Topic: Uranium glass piano stand/insulator RD 87140 – registration details, please?

[agincourt17]

Another of the apparently ubiquitous Victorian glass piano stands/insulators, this time in green uranium glass, but bearing the embossed Rd. No. 87140; 10.25cm in diameter.

(Permission for the re-use of these images on the GMB granted by Kevin Collins).

This turns out to be another ‘mystery’ registration as the design registration number is absent from the usual reference lists for glass designs, and it does not seem to have already been discussed on the GMB. RD 87140 should, by all accounts, have been registered in November 1887. Is this another glass design lurking in the (‘wrong’) Class IV registers at TNA?

Any information about this piano insulator design and/or its registration details will be gratefully received.

Fred.

[Paul S.]

Not only CLASS IV but Registered I'm sure by someone unaccustomed to the correct Board of Trade procedures - but why register this in the ceramics CLASS is a mystery, can't imagine they were concerned about industrial espionage.                 
Thomas Dawkins not, of course, the maker of this item, but presumably felt the need to be able to offer their musically minded customers insulators on which to stand their pianos - "buy a piano guv. and we'll throw in a gorgeous set of insulators".
This is quite a chunky piece, and unusual insofar as it does have its own Rd. No. -  I can't imagine there are many British made insulators with such a feature  -  trade marks, but not Nos.
I say British, but for all we know (cue for a song) this might have originated on the Continent somewhere - or am I wrong and piano insulators are a peculiarly British invention that didn't spread beyond our shores??                     I've looked under miscellaneous on Pamela's Pressglas-pavillon site but can't see any examples.             Is anyone aware of known examples categorically made outside the U.K?

[Lustrousstone]

There are certainly glass furniture casters in some of the Continental catalogues and a certain Dutch lady has a set in use in her house.

[agincourt17]

Thank you very much, Paul.

We have already both contributed to a discussion about another Thomas Dawkins piano stand RD 120613 of 8 July 1859, registered by Dawkins for Percival, Yates & Vickers (and presumably made by P, Y & V):
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,49980.msg311989.html#msg311989

28 years between the 2 design registrations yet surprisingly similar. I wonder if the Percival Vickers connection still held for the manufacture of RD 87140?

I am surprised that anyone should still be concerned enough to register a design for a piano stand/insulator in 1887. There seem to have been a plethora of other (mostly anonymous) piano stand designs on the market, differing one from another by seemingly minor design features – so what was judged the ‘unique feature’ that made this Dawkins piano insulator so worthy of going to the trouble and expense of trying to protect it from plagiarism?

Fred.

[agincourt17]

I’m not sure if this amber glass piano stand was actually manufactured on the Continent, but the underside is embossed with a design that shows what may be a picture of a piano leg resting in a stand (or is that simply wishful thinking? – perhaps it’s a picture of a glass flask or even something else entirely) with the additional marking  LP PARIS.  It measures approximately 4cm high with a 9¾ cm diameter base and a 5½ cm diameter cup and weighs 408 grams.

(Permission for the re-use of these images on the GMB granted by Kevin Collins).

This seems to beg the question as to why a piano stand so clearly bearing a mark with a Parisian connection be manufactured anywhere other than France?

Fred

[agincourt17]

Here is another photo of the underside of the amber glass piano stand/insulator, but I have 'flipped' the image horizontally to make the embossed marks easier to interpret.

Fred.

[neilh]

Looking through the Percival Vickers catalogs, they were still selling what looks like the Thomas Dawkins 1859 model in the 1911 catalog (though it could be a slight variation on the pattern). There is no sign anywhere of the 1887 Dawkins design

[agincourt17]

Thank you, Neil.

By the way, have you seen the ‘new’ Burtles, Tate & Co. registered design find at
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,60945.0.html ?

Fred.

[Paul S.]

this LP Paris piece does look to be a very good contender for a piano insulator - the moulded edge pillars are very similar to other U.K. designs for such pieces.
Do you think the embossed image might possibly be a paraffin lamp chimney, or at least a chimney for some form of portable light source?

Edited to add...........    the LP might possibly stand for Lampe Pigeon - although what that has to do with a piano insulator I've no idea

[agincourt17]

It's a possibility, I suppose, Paul.

With paraffin lamp chimneys being of glass, an advertising item perhaps? - but if so, wouldn't the advertising blurb have been in the more prominent and visible position on top of the item?

Following your suggestion about the LP  Paris mark, I see that Charles-Joseph Pigeon (29 March 1838 – 18 March 1915)  was the  invention and manufacturer of the Pigeon lamp, a non-exploding gasoline lamp, in 1884 (exhibited at the Exposition universelle de 1900), made him famous and wealthy.There are some pics of his lamps (with lamp chimneys) at
https://secure.flickr.com/groups/pigeon-lamps/
which certainly resemble the shape on the amber ‘piano stand'.

Fred.