Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. > British & Irish Glass
E.Varnish mercury glass with embossed seal, circa 1849
Paul S.:
;D nothing ventured, nothing gained.
C.H. says (and abbreviating a little) .............. " ... the majority of pieces from Varnish are scratched in diamond point with a No. appearing on the glass plug and on the foot. Meaning of Nos. is unclear and don't always match - but must have been used to assist worker in some way to match the seal to the opening"
C.H. uses the word 'must', so obviously feels confident about that statement.
My reason for saying this is to query whether folk here might know if the script of these Nos. appears as Continental, rather than British - there is, usually, a difference. The answer to this question might settle m's question.
Hear that Keith ................ 'shelf accident' ......... ;D ;D
P.S. don't think I have Manley any more, so don't know what he wrote about this material.
drewfind:
I might also try a different approach, maybe looking at technical and industrial advances that might point to certain companies that had the facility to make such a product at the time.
I have read that mercury glass was being produced from 1840, but can neither remember where or if any company names were mentioned in the article.
It would be logical for the inventors to approach an established and competent company, as I have said, the workbooks for Powells shows no exceptional orders, or any indication looking into new ventures. Something like this would have been noteworthy I am sure?
Lustrousstone:
Paul keeps mentioning the word design. Can I just point out that that a patent doesn't protect a design. It protects an invention, which is a solution to a specific technological problem and is a product or a process.
Paul S.:
thanks Christine - apologies if I have lapsed into wrong usage. It's true that on the GMB the word design is reserved, usually, for an item that is a variation of an already existing invention - milk jug, vase, salt etc., and possibly items that don't in the main have patent protection? These new designs were/are Registered with the Board of Trade, and allocated a Registration No., but obviously are not patented as new inventions.
Quite where the line is drawn between a new design which is simply an artistic/aesthetic variation, and something that is considered an improvement on the original invention, and thus more suitable for patenting, I've no idea. :)
P.S email now sent to the V. & A. requesting details of origin of the suggestion of James Powell as maker. Their automated reply comments that they intend to reply within 30 days.
KevinH:
I may have found the original source of J. Powell being said to be the maker of blanks glass for Varnish & Co. (and perhaps (Frederick) Hale Thomson).
The info has come from a meander through:
Manley ... Decorative Victorian Glass
Hajdamach ... British Glass 1800-1914
Haanstra, Bowey, Lytwyn, (Glass Museum Online) ...Mercury Glass - Silvered Glass from Europe
Ending up with ...
Evans, Ross & Werner ... Whitefriars Glass ... as referenced in the Glass Museum article linked above
The reference in the Whitefriars book is to: "Beard, Mayall et al ... Tallis's History of The Crystal Palace ... 1851, P82"
I am not sure if the page number refers to Beard etc or to Talis's tome. But the basic info is: "indicated by a note in Tallis's History ... " which makes the claim that most of the glass was provided by "Messrs Powell & Co, Whitefriars".
I tried searching Tallis's History ... (it's available online), but my keywords were unsuccessful. Maybe that is a task for "m" (flying free)?
The Glass Museum article makes a positive statement that Whiterfriars Glassworks was the provider of the glass. However, the text in the Whitefriars book does not explicitly state that. Rather, it gives the information about the note in Tallis and goes on to offer additional information as to why Whitefriars Glassworks could have been the provider - based on consistency of colours of the glass used to case the "Mercury Glass" items.
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