Topic: Uranium glass ribbed bowl, Whitefriars Wealdstone?

[Ekimp]

Could this uranium glass bowl be from Whitefriars Wealdstone range for Wuidart? It is 4.25 inches tall with a neat round polished pontil and lots of wear. It rings when flicked. The ribs are top to bottom, quite thick and can be felt mainly on the inside.

Looking at the Wuidart catalogue at: https://whitefriars-glass.com/wuidart.php, the exact shape of my bowl doesn’t appear although it looks like a more spherical version of W72 and W73 (but with vertical ribs) and W76. The catalogue shows designs in the range from W1 to W91 but I count 16 numbers within that range that aren’t shown so maybe my bowl could be one of those?

The foot, ribs and overall look appear right compared to the catalogue and when compared to this one which also has a similar polished pontil and wear: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php?topic=29791.0

Another one here: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php?topic=29791.0 where it is also stated that rib orientation can be different from those illustrated in the catalogue.

If not Wealdstone, any other ideas? Many thanks, Mike.

[Paul S.]

Hi Mike  -  just a little rambling from someone who knows almost nothing about W/Fs, and as usual taking information from my books - but hope of interest, and even a little help, possibly.

In the first half of the C19 James Powell produced one of their historically famous types of glass which they called 'topaz' - a rich clear amber yellow glass which contained u. oxide.     In the second half of the C19 came one of their most celebrated inventions, the 'straw opal'  -  and again this contained uranium (from what I'm reading, 'blue opal' lacked any u. content), and production of straw opal continued for many years, though I'm unable to say whether it was still being made in the early years of the C20.

The crunch bit of my point is that - and I could be wrong - I'm going to suggest from the pieces of Powell and W/Fs that I see in books and in the flesh, that the Company didn't produce glass containing uranium oxide for the bulk of the C20, which will mean that your vase is likely not W/Fs.

Optically ribbed glass was fashionable in the first thirty to forty years of the C20, and production started at Wealdstone c. 1923, so your piece may well have some age, but possibly not W/Fs in view of the uranium content.
Obviously, comment from others who may be better informed about the factory would be essential.

[Ekimp]

Thanks Paul, always helpful
I know very little about Whitefriars/Powell and couldn’t remember ever seeing something more modern looking from them with uranium glass. I had a feeling there was some earlier frilly stuff.

I now have Lesley Jackson’s Whitefriars book and read in there about the Wealdstone range that there was at least one colour (lilac) that was a new colour “devised exclusively for the Wealdstone range” so thought there maybe other colours used that wouldn’t be considered a Whitefriars’ colour? With uranium glass being popular in the 1930s I thought it might be a possibility given the similarities of the other features of the bowl, if not the precise shape.

Hopefully someone can confirm definitely not it’s a nice bowl anyway.