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Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => British & Irish Glass => Topic started by: allan_666 on January 26, 2012, 08:12:48 PM

Title: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: allan_666 on January 26, 2012, 08:12:48 PM

Can anyone please give me any info on this Lovely cut crystal glass vase it has the GR for George and 1937 cut into the vase but not easy to photo so have shown a reverse pic also .measures 6" or 15cm high by nearly 4" or 10cm at the widest point and weighs aprox 600g.Wonderfull Quality thick glass with lovely cut detail but alas the pics dont do it justice ! It has a long clear ring when struck like a tuning fork ! acid etched mark to the base British Sawrex.I have bought and sold glass for many years but i have never heard of this works but i see theres a piece on ebay.

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: Paul S. on January 26, 2012, 09:49:41 PM

hello Allan  -  if you use the GMB search facility and type in 'British Sawrex', you will find - in addition to your entry today - two other threads.     I hope they are of help.    I agree that pieces so marked seem very scarce  -  I have seen only one in several years of collecting  -  although it has to be said that I haven't gone out of my way to look for them.        Presumably a period vase, and very attractive, although unable to help any more other than to suggest it was a commemorative piece of sorts :)

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: Paul S. on January 26, 2012, 09:53:06 PM

P.S..........sorry, overlooked the fact that you had already stated  'Commemorative'.         Perhaps this should be moved to British Glass.

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: allan_666 on January 26, 2012, 09:57:29 PM

thank you Paul

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: BRADBURY7308 on January 26, 2012, 10:00:35 PM

Just today in north wales i saw a vase marked as this one i was tempted it had quality too it interested to know if wrex is the manufacturer also!!!!

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: Paul S. on January 27, 2012, 09:59:02 AM

I've just had a conversation with TNA at Kew  -  and surprisingly they appear not to have any information or links to names like British Sawrex or Sawrex Glass - rather disappointing.     So rather stumped for the time being, but will persist if I can think of a different angle.           If you Google, you get something called - The Sawrex Glass Marketing Co., Ltd., although now dissolved, but whether they had connections with, or were one and the same as British Sawrex, I don't know.

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: Bernard C on January 27, 2012, 11:12:39 AM

I've only just looked at this as I'm rather wary of topics with titles in all capitals.   Anyway it's OK, or, perhaps I should have said, ok.  ;D

I'm 100% certain who made this vase, because it tells you.   Suppose you want to call a range "Rex", a popular brand name during the mid 20th century.   You can't call it just "Rex" on its own, as it might get confused with PYREX, and Jobling's directors and senior management might get rather upset, quite justifiably.   So you do a portmanteau job on it with something else quite different to "PY".   How about, for example, combining it with your company initials?

Do I need to spell it out?

Bernard C.  :angel:

ps — any chance of a photograph of the mark, please?   How does the lettering compare with the mark on my 1938 Raybould Tazza (click to enlarge):

(http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/albums/userpics/10318/normal_DSCF0028%7E0.jpg) (http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/albums/userpics/10318/DSCF0028%7E0.jpg)

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: allan_666 on January 27, 2012, 12:18:39 PM

Too feint and small to photograph but the lettering is very similar in solid capital letters

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: Anne on January 27, 2012, 02:38:00 PM

There's another Sawrex piece on eBay currently, useful for comparison?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150610745046

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: Paul S. on January 27, 2012, 02:46:23 PM

so what are you saying Bernard - that S. & W. were responsible for these few pieces of SAWrex that turn up occasionally?           I didn't think this little problem had been resolved yet, unless you were keeping success quiet :)

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: Bernard C on January 27, 2012, 04:49:02 PM

Paul — This is the first time I've come across SAWREX.   I hadn't seen the earlier topics.   To me it's obvious.   Whether you regard that as problem solved is up to you.   I'm happy with my explanation above, and, as far as I'm concerned, the problem is solved.   The match on the font is just confirmation (thanks, Allan for your comment, and Anne for the link).

Bernard C.  8)

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: Paul S. on January 27, 2012, 05:08:45 PM

not quite Bernard, see here............. http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,25288.msg9573.html#msg9573 ............and you suggested Stevens & Williams then, although in the absence of finding any written record of the word being used, there may have been some doubt as to your seriousness :).
Looking through 'The Crystal Years' it becomes obvious that they were into Royal Warrants in a very big way, and must have produced more pieces for the royal top draw than perhaps any other manufacturer.

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: Bernard C on January 28, 2012, 07:29:59 AM

Paul — I had forgotten my first encounter with SAWREX.   It was over half a lifetime ago.   It wasn't that long since I had learnt to walk outdoors again.   I can remember it well.   Janet took me to the picnic spot at Thornborough, by the huge Roman tumuli, and made me walk from the car park to the medieval bridge and back, all of 200 yards.   I was terrified!   We dropped in there yesterday as we were passing, and went down to the bridge for a very short game of Poohsticks.

Quote from: Bernard C on May 13, 2005, 03:51:31 PM

...   At the beginning of the '30s S&W were looking for a new name, and you may recall my suspicions about their trading in the USA under different names.   ...

I was being serious then, but my reply above was written from a new starting point.   Now I knew for certain about my Raybould Tazza and S&W's export production under the name Vernay.   So my assessment had changed from a strong possibility to certainty.   As I said above the match on the font is further confirmation.   Also the pontil finish on the piece in Anne's ebay link is so S&W, even more confirmation.   Attributions don't come much better than that!

Bernard C.  8)

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: nigel benson on January 28, 2012, 01:40:58 PM

Whilst you may well be right Bernard, it is still only a hypothisis by yourself - and therefore not a certainty.

It has not been proved. By this token, many of my thoughts about glass and various manufacturers would have long been fact, however, rather than start an unfounded rumour (that is without factual evidence) that later might need changing I prefer to keep much of that to myself. Whilst it is good to suggest an idea, I suggest it is still just thought.

The Scots would say, at best, "NOT Proven".

Nigel

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: Bernard C on January 28, 2012, 04:14:34 PM

Quote from: nigel on January 28, 2012, 01:40:58 PM

...   it is still only a hypothisis by yourself - and therefore not a certainty.   ...

Nigel — Ah.   So that's the problem.   Please would you give us a list of whose hypotheses are OK and whose are not.   It would be a great help to us all.    ;D

I note that you aren't yet ready for font evidence.   Please let us know when it becomes acceptable.   You better hurry up a little as you might find youself rather isolated.

... and finally, I can't think of any glassworks that would use a competitor's initials as the first half of their own new portmanteau brand or trading name.   Can you?

Bernard C.  8)

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: nigel benson on January 28, 2012, 04:25:57 PM

Quote

I note that you aren't yet ready for font evidence

Really Bernard, where do I assert that?

And, you're happily ignoring this comment it seems:

Quote

you may well be right Bernard

Nigel

Title: Re: BRITISH SAWREX COMMEMORATION CRYSTAL VASE GR 1937 ?
Post by: neilh on January 28, 2012, 07:16:54 PM

According to this link, the last known address for Sawrex was in Leicester
http://www.alertdata.co.uk/browsemorecompanies.php?start=Sa&page=813

This can sometimes mislead though. For example, the above site shows Molineaux Webb located in Birmingham rather than Manchester, but this is because after it closed down, the company name was taken by a Birmingham firm who continued to use the brand to produce lamps... so it's technically true that the brand of Molineaux Webb ended its days in Birmingham despite over 100 years in Manchester!