Topic: Jonas Defries & Sons, RD 35778, 26 June 1846 - Night lamp

[Paul S.]

a shame that the process of watermarking reduces some of the sharpness of the image - this is the best I can do for 360486/87.

As a personal comment, 360486 at least, reminds me of the style (dolphins and semi-naked sirens) - that eventually in mid 1930s of the C20 - became the sort of heavily moulded 3D modelling of the Barolac (Czechoslovakian) moulds, although appreciate these aren't opalescent.
I know that there's a vast date gap between the two, but the similarity is noticeable  -  do we know if these was any press-moulded glass coming into the U.K., from Czechoslvakia, during the 1880s?

P.S.    edited:    to delete any reference to Czechoslovakia in the 1880s  -  Sunday's beverages trying to re-write history  -  there wasn't such a country as Czechoslovakia until 1919 (I think) .............   so the possibility of an eastern European origin should have referred to Bohemia, possibly.

[agincourt17]

Thank you, Paul for design representations for Defries RDs 360486 and 360487.

I will enhance the contrast and clarity of the images before I upload them to the GMB RD database.

That RD 360486 covered vase is certainly late Victorian extravagance - and then some. The modelling is so heavy that it must have needed consummate skill to make the moulds let alone great skill by the glass workers to produce a good pressing from the mould. I wonder if I shall ever see an example or even photos of the finished article?

I certainly look forward to seeing some more Defries design representations in due course.

Fred.

[crocus]

Hi, I'm new to this. I came across this thread while looking for info on J. DeFries and Sons as I have two illumination lamps/fairy lights by this company. They are embossed around the top J.DEFRIES & SONS H'DITCH P.P & REGD but there is no number on them. I'd say they are tulip form with a very narrow base and one has a flat area on the back, presumably so it would sit better if used against a wall. I've not seen this feature in any other fairy light nor another fairy light by this company. I'd love to know a date for these, if that is possible.
As I'm sure many of you know the best known figural lights were made by the Hearn Wright Co, including one in tulip form, for Victoria's jubilee in 1887. I think that light features in another thread on the board.
I recently came on a notice in a newspaper from Feb 1887 placed by Hearn Wright "to draw attention to the unscrupulous methods at present being adopted by certain foreign houses in imitating their lamps" and urging the public to buy British made.
Of course I wondered if DeFries might be one of the complained of companies, but that would require a registration date in late 1886 or very early 1887.
Hope someone can help or if not that you will like seeing another design by this company, though a much rougher object.

[agincourt17]

Thank you for showing these, Crocus.

I can't find any other photos of Defries fairy / candle lamps.

Presumably 'P.P.' is Patent Pending.

Unfortunately, with a the exceptions of RD 360486, & 360487 (discussed recently) and  RD 378997 of March 1882 - the subjects of the Defries glass design registrations from 1864 right through to their final design registration in 1883 are not given in the online registration summaries at The National Archives (see topic reply #11), so I'm not able to tell which designs may have been for fairy lights or candle lamps,

By the way, I've just unearthed a few more facts about Defries:

The Defries Lamp and Oil Company Ltd. was the subject of liquidation proceedings some time between 1889 and 1893, and Wanzer & Defries Patent Safety Lamp Manufacturing Co Ltd. (the first occupants of the newly-developed 101, Farringdon Road, London, in 1887)  was the subject of winding-up proceedings in 1892.

Richard Mott Wanzer was born in America in 1818. In 1860 he began to  manufacture of sewing machines in Hamilton, Ontario - the first sewing machines made in Canada. However, increased competition  from American manufacturers, poor tariff protection, overproduction, and a sharp drop in demand during the depression of the 1880s severely damaged the company. In the mid-1880s, in order to raise funds to bolster his business, he joined with Robert Hitchcock to manufacture a range of Mechanical Kerosene Lamps which used a concealed clockwork motor in the base to turn a fan in order to maintain a continuous flow of air between the wick tube and the draft deflector of the burner; chimneys were not required with these lamps. Wanzer mechanical lamps were made in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, from 1886 to 1900 by the Wanzer Lamp Co., and it appears that the Wanzer & Defries lamps were 'London' made/sold variants. None of Wanzer’s subsequent ventures – the lamp company, a soap factory, or the Oneida Lamp Company in Niagara Falls – proved successful. In 1898 a financially ruined Wanzer left Hamilton for Buffalo, planning to open the Wanzer Lamp and Cooker Company there. He died of pneumonia in New York City on 23 March 1900.

Despite the winding-up of the Lamp and Oil companies, J. Defries & Sons were still trading from 146 & 147 Houndsditch, London, in 1903. See: http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/J._Defries_and_Sons

Fred.