Topic: Royal Brierley crystal question.

[keith]

Picked this up today, looks very much like pieces I've seen advertised as RB'y- Tiffany, swag pattern, there are no marks to the base only the paper label, could this be a later edition copying the earlier design for Tiffany ? 10 inches tall and very heavy !

[chopin-liszt]

Do you know when they started using that paper label rather than the diamond shaped one with gold writing and surround on royal blue background?
I've got that label on a sherry glass with the engraved script that looks like handwriting, saying Royal Brierley.

That might help!

[keith]

Will have to do more research, going back to the archives in a week or so although that might take sometime, I've not seen this label before and it appears that everyone who ever worked there has disappeared from the face of the earth !  getting a bit fed up in my research on RB'y 

[chopin-liszt]

That's why it's so important to get things sorted out asap - before everybody who knows what happened leaves us!

[brucebanner]

My wife reckons the red labels were used on seconds. She does not recognise your paper label so it's pre 1985, she used to work in the packing department and processing department where she checked for firsts and seconds.

[keith]

Thanks Chris, I will do more digging 

[brucebanner]

In general Webb Corbett seconds have a capital b on the base Thomas Webb an s Royal Brierley a red sticker, I have yet to see a Stuart labeled second, Brier Crystal never signed anything it was a label system same with Brierley Hill Crystal, Tudor crystal firsts are signed as are Bridge and Harbridge Crystal. I have found so far the older the glass the less fuss about the odd bubble or distortion or size difference, some really old crystal signed is poor compared to modern glass.  A lot of good firsts were stolen by staff and not signed. A second within the last 40 years is fairly easy to spot. I'm still learning and always on the look out for patterns and makers as some make really good money, a Stuart Senator pattern whiskey glass is an easy £80 quid.

[nigel benson]

Chris, are your thoughts about marking applying to only tableware/stemware, or are you talking about marks on vases, bowls, etc.?

[brucebanner]

Hello Nigel mainly tableware but also vases bowls etc, I'm no expert but the following are things I have noticed about cut glass and some of the Stourbridge glass makers. If I it's really good it's signed apart from the makers I have mentioned on which I have yet to find anything signed, I'm sure Keith has shelves of Rb studio signed and unsigned. I don't have the time to photo everything but if any one wants a mark I'll try and find it. The crystal I sell fuels my own glass collection and buyers are really fussy and rightly so do not want a second as a replacement.  I can spot a second in a second, as a guide seconds have some of the following, bubbles, glass distortion, they do not fit the size for the pattern, problems with uneven shapes applying to stems bowls and feet. I'm still learning it's impossible to know them all there are so many.

[brucebanner]

Here are some that i'm packing up at at the minute as exceptions to the rule.

First is one of the best Stuart Strata glasses i have seen it's flawless, not signed and made for an event.

The second is a 70's Rb signed blue label first brandy, wonky with bubbles and distortion.

The third a Lalique vase full of black speckles and signed.

It's a nightmare.