Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Bernard C on June 09, 2007, 06:44:53 PM
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See http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7390
I am sure I have seen this vase or a picture of it before, but I can't find it. I had a feeling that it might be Sowerby, but it could be Continental.
Any help would be welcomed. The usual information — glassworks / pattern no. / name / lunch date / production period / &c.
TIA,
Bernard C. 8)
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Hello Bernard, first idea was Reich 1934, but I cannot trace it either :'(
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Pamela — Grateful thanks, and apologies for wasting your time, as it is English, and I should have known what it was straight away. I'm just surprised that no-one else recognised it.
It is Bagley, pattern number 3185 Marquis, launched (lunched!) early 1950s, and appears as a drawing in the 1950s and 1964 trade catalogue entries reproduced in Bowey, Parsons & Parsons.
Pontefract Museum has an example, see here (http://www.wakefieldmuseumcollections.org.uk/index.asp?page=item&filename=bagley.mdf&itemId=WAKGMP%20:%20P2001.140), although with a very strange production period in the associated notes, as the 3000 series pattern numbers were sequential, and pattern 3141 Carnival was a design registered in November 1946, giving us a fairly accurate cut off between pre- and post-war pattern numbers.
These Marquis vases seem quite scarce. I wonder why?
Bernard C. 8)
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Hi Bernard,
Possibly due to the period. After the war, more items were rationed, than had been during the war itself.
Rationing did not, as many seem to assume, apply only to food, tyres, alcohol, and much more were covered. Those nine years after the end of hostilities in Europe, were hard for many. Certainly food-wise, the last items were de-restricted, only in May and June 1954.
I have not been able to find much else, but I think post-war austerity measures are likely to have been a major factor.
Regards,
Marcus
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I wonder whether it appears scarce because nobody recognises it. It's not what you'd call describable, therefore nothing to tag it with in the old memory cells. There's a plethora of these conical pseudo cut glass vases and when I saw it I certainly thought I'd seen it before.
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Marcus — Do you recall Adam Dodds telling us that in the late 1940s there was a boom period when Sowerby could sell everything they made and more? I think the explanation lies more with Christine's plethora, or a design that didn't particularly appeal, than with rationing and restrictions. Smaller, more innovative designs like 3081 Equinox, 3170 Somerset, and 3180 Spinette (incidentally the very last Art Deco pattern put into production by a British glassworks, only a quarter of a century late — now that's proof of the conservatism of the great British public) were selling like hot cakes!
Christine — I actually quite like it. It's bold and chunky, and it looks good on the window ledge. It seems to be eminently practical for a bunch of a dozen daffodils or roses.
Bernard C. 8)
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Which may be another reason why it appears scarce? No one's chucked them out yet >:D
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I posted mine on this board last September in the hope that somebody may know who made it - maybe this is where you saw it?
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,7232.msg61215.html#msg61215 (http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,7232.msg61215.html#msg61215)
I read a post from Gill yesterday http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,14478.0.html (http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,14478.0.html) in which Mosquito's response led me to the Wakefield Museum site and an ID - confirmed by Bernard in this thread.
Thank you all
Hil ;D
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Except that glassworks were severely restricted, late 1940's, in selling to a domestic market. The boom was for exports and I am not convinced it was that much of a boom. Perhaps it was a perception in the rush to re-tool after the war.
INQUIRIES in the Birmingham and Stourbridge flint glass trade made on the eve of the Christmas holidays indicated that the leading firms would start the New Year with fairly good commitments on overseas account. The position may not be as favourable as it was twelve months ago, but in the domestic and fancy ware section there is every indication that capacity production will be required during the opening months of 1950 in order to keep pace with the volume of export orders on hand. The past year has been a more difficult one from the point of view of securing new business because of the extensions of import restrictions, but a perusal of the Board of Trade returns for the first nine months of the year suggests that the total output for 1949 will at least equal that of the previous twelve months.
PG 1-1950 courtesy The Glass-Study.com
South Africa and “Other British Countries” are the only ones showing an increase in the amount of domestic and fancy glassware exported from this country during the first nine months of this year, compared with the corresponding period last year. Australia, New Zealand, and British East Africa all show decreased British glassware imports, while, as far as values are concerned, every country listed, with the exception of “Other British Countries and the Irish Republic” shows a decrease compared with the figures for the corresponding nine months of last year.
PG 12-1949 courtesy The Glass-Study.com
Domestic and Fancy Glassware exports :
| year | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 |
| weight cwt | 105,731 | 127,245 | 127,674 |
| value £ | 909,645 | 1,081,895 | 973,121 |
courtesy The Glass-Study.com
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It wasn't just Sowerbys. Immediately after WW2 nearly everything was in short supply and manufacturers had a field day, whether the stuff went for export or into the home markets. Car dealers, for instance, quite seriously were quoting 20 plus years for delivery. Of course desperate customers had their names on umpteen lists and the bubble eventually burst.
Re items which never turn up at boot sales etc (on this and another recent thread), I've been meaning to mention Sowerbys' bowls 2370, which came in about five sizes. We made large numbers and I have a set which has been in almost daily use for over 50 years, yet I have NEVER (well, since I started taking notice maybe ten years ago!) seen any on sale. Although quite attractive they are hardly collectors' items, but they are very useful so anyone inheriting any probably keeps them and gets rid of any vases etc which are not to their taste. That's my theory, anyway. I know, because they are much used, a lot will have been broken but that cannot be the whole story. There is another, plainer, Sowerby set whose number I forget which rarely appears and the same applies to a couple of Davidson lines.
Adam D.
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Thanks, Adam. My father was offered a 1939 Lanchester after waiting years. He didn't refuse, and thought himself very lucky indeed! That was about 1952.
Please would everyone note that it is the Wakefield Museums' website, but the Bagley collection is displayed in a dedicated room in Pontefract Museum, which is one of of the two museums in Wakefield District. Please don't go to Wakefield Museum expecting to see Bagley glass!
Bernard C. 8)