Topic: Piano insulator Percival Yates & Vickers or Crown Crystal Glass Co Australia?

[flying free]

Or neither?

This link in this article by Barrie Skelcher shows on page 7 in plate 8 (you will have to scroll down to the plate 8 photograph)  two piano insulators and a tumbler.
http://www.glassassociation.org.uk/sites/default/files/Uranium_Glass_sample_article.pdf

The description says  in the article is quote:

'Two items I am confident come from this earlier period are a
piano insulator and a tumbler (Plate 8 ). The former (Plate 8,
right) is green, has a density of 3.00 g/cc and a uranium
content of 0.22% by wt. It bears a diamond registry mark
equating to registration 120613, 8th July 1859.

The deposition states: “Made and Registered by Percival,
Yates, & Vickers for Thomas Dawkins, Little Warner Street,
Clerkenwell, London”. From this it would seem that the
original article was made by Percival Yates & Vickers but raises doubts as to who owned the moulds.
The matter is significant, as I have examined several other examples of this design. These do not
have the diamond registry mark on the underside but a pattern of either concentric rings or small
squares (Plate 8, left). The density of these was 2.52 g/cc and they had a uranium content of 0.25%-
0.28% by wt. I have also seen this pattern portrayed as
made by the Crown Crystal Glass Company in Australia!
There must surely be some doubt as to whether these
un-marked piano insulators were made by Percival Yates
& Vickers. If they were, then it was probably from
resurrected moulds in the 1890s, which may then have
been sold to the Australian firm. '

(I hope it's ok to quote all this from the article?)
It's relevant because the description is of the insulator on the left and the author says they have been seen with a pattern of either concentric rings or small
squares (Plate 8, left).

My insulator has this small square pattern and looks to be a similar design to the one on the left in plate 8.  However mine is apple green glass but not uranium glass which the one in plate 8 on the left is.

So, could mine be a later incarnation of a PY&V insulator maybe resurrected mold c.1890s, or are they from the Crown Crystal Glass Company Australia?  Mine was bought in a charity shop not on ebay.  Not that this information helps really but just adding it.

The huge weird mark on the base photograph is actually inside the glass along with frits and large bubbles.  It is a bright apple green glass.


Sorry, I've just searched Crown Crystal on here and having looked and looked, this thread came up under that search.
There is some more information here on this thread and Christine has a uranium version - at least I think it is the same as my apple green one:
https://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,49980.0.html

So is it thought that they are unmarked PV weights then please?

m

[thewingedsphinx]

Hi,
I have attached some pictures to this thread.
I think the left hand one is similar to yours and possibly not Percival Vickers and not uv responsive.
The right hand one is the uv responsive Lozenge Dawkins one for Percival Vickers and the middle one looks the same mould but has the rings mentioned in the above thread, possibly a later Percival Vickers one also not uv responsive.

The last picture includes another jelly mould pattern also Percival Vickers.
I don’t think yours is Percival Vickers . Cheers Mike

[thewingedsphinx]

Here are some more pieces with the ring pattern on the base, some of these if not all may have originally been Percival Vickers moulds.
Difficult to know.

Cheers Mike

[thewingedsphinx]

Correction to my first reply at 8.46, all three are uv responsive, the follow up pictures both the jelly mould and small round green one are uv responsive to a degree.

[flying free]

Thanks Mike.
I wonder what they will turn out to be eventually
For some reason I have it in my head that I saw one many moons ago with the chequered pattern on that was said to be French.

m

[flying free]

Your other more recent post on the Percival Yates insulator prompted me to look at this again.  And once again I can't remember where I've seen it recently but I've definitely another reference to this grid formation pattern being French.  I can't remember what it was I saw though, whether it was a piano insulator or another type of item 

[Ivo]

PV as in Portieux Valérysthal?

[flying free]

Thanks for the tip Ivo.  I'll take another look around.  It could have been something I spotted in Pressglas-Korrespondenz, so I could be here for weeks trying to find it

[thewingedsphinx]

PV as in Percival Vickers. These below are called finger patterns, they were made by many manufacturers in England and Europe. I think the Portieux Vallerysthal catalog does show a finger pattern.
Below are two Percival Vickers on the left. On the right is an unknown green one which is quite light weight in comparison and common and then the brown one by FMJ from Belgium.

[flying free]

I need to try and find mine to see if it's lightweight.  I don't think it was but could be mistaking it with the uranium Percival Vickers one I had/have as no idea what I've done with that either.