Topic: Heavy pressed glass bowl - ID = Molineaux Webb

[keith]

No marks, 5.5 inches tall, lots of wear and very heavy for it's size, English maybe ? 

[neilh]

Molineaux Webb suite pattern 17 circa 1860

[keith]

Thanks neilh, very pleased with the find 

[Paul S.]

Is this Registration 186463 from 1st May 1865, by any chance - or was this design un-Registered Neil?

[neilh]

It was never registered. There is a distinctive type of "fat lip" pressed glass that Molineaux Webb made just before they started registering stuff in the 1860s. It is actually of the highest quality of anything they made in terms of finish, I'm wondering if it was meant for hotels or ships etc.

[Paul S.]

thanks - Keith's bowl (probably an unlidded sugar too) bears a striking resemblance to 186463 (M.W.) - which looks to have a 'fat lip' - though the latter does sport a Greek Key around the bowl, whereas Keith's has plain frosting only.
Perhaps the factory found this shape to be a successful item, so maintained it when Registering 186463 in May 1865 (which they described as a sugar basin)  -  certainly sugar bowls were popular in the pressed range of utility designs in the mid to late C19.

[neilh]

Perhaps I should have said curled lip as it goes up and over on the top edge. The whole frosted piece is significantly better made than the 1865 registration. This is where my lack of knowledge in glassmaking techniques lets me down, has it been fire polished maybe?

Anyway I have three pieces from this set, the sugar bowl in two sizes, and an enormous 12 inch dish, seen here in overhead with the sugar for size comparison

[Paul S.]

perhaps this is where W/Fs got the idea for their cog wheel edging        These M.W. pieces look v.g.   -  like you, my knowledge of techniques in making pressed material is almost non-existent - I'd just imagined that almost all pressed wares weren't fire polished, unless the seams were v. poor, but that's really only a guess.