, sound when flicked, sharpness of cutting etc., but your description so far is inadequate to make any headway.

Wait to hear from you  

[cagney]

Roughly mid 19th century. Widely used in commercial establishments at the time. Although could be bought for home use as well.

[Paul S.]

certainly an unusual shape, which suggests a specific use  -  presumably you've seen them before cagney.    Do you know if they had a particular use, and where were you able to locate this information  -  always interested in sources that provide additional details about table glass
In the ordinary course of events, that sort of age, combined with the nature of the piece, should create quite a lot of wear.   

[cagney]

I thought I was replying to the other post concerning the large flint glass goblet. My bad I guess.

As to the boat shaped dish, all I can say is it is a shape common in late 19th c. American pressed glass. Usually termed a pickle dish [ sliced ] vs a pickle castor [ up right container holding pickles whole].

My expertise is early American glass. Alot of which is in the english tradition.

[Paul S.]

thanks for the clarification.           regret I've really little knowledge of States late C19 - early C20 table glass - although it's an area of British glass that does interest me, and am sure you're correct about some patterns/shapes being common to both sides of the pond.
This piece may well have been for sliced pickles as you suggest  -  as opposed to keeping them in specific pickle jars, which was the method this side of the water.
Pickles, usually, have strong and distinctive odour, and our pickle jars, as you probably know, have ground well-fitting stoppers, unlike a lot of the States examples.

My guestimate of a date for this one - and could be wrong - is some time in the early C20  -  had it been earlier, and bearing in mind use, then I would have expected substantial wear.          Unfortunately, the original post makes no mention of wear - which is an aspect of table glass that may have bearing on age.

[briana5125]

Hi all

Thanks for all your help , the piece does have quite substantial wear , a few flea bites around the edges and quite a heavy amount of scratching to the base , a lot more that what i usually see on Edwardian glass , the greyish tint and the cutting was making me think Georgian.

[Ohio]

You do not have where you are from on your profile but if its U.S. then Cagney provided the answer as its a common pickle/relish/olive dish made by almost everyone in pressed, cut & blown form for close to a century. Its a utilitarian tableware item therefore you can expect heavy use with signs of significant ware. Attached is one by Sinclaire in blown form & a bit more ornate, still its simply tableware.