Topic: Who made this pressed comport?

[neilh]

This one came into my website yesterday for ID and it's bugging me  because I've seen the pattern many times before and I have a feeling it was discussed on this board before but I can't find it.

I'm pretty sure it's not Manchester. My guess is northeast, maybe Sowerby. It's obviously part of a set as there is a sugar and creamer on ebay right now of the same pattern. Even if we have no certain id I think the smooth style of the frosting and the type of base should point the way.

Any ideas?

[Paul S.]

unfortunately, some variation on greek keys, frosting and frilly edges etc. - on a comport - are not uncommon  ............  could be wrong, but to me this doesn't look particularly Sowerbyish.             I've had a look through the Sowerby designs for the lozenge period, but wasn't aware of seeing this one, but then again I'm not sure what it was that was being Registered - it this exact this appearance does occur somewhere on a drawing, then it may well be post 1884.
Hopefully Fred will recognize the pattern, and we will then have our answer.

[agincourt17]

As Neil undoubtedly knows, any unmarked piece decorated with Greek keys (especially if part-frosted) is often reflexly attributed as 'Molineaux & Webb' or at least described as 'Manchester glass', and there are certainly lots of pieces with an additional single row or multiple rows of those pesky circles so attributed without a shred of evidence to back it up.

To complicate the matter further, I attach a photo (copyright mirandus) of a similar unmarked sugar & cream, and a similar unmarked comport but with a part-stippled (rather than part-frosted) finish. 

I've looked through all the extant Sowerby pattern books without finding a match.

It's certainly not a Davidson registered design, and neither does it feature in their catalogues of unregistered designs 1880-1890.

One never knows, but I think the chances of firmly attributing this particular design to a particular manufacturer must be very slim indeed.

There is a fascinating illustrated catalogue from Robinson, Skinner & Co., Warrington, dating from somewhere between 1870 and 1900 accessible online at
http://www.cmog.org/library/sales-catalogue-24
and downloadable as a .pdf file at
http://d3seu6qyu1a8jw.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/collections/FB/FBD851CA-36A2-42EE-A42C-FBF0980D1535.pdf
that shows a multitude of designs of all types of glassware decorated with a veritable kaleidoscopic array of just about every Victorian design element (singly or in combination) likely to be encountered. Some of the designs look suspiciously similar to those from the more commonly encountered glass manufacturers of  Manchester and the north-east of England (even though Robinson, Skinner & Co. registered very few of their own designs).

There must have been loads of catalogues of catalogues of Victorian glassware that will never see that light of day ever again and, although I don't have access to them at the moment, I imagine that a perusal of the glassware sections of the Silber & Fleming catalogues reveal a similar plethora of designs that may repay examination.

Fred.

[neilh]

Thanks Fred, at least it's a known unknown... the style of frosting looks pretty good from the photo so I would guess a decent manufacturer.  Thanks for the link to the Robinson and Skinner catalogue, not seen that before. I've recently come into photocopies of one of their catalogues which I think is a bit more recent, maybe 1920, but comparing the two, the pages are close to identical, not much change in the product line up.