Topic: Registered design 29th May 1872 Manchester opaque blue Dolphin Oil lamp base

[flying free]

are these the MW sphinxes ?

https://www.ukauctioneers.com/auction_catalogue.cfm?d&itemID=20E9CB0FD7D62DF8D4E7FECEFF580FECED26ABC9&auction=21EBCE0DD7&showLots=50&sortBy=estimate_high&lotView=list&imagesOnly=N

[thewingedsphinx]

Yes they are.

[flying free]

Thank you   They don't look the same at all do they unfortunately.

On the reg date info:
I have no idea how these registrations worked in practise, however just to note Percival Vickers registered a design on 30th May 1872
http://www.great-glass.co.uk/glass%20notes/lozenge3.htm

Number: 263032

 Percival, Vickers & Co   
30-May-72

parcel : 7

The closest date before that is 11 May 1872 John Derbyshire

[thewingedsphinx]

Thanks, Yes I’ve checked out that list, remember they are probably all class 3 for glass. We are close?
So near but so far..

[flying free]

Yes, that's what I mean ... I don't know how they worked really but just thought worth noting.

Percival Vickers seems to have done a dolphin vase here:
http://www.victorianpressedglass.com/gallery_other.htm

I wonder what the reg number is for it?
ah, apparently date code for 1874
https://picclick.co.uk/Antique-Uranium-Vaseline-Glass-Percival-Vickers-Fish-263888179280.html

[thewingedsphinx]

Yes I won a green one of those the other day, not the same, look at the second row down you will see another blue vase by Burtles Tate similar opaque blue.

[flying free]

ah,I don't perceive that as the same blue as the lamp   It's lighter.  I know it's all perception and lighting and batch mixes etc, but I still think it's slightly different.

However ... it could be that a Burtles and Tate link is worth searching for.

Again this is probably a ridiculous question but is it worth looking at who registered metal work designs on the date on the lozenge?  or is that an enormous job?  It could just be that a glassmaker will be found amongst those registrations.
Apologies if you've already done this.

m

[thewingedsphinx]

Thanks already tried that, what’s frustrating with the archives is that I’ve got the exact date but I still can’t find it from that. But I’m not an expert on that site.

[flying free]

Isn't it most likely that the burner will have been a Hinks Duplex for that period?

Example here:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1138513560/stunning-very-large-royal-doulton

No, wait.  I can't believe a maker of a pressed glass base put a reg design of an oil burner maker on it's glass. That would be odd. I wonder where the mold came from?  Was it a mold for making metal 'snub-nose sturgeon' copy bases first?  Is that possible?

m

[flying free]

ok some names for you here:

https://baldwinhamey.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/dolphin-lampposts/

The lamps were modelled by C. H. Mabey.  C. H. Mabey was a sculpture along with his father and his son.  His son appears to have had the same initials however he was born in 1867 so it wouldn't have been him who modelled the lamps.

There is lots more information in  the replies/comments on the blog  about replicas of the sturgeon lampposts being made also but they are much more recent so not a lot to go on.  Worth a read for manufacturers names etc.
(and some discussion over the use of the description 'sturgeon' with one commentator saying that in old references they are called dolphin lamps.)