1) I think the engraved E Varnish mark is on the rim - the rim at the top, not the foot rim.
And then they mention an ' inserted metal plug in the base.' is also marked
It looks a bit confusing because it also has a decorative silver-looking applied-looking edging around the base rim. But I do think they mean it is marked on the silver rim collar at the neck.
2) I've just had a lightbulb moment - if you look at the vase in a download you can see that there is an applied metal collar in the stem.
If this is an 'epergne' then the metal collar may not be a damage cover-up but might be the metal insert for the upper vase body to sit in the base.
So by 'metal plug in the base' they might be the inserted metal plug for the vase upper body to set into?
3) I think it looks as though it has a blue interior. Could this be a reflection of the silver appearance of the internal layer of glass (i.e.surface facing the inside of the vase where water would go for flowers) ? if it is indeed silvered using the silver nitrate method.
4) If it really is silvered in the double wall process, then who knows how they did it because it looks like that could mean:
- clear internal layer, doubled wall external layer
- then double walled external layer cased in ruby,
- then ruby layer cased in clear layer (see downloaded image to show the thick clear layer over the internal ruby layer especially at the foot stem)
- then clear outer layer cased in white
5) But it just does not look like it was made by an English maker to the eye.
The cutting does not look anything like the cutting on the other E. Varnish double walled silvered glass.
It has vermicular decoration on it.
The upper rim of the vase (not the foot rim) looks as though it is cut and bevelled underneath the silver collar doesn't it?
6) I wonder if this comment in the description is correct:
'Production Note
'E. Varnish and F. Hale Thomson patented the silvering process used in the manufacture of this vase.'
The vase does have silver applications on it but that is not the same as being a double walled vessel with silver nitrate poured between the layers to give a reflective surface to the glass.
Summary: Very strange piece of apparently Powell & Sons glass
Edited 21 Oct 2017 to add:The V& A also have these comments about the vase:
'Materials & Making
The process of making double-walled silvered glass was patented by Edward Varnish and Frederick Hale Thompson in 1849. A number of glassworks, such as that of James Powell & Sons of Whitefriars, London, made the blanks. A stemmed vase or goblet shape was formed, with the glass-blower stopping short of opening out the mouth. Instead, the top of the vase, still sealed as a bubble-shape, was reheated and 'dropped' inwards to form a double-walled interior. This plain, undecorated vase was then supplied to E. Varnish & Co., where it was filled between the walls from the foot end with a solution of silver nitrate and glucose (in the form of grape juice).
The final stage was to seal the hole in the foot with a metal disc, in this example marked for Varnish's Patent. '
So it seems this is sealed in the foot with a metal disc, not on the collar as I thought it might be.