Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Anik R on December 21, 2010, 12:25:41 PM
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Can anyone tell me why my two decanters have numbers etched on the base and on the stoppers? What do these numbers denote?
The bulbous decanter (with a polished pontil mark) has got the number 4, while the other decanter (with a star pattern to the base) has got a tiny 79.
Thank you for your help. :)
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And one more picture, this time of the whole decanters:
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They're called tie numbers. Stoppers are often individually fitted to hand-made decanters, so marking them ensures the right stopper goes in the right decanter.
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Oh my, that was super-quick!
Thank you, Christine :kissy:
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A number of years ago I spied a nice Stuart decanter in a pawnshop. On inspection I noted tboth stopper & base had 22 scratched in. I enquired why that was so and his explanation was the he scratched them so he got the right stopper with its original decanter when he came to sell it or return it.
Ross
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It's more likey to have happened in the factory that the pawn shop
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Thank you for the responses. :)
These decanters have been in my family for well over 40 years. I've got no knowledge of them being acquired from a pawn shop.
It is interesting, however, that the 'etchings' on the stoppers differ from the etchings on the bases -- the numbers on the stoppers are much cruder. :-\
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http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,19831.0.html 8)
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Thank you, Anne! (I wasn't aware that stoppers were often made elsewhere... that might certainly explain why the etchings are different on base and stopper.) I'm perfectly satisfied. :)
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Hello,
These marks are not usually etched, rather they are incised using a stylus. Etching is when acid is used to make the mark, which would preclude its use in this situation, since speed would be of the essence.
Other than the use of the term 'tie numbers' on this site, can anyone direct me to a reference where it has been used in the past? Thanks.
Nigel
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These marks are not usually etched, rather they are incised using a stylus. Etching is when acid is used to make the mark, which would preclude its use in this situation, since speed would be of the essence.
I used the word 'etch' only because I felt the numbers were (quickly) made with a sharp instrument -- one of the definitions my dictionary provides. But I'm glad to learn that 'incised' is a more appropriate choice in this case.
Thank you, Nigel.
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Hi Anik i read somewhere a few years back that some firms had a person who was called a stopperer whos job it was to grind and polish in each stopper to a decanter and mark both with the corresponding number to save any mix up . sounds about right to me . :thup: :fc: :ho:
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JP, if you could recall where you read that it would be immensely helpful. :)
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Thank you, JP -- that does sound logical (and terribly mundane for the 'stopperer'... good thing the decanters were empty, or else he/she would be tempted to drink away their boredom :-X)
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Anne if i could remember it would be a B miracle probably at least thirty years ago , (before you were born ) :fc:
I have a whole double wardrobe full of glass books...! no clothes . :-[
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:ooh: JP I now have a mental piccie of you sat naked reading glass books.... :-[ I'm far too young for that sort of thinking, you know! :thud:
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Anne you have made my year , never too young never too old always just right ... may you get all you wish for Happy new year . jp
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Hello,
Certainly, in some cases, stoppers were made by a seperate company and bought in by the maker of the vessel. Therefore the stoppers would be made as blanks, either to be cut, engraved or etched to match the base should it be decorated, and/or, for the peg to be ground into the base. This would be true even if the stopper were made in-house.
Logically then, a stopperer would be required to fit the stopper to the base, wherever it was made, and numbers would likely be placed on each matching piece to ensure that they did not get mixed up.
That much we know, however, if the term 'tie numbers' was coined on the GMB, which I believe it was, (by Bernard, if memory serves well) then that should be acknowledged in the way it is referred to, in order that readers both now, and in the future, understand that this is the case. (For instance "They're becoming known as 'Tie numbers' would indicate recent usage.) This will then stop the need to track down the terms' origin :) :)
On a lighter note, I'm not sure that I'm looking forward to your next visit to a glass fair JP........ no clothes
:huh: :o ;)
Nigel
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When Allister Malcolm made my claret jug, he told me the stopper had to be made first because it's easier to make the bottle part to fit a stopper than it is to fit a stopper to a bottle.
However, I do know that Isle of Wight Studio Glass have a grindy machine which makes stoppers and bottley bits fit each other.
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With nothing but a dilly duck for modesty? :ooh: