Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => British & Irish Glass => Topic started by: Max on September 03, 2005, 12:10:40 PM
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Anne E.B recently posted about a "Monster Bowl" she had bought, and requested more information. Whilst flipping through an old edition of The Glass Circle News, I came across a photo of Anne's bowl taken from a recently discovered sales ledger:
http://tinypic.com/ajusew.jpg Anne's bowl, right way up
http://tinypic.com/ajs4lt.jpg Anne's bowl 'upside down plinth'
http://tinypic.com/dbk22d.jpg Photo of 'Century Glass' Mould 450**
The article was about a previously unknown glassworks based in Edmonton, London, known as Century Glass. Glen and Anne (the 'other' Anne... :) )expressed an interest in this article by Nicholas Dolan, which I am using as the basis for my posting:
"The discovery of a hitherto unrecognised glassworks resulted from the donation of a sales ledger to Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead. Numbered 401, it appeared to be the third in a series of ledgers and was labelled "CENTURY GLASS" on the spine. This was identified from the Pottery Gazette Reference Book of 1956, as being the trade name of Century Glassworks Ltd, based at the Angel Factory Colony, Angel Road, Edmonton, London (now part of the A406 North Circular Road).
Their products are listed as Pressed Glassware - biscuit jars, ashtrays, candlesticks, celeries, cigarette boxes, comports, condiments sets, cups and saucers, fruit sets, grapefruits, hotel ware, lemon squeezers, mounting glass, novelties, plates, rose (bowls), salad bowls, salad servers, sundae glasses, trinket sets, tumblers, vases, water sets, hors d'oeuvres sets, sugars and creams, baskets, jardinieres, etc. The ledger contains 59 different pattern names, most evocative of the era's place names, the Festival of Britain etc. as well as those descriptive of the patterns. In fact, their utilitarian products were so all pervading that many houses will still have examples in their cupboards today.
The Angel Factory Colony was established in 1920/21 but it is unlikely that the glassworks was formed there before 1941. The site was redeveloped in the 1980's as a supermarket complex. The ledger spans from 16th April 1945 for celery vases and bowls, to 25th April 1953 for a fancy dish.
None of the glass seems to have been marked, although there is one Application for a Registered Design mould number 41: Toy set. Coffee set. Filed under No. 843996 11/7/45 through G.R. Walsh & Co. Crosby St. Halifax. Circle print, Sugar basin 8gr. Pr small chest. 8 body moulds. 8 bottoms. 6 plungers. 6 rings¯.
The majority of the patterns illustrated are typical honest designs -“ chunky diamonds, crosses, ovals and circles on timeless shapes for an era needing salts, mustards, bowls, candlesticks, trinket sets and vases doubling up as celeries to avoid the luxury tax. Familiar items from the ledger were illustrated. Notable are a bowl with dolphin-shaped handles (mould 417, 15th Feb. 1950, supplied to Schwartz), a stepped square plinth that, upside down, could be used as a bowl (**mould 450, 16th Sept. 1950) and an ashtray for the Pipesmoker with a shaped hollow to hold the bowl of the pipe (mould 504, 29th May 1951)'.
I'm sure Anne E.B. will be cheered to know that she wasn't far wrong in using the stepped plinth in the "upside down" position. :D
With thanks to: Mr Nicholas Dolan, Author of article 'Century Glass', pages 16/17, No.103, Glass Circle News.
Dr D Watts, Glass Circle News Editor & Hon. Vice President www.glasscircle.org
Also thanks to: Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
The above work is not a direct quote, but has been altered slightly by myself for the Glass Message Board. M Kimber
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On the Glass Circle's website it states: "Membership is open to all who are interested in Glass" Around 1985 I first heard about the glass circle from a gentleman who visited our gallery in Piccadilly. Slightly younger and more impressionable than I am today I expressed an interested in joining but was rebuffed and told quite clearly that I could not join as I was a "dealer". The gentleman in question used the word "dealer" as if it was rather unsavoury! Perhaps things have changed....? :D
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More from Century Glass 1950
http://www.ysartglass.com/forum/PG1951-p251-Century-01.jpg
http://www.ysartglass.com/forum/PG1951-p251-Century-02.jpg
http://www.ysartglass.com/forum/PG1951-p251-Century-03.jpg
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Glass Circle was more of a Gentlemans club, but I do beleive they are more open nowadays.
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Glass Circle was more of a Gentlemans club
That's me out then :shock: Actually I was a member for a while.
Many, many thanks, Max, for the information and your transcription. I didn't realise it was Nick Dolan who had written the article. I thought Nick was more into lighthouses today :lol:
Thanks too, to Frank, for the extra illustrations.
Max noted:
a bowl with dolphin-shaped handles (mould 417, 15th Feb. 1950, supplied to Schwartz)
I think I may have a "mystery" bowl that fits the description. Was there an illustration of this item?
Many many thanks again - much appreciated information that I am sure will be of interest to many.
Glen
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I used to have one of the plinths, until someone decided it was perfect for serving rice in. :( It wasn't, still it was a nice clean division into two pieces.
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Thanks Max, this is fascinating, and Frank for the extra pics... you had me dashing off into the kitchen to check if my lemon squeezer was one of those shown (it isn't, but it is glass). :)
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What a revelation !!!
Ok so their production was mainly utilitarian but it seems incredible that their existence was "unknown" !! (except to Frank of course).
Anyway Max thanks for your clear and fully attributed posting making the whole thing so easy to follow.
I'm guessing that Anne EB, the displaced womble one, has not yet seem this ! She will be thrilled when she does !
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I'm glad this article was of use to people on the GMB. :D
I'm not quite sure why Mr Nicholas Dolan should be interested in lighthouses... :shock: ...but here's the Dolphin handled bowl for Glen:
http://tinypic.com/dc3cl3.jpg
Frank...er....seeing Century Glass was hitherto unrecognised, how come you have pictures relating to it??????? (http://tcwozere.co.uk/smileys/ac38.gif)
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Max - define unrecognised :? and you have your answer.
Well, Moncrieff's certainly made some lighthouse bulbs and you will probably find Nazeing involved in Lighthouses too. You need some big tough glass in lighthouses... lenses, mirrors, bulbs etcetera. It is an area of glass history woefully under-researched.
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That's my bowl, Max. Thank you very much indeed :lol: I have wondered for years who made it. Amazing discovery. Thanks again.
In answer to your question, Max:
I'm not quite sure why Mr Nicholas Dolan should be interested in lighthouses...
Nick used to be the Curator of the Shipley Museum in Gateshead (where there is some wonderful local glass). He now works for the National Trust as Property Manager, with a particular interest (I believe) in lighthouses.
Glen
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here's the Dolphin handled bowl for Glen:
http://tinypic.com/dc3cl3.jpg
Erm..... That looks very like my 'Brockwitz' Dolphin handled bowl :shock: http://tinypic.com/dcr38n.jpg Did I turn over two pages at once? :?
Leni
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Nick used to be the Curator of the Shipley Museum in Gateshead (where there is some wonderful local glass). He now works for the National Trust as Property Manager, with a particular interest (I believe) in lighthouses
Ah, I see, thanks for explaining Glen. :) Thanks for your thanks too - it gave me a rosy glow all day! :D
Leni...your bowl does look similar, perhaps the shape was plagiarised? It'd be good to have a better photo than the one supplied in the Glass Circle News to compare with. :?
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Yikes - it COULD be the Brockwitz one now I study it more. It's a hard image to focus on. I have both the Brockwitz one and the weird one that I have never been able to name/attribute. They are similar in many ways - but not that similar.
I will study the image above more closely - I need some help with viewing it first (like my glasses :shock: )
More soon.................
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Dear, oh dear, oh dear. I can't even recognise examples of glass by my favourite manufacturer now! I have no excuse - OK so it was late, I had had a glass of wine, not wearing my specs and I guess (Freudian bit here) maybe I wanted it to be Century. :lol: But there is no doubt about it, the bowl in the extract that Max has showed us is exactly what Leni says (thank you Leni). It's the Brockwitz bowl. I'm embarassed that I didn't spot it right away. I think the words. What a plonker Glen, are totally relevant here. Thanks again Leni.
So, I got Steve to take some pics of the mystery bowl and also our pink Brockwitz bowl (which is a blushing twin to Leni's bowl). Here they are for comparison.
http://tinypic.com/dczfjl.jpg
Unknown bowl
http://tinypic.com/dczgww.jpg
handle of unknown bowl
http://tinypic.com/dczh9u.jpg
Brockwitz bowl
http://tinypic.com/dczh2w.jpg
handle of Brockwitz bowl
As you can see, my mystery bowl is not the one in the Century catalogue.
But of course, that actually gives us more to ponder. It would appear that they were wholesaling Brockwitz glass. So how much of the glass that is shown in their catalogue was actually made by them?
Glen
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Hi folks,
Following on from the references to lighhouses, some people may be interested to see: http://www.uklighthouse.info which has some info about lighthouse lenses made by the Lighthouse Works, Chance Brothers, Smethwick.
I originally learned of the lighthouse glass connection to the Chance Brothers works after seeing a letter linked to the subject by Alan Taylor, creator of the lighthouse website, in issue 67 (Spring 2004) of The Glass Cone (newsletter of the Glass Association).
[In 2003/ 2004, I had attended an auction in South Wales, in order to buy a very interesting and likely Vasart paperweight. While I was there I visited a nature reserve with a lighthouse in situ and, as I do every so often, I hatched a crazy plan. I intended to start a project of photographing as many UK lighthouses as I could - just for the fun of it :!: :!: But my bird-watching interest eventually displaced that idea since it provided me with plenty of fresh air and exercise without having to travel quite so far or to get caught out by dangerous tides, cliffs and so forth.]
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Kev, I remember someone on a Home Education list a few years ago saying that they had written to whoever controls lighthouses and asked for some pics for a project and had been sent a dossier of photos of every lighthouse in the country (for free!). Seems like someone already did this for you! ;)
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Max - I've finally caught up with you on this thread and I am speechless! :lol: What an amazing piece of detective work! 8) Thank you so much for the time it must have taken you in researching and producing the information. I'm delighted that I can now put a name to the piece due to your hard work! The piece is sat on the floor next to me as I write this. It really is quite impressive - but looks at odds with the rest of my glass collection unfortunately, so it will be carefully packed away until I decide what to do with it, (but I won't be serving rice from the plinth Frank :lol: :wink: )
Many thanks too to Frank for the additional illustrations :P . I think I have the no.350 lemon squeezer.
With kind regards - Anne E.B. :D
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Can you post a shot of the lemon squeezer?
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In amongst my ramblings above (where I certainly confused myself and no doubt everyone else....quiet a feat) I wrote:
It would appear that they were wholesaling Brockwitz glass. So how much of the glass that is shown in their catalogue was actually made by them?
The fishy handled bowl made by Brockwitz was also being advertised in the UK by Jules Lang and Co.
Max, did the article state that Century was actually an operational glass works? Did they have any evidence of actual production? Frank - do you know any more about Century?
I googled a bit to see if I could find any record of glass production in Edmonton, but all that I could come up with was electrical engineering and the production of black crepe for funerals (I don't think the latter was connected with the electrical engineering :shock: )
(As an aside, can I say thanks again to Max for all the work in transcribing etc., and also thanks to Leni for waking me up :? )
Glen
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Can you post a shot of the lemon squeezer?
I think I may have got carried away with the Century Glass connection. :roll: It doesn't appear to have as many vertical cuts around the sides http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/glassie/gmb012.jpg but I bet these utilitarian items are quite commonplace, as Max says in her transcript, so I bet someone will have one in their kitchen. :P
Regards - Anne E.B.
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Anne, I think your lemon squeezer is similar to mine... not enough ridges to make it the Century glass one sadly. :lol:
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Definitely a glassworks, quite possibly copied designs as did so many.
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Hi All,
I don't know how much glass Century glass made, but they advertised themselves as importers of continental table and ornamental pottery and glass (Source Pottery Gazette, 1963).
Regards
Chris
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Thanks Chris. I don't have Pottery Gazette material as recently as the 1960s, so I'm grateful to you for your comment. I have scoured what I do have (from earlier decades) and couldn't spot any ads.
Your comment underlines my thinking exactly.
Again, thank you.
Glen
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All the Tinypic images seem to have been munched in this topic. Does anyone still have copies that could be added back for reference please?
Century Glass is back on my radar again as they appear to be the "maker" of some of the commonest of my mystery trinket set pieces. More later when pics are done.
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Century Glass bowl and plinth:-
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Brill! Thanks Anne. :)
Just found two more Century Glassworks reference in the VADS archive which I'll add here for posterity too... (I seem to recall one of these being asked about sometime?)
http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/large.php?uid=79311&sos=0
http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/large.php?uid=79310&sos=0
Updated links plus a new one...
https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=79651&sos=0 (https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=79651&sos=0)
https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=79649&sos=0 (https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=79649&sos=0)
https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=79648&sos=0 (https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=79648&sos=0)
Links dead again, see below...
https://vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/DCA/id/7745/rec/1
https://vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/DCA/id/8784/rec/2
https://vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/DCA/id/7703/rec/4
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OK, now I have some pics to add to this... last week I picked up a trinket set tray and pot, as mentioned it's one of my common unknowns, and the pot is seen with two different lid finials on the same pot/lid, and with two different trays.
I have bought a tray with finial pot version 2 (as usually seen as a set). I also have another tray which is usually seen with finial version 1. So, my thinking is that both pot versions are made by the same people. I also suspect that both trays are made by the same people, and this is where it gets interesting as my new tray has a label! It's the only one of these pattern pieces which I have seen labelled. The label reads: Century, Made in England
I'm adding pics of the labelled tray and the finial version 2 pot here, and will add the other tray and pot version 1 in the next post below.
Comments, additions, observations welcome, especially if you have copies of Century catalogues or adverts!!! 8)
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This shows the second finial shape compared with the one above, plus the other shaped tray, and the matching candlesticks. So far I've found these in clear, pink, and green.
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Another snippet about Century Glassworks Ltd. - there are notices about the winding up of the company in the London Gazette dated Nov 1965 and Aug 1967, so that gives us an approx end date for them.
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A bit more info on Century glass works hope it helps yours Mark http://www.glassmaking-in-london.co.uk/later-glasshouses
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Thanks Mark. :thup: Good to see the updated info there... in fact I have a bit more to add as well from Thomas in Ireland... I'll go dig it out and post it.
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Thought it would be of use Anne, picked one of there square plinths up the other day. Did not realise till i got home the matching vase was on the same stall as well. I blame the tablets lol :cry:
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Oh heck Mark, that's a shame!
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I've since bought a Century Glass plinth and a bowl on separate occasions, but the bowl didn't fit on the plinth, so just something to be aware of.
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Here is the info Thomas Joyce has kindly sent me about Century Glassworks which he describes as some information from the London Gazette and The POTTERY GAZETTE AND GLASS REVIEW...
Century Glassworks Limited
The Century Glassworks Limited opened their showroom at no 148 Holborn London EC1 on the 1st of January 1947. They set about pushing for export sales and appointment agents in Australia (John L. Jamieson - Aberdeen House ā€“ 34 Clarence Street Sydney), and New Zealand (John Raine, G.P.O. Box 1020, Wellington). In 1948 their market strategy for export sales was to attend at the British Industries Fair in Earls Court - also attended the Canadian International Trade Fair Toronto in June. They were manufacturers of glassware: hand blown, pressed ware, machine blown, Bowls, Vases, Jugs, Cruets, Sugars, Creams, in flint and colours.
Their factory was located at the Angel Factory Colony Edmonton Middlesex London. Mr R Winter was chairman of the company. A resolution was passed to put the company in to voluntarily liquidation on the 24th April 1963. It took the liquidator until the 14th of December 1965 to finally close the company.
Thomas has also located images of two Century Glass trinket sets which I shall add info about later. A huge thanks to Thomas for sending me the above and the scans of the sets as well. They have solved two long-standing mysteries. :)
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Anne knows about my recent research into the links between Century and Fountain Glass Works which I have posted under “Topic: Pre-War International Glass Gazetteer (circa 1930)”. But I think it’s worth posting under this thread as well: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uV4jE4AoKUg6r7PL4fjF2mbI_I3HlOtt/view?fbclid=IwAR31jdsuS9ezaE-PnSCXRUgSkB33fBkVbZo75fENMMdyIXMlqEs2Z2-ZOhI
The main directors of both glassworks were from Czechoslovakia (Mr Winter) and Hungary (Mr Richards). My Czech refugee grandparents and parents worked for both companies between 1940 and 1960. I grew up surrounded by Century glass, all gone now.
I hope people find my document "A Czech Glass Factory in Yorkshire, and beyond" useful. (It can also be found on my Facebook page "The Lowit Family - from Bohemia to Britain, and beyond")
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Amazing material Vera!