Topic: Uranium Amber Posy Bowl

[NevB]

This is a 7.5" flat-topped posy bowl in uranium amber glass. My first thoughts were it's Webb Sunshine Amber but I can't find this shape by them although the base looks the same as their ripple pattern bowl. It has a shallow ground pontil, is quite heavy at 580gms and rings nicely. Can anyone confirm a maker?

[Lustrousstone]

The colour is wrong for Webb Sunshine amber: too far on the orange /red side. More of a Stevens and Williams Cairngorm to my eye

[NevB]

Christine, I've had a look at the Cairngorm pieces in your gallery and it is a similar colour however the only S&W posy bowl I can find has a curved top. The colour and the way it's made also suggests possibly Powell Whitefriars, perhaps Gold Amber, has anyone checked to see if their earlier pieces contained uranium?

[Anne]

I have a similar mystery one in blue but it's a bit bigger than yours and the top is more curved http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,3976.0.html

[NevB]

Thanks Anne, looking at other identified bowls, I'm as sure as I can be that mine is Powell/Whitefriars, from the way it's made, the shallow ground pontil and the red colour which shows in the thicker parts. Of course with no catalogue image it can't be certain. I would say yours is P/W too.

[Lustrousstone]

As far as I am aware the only uranium that Powell used was in their straw opal (not in the gold amber), so I think you can rule that out. S&W is not well documented, so I don't think you can rule them out. Could be Walsh Walsh, but English is probably as good as it gets

[NevB]

I believe Powell used uranium in their green wine glasses etc. in the 19thC. and could have continued into the 20thC. and also used it in their amber glass. The problem is there doesn't appear to be much information about the period between 1865 and 1931. I don't think the colour's right for Walsh and it does seem heavily made for them or S&W.

[Lustrousstone]

I've never found/seen any uranium in Powell glass apart from straw opal but I'm not a Powell expert. The Whitefriars mushroom posy (8993) is a totally different shape with a downcurved top and a bulbous base