Topic: pressed tumblers & goblets

[Paul S.]

in an effort to inflame passions for the humble goblet and tumbler, here then are those designs Registered with the BoT, as opposed to (probably) the far greater number which were not.       

The opener - 42635  -  is from 1847 and came out of the Richardson stable, when they were at their height with what they called opaline, their patented Vitrified pieces, and the craze for Greek and Roman decoration.
Not so easy to accept that this was pressed, perhaps it wasn't  -  the appearance automatically makes us think it's a three-part hand-made glass, like so many drinking glasses with distinct feet, stems and bowls.          Never owned one, so unsure as to whether pressed or hand-made.
Believe the decoration is transfer printed, and the guy with the goatskin water holder is presumably the image depicted on the other side of the glass.
Probably described as 'opaline', though whether that simply means white opaque glass, or the opal hued stuff I've no idea.         These pieces would probably have had a diamond lozenge plus the wording  'Richardson Vitrified', though if this wasn't a pressed item, then assume the lozenge would also be applied by transfer - or painted?
Of course, you'll never see an example  -  since this one is neither humble nor inexpensive, and those remaining are either in museums or with folk who have very deep pockets -  there was a very similar piece, though with a different transfer image, sold in the Michael Parkington sale at Christie's in 1998, and the pre-sale estimate for the goblet and a water jug was £400 - £600 then.
After this one, everything else can only be downhill.

Reg. 46523 -  never heard of John Fell Christy  -  but the address said Stangate Glass Works, Lambeth, so assume they were manufacturers.
An attractive goblet - not sure of the colouring on the stem part, and again a piece that we are very unlikely to find.

Reg. 49021 - here we are down to the utility clear glass tumbler - not unattractive design  -  don't recall every seeing an example though.

Lastly - Reg. 54664 from Oct. 1848.          Why I've cropped the picture and lost an image which would have included the Rd. No. I've no idea, but can guarantee this is 54664 from Joseph Green of B'ham and first Registered on 2nd October 1848.

Others will be slow coming and a mixture of tumblers and goblets.           Hope they are of some interest and might even help someone somewhere to put a name to a design.       They will cease in February 1884, which is the date when each separate Registered CLASS ceased having its own dedicated series of Nos.             After that date almost all classes were lumped together by the BoT, and numbered consecutively.       It then becomes very time consuming going through records of twelve other CLASSES in order to locate the odd glass Registration.

[neilh]

I've slogged through those post 1884 books Paul, it is indeed very tiresome. The later ones tend to be drawn on standard A4 sized card. There is a big fade off of tumblers / goblets post 1880 as the pressed trade moved away from the UK manufacturers. There are a couple of tumbler registrations for the Manchester firms post 1884, but the designs are remarkably unremarkable.

[Paul S.]

Hi Neil  -  yes, quite agree with you, and generally the only time I research designs after 1884  -  and I have spent a lot of time doing just that  -   is if someone here requests images of a particular Reg. No., plus I've also looked through much of that later period for my own research.           
I think what most surprised me with the post 1884 archive books was  …………both the size of the books - and the vast amount of textile and wallpaper pattern Registrations.

Most of the tumbler and goblet Registrations are utility in nature, nothing like the Richardson design, above  -  hardly exciting, but there's much satisfaction having found a piece in the wild, and then being able to match it to the original factory drawing.

[agincourt17]

Thank you for showing these, Paul.

There is a dearth of detailed information about all the early glass design registrations, either in the literature or online) so I will add these details to the GMB RD database a.s.a.p. 

Fred.

[Paul S.]

hello Fred  -  thanks as always for transferring all Registered details to the GMB Rd. database.             Goblets and tumblers  - at least the utility clear glass bog standard sort  -  have probably never had much of a following, so information is less than good.            I've more to come, though suspect there are more tumblers than goblets, and details will be a little slow in appearing.

[agincourt17]

Some notes concerning the 4 registered designs in the opening post:

RD 42635, registered 12 April 1847 by W[illiam] Hayden] B[enjamin & J[onathan] Richardson, [Wordsley Glass Flintworks], Wordsley, Stourbridge. Class 3.
Shown on page 289 of 'Victorian Decorative Glass' by Mervyn Gulliver with the following description: "Design for a goblet decorated with a transfer printed picture of two figures carrying water containers". Interestingly, shown alongside is a drawing from the Richardson's RD 42634 of the same date, described as "Design for a water jug decorated with a transfer printed picture  of two figures carrying large water containers".

RD 46523, registered 25 October 1847 by John Fell Christy & Co., Stangate Glass Works, Lambeth.  Class 3.
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1087/vase-a-j-f/ 
shows an enamelled glass vase  decorated in the Classical Greek style made ca. 1849 from the Stangate Glass Works. . "Companies such as that of J. F. Christy, whose speciality was painted decoration, looked to Greek 'red-figure' ceramics for ideas...  Here J. F. Christy has chosen the simplest, handle-less shape but seeks to imitate the ware itself with black glass and painting in red enamel. The source has not been identified for the image of a man, not quite a satyr with a tail only, holding the bridle of a rearing ass. In 1849 the company was given an award by the Society of Arts for 'specimens of enamelled glass' ."
https://glassian.org/Prism/Patent/GB1841D742/drawing.html
shows a Patent design registration for No. 742 · Improved Coal Plate · D IIa; Registered by John Fell Christy & Compy. of Stangate Glass Works, New Palace Road, Lambeth, in July, 1841. This appears to be a circular coal-hole cover {presumably of cast iron} with four circular glass inserts.
See also
http://blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/DMUSE_ST29/
and from
https://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,51033.msg289769.html#msg289769
reply#76: 'Very little is known about the glassworks of J.F. Christy at Lambeth. Surviving examples attributable to his firm all date from the late 1840s, when he was producing painted opaline glass in the manner of Richardson's of Stourbridge, who were the leading producers of painted glass at this time. Like Richardson's, he produced ornamental wares inspired by Greek vases and by contemporary French opaline glass.' [see also RD 42635 above].
 
RD 49021, registered 17 January 1848 by John Davies, Stourbridge, Worcestershire. Class 3.
On 24th January 1846, John Davis leased Wheeley's Brettell Lane Glasshouses from William Seager Wheeley for twenty-one years. In 1850, Davis formed a parnership with William Greathead and Richard Green. Greathead had worked for William Gammon, glass manufacturer of Aston near Birmingham, then from 1836 to 1843 at Hawkes' Dudley Flint Glassworks, the last two years as a partner, then following the failure of Hawkes', a further seven years at Badger's Phoenix Glassworks. Richard Green had been involved in the glass trade since joining Hawkes in 1837 at the age of fifteen. John Davis dominated the partnership. He lived with his wife and family in Brettell Lane.

RD 54664, registered by Joseph Green, , Birmingham, Warwickshire, on 2 October 1848. Class 3.
No record in Grace's 1835 Birmingham Directory.

[neilh]

There's a line in the Pottery Gazette that says the early pressers of glass were Bacchus, Molineaux Webb, and Davis, Greathead & Green

[Paul S.]

marvellous contribution Fred - thanks.              Gulliver was the one place I didn't look for the Richardson Regs.         In fact the water jug shape/design for Rd. 42634, in Gulliver, is exactly the same design as the jug which accompanied the goblet in the Parkington sale, except that the decoration on the auction items appear to show different scenes compared to Gulliver.             Christie's entry reads …………………. 
"A Richardson's 'Vitrified' opaline jug and goblet'  -  the oviform jug painted in sepia  etc. etc.   ………….   "      appears they overlooked that the decoration was transfer printed, and Rd. Nos. not included in their catalogue.              However the house did make reference to Hugh Wakefield's book 'Nineteenth Century British Glass' which does include information on these items  …...…..   Wakefield was published 1982, but Gulliver's work was still four years away from publication at that date  -  so likely that the only place you might see images of both Reg. Nos. was in Wakefield.

You might get the lady with the big stick to change the Gulliver page No. to read 259.

Presumably the jug couldn't have been pressed, but I'm still unsure about the goblet  -  or do we think this was made traditionally in three parts?

Some of those Richardson group scenes for transfer printing, give me a laugh - it's the cavorting postures that look very posed.

thanks again  -  will try for some more items by the weekend.

[agincourt17]

Paul, from what little I know of 1840s Richardson pieces, I don't think that the Richardson RD 42635 goblet would have been pressed; I imagine that the easiest way of manufacturing such a standard shape  then would have been traditional hand-blowing.
Richardson certainly did produce early pressed glass items, though - Hajdamach (British Glass 1800-1914) shows a Richardson pressed glass tumbler in page 335 (Plate 302) and two designs for pressed glass sugar bowls on pages 336 (plate 305) and 307 (plate 306) [all dated1840s].  Plate 302 also shows a pressed glass tumbler from a design registered by Benjamin Richardson in 1849.

Neil,The earliest pressed glass piece from a registered design that I have come across has been RD 58584, registered by Thomas Gammon of Birmingham on 18 April 1849 (see photos) and I find it interesting that William Greathead had worked with Thomas Gammon prior to his partnership with Davis and Green in 1850.

Fred.

[Paul S.]

thanks Fred  -  expect you're right about the goblet's manufacture.              Might look in the V. & A. gallery some time and if they have one of these will ask for a look.             I've pix of a Thomas Gammon tumbler which will be in the next batch.