Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Unresolved Glass Queries => Topic started by: Pinkspoons on June 14, 2007, 04:15:50 PM
-
These were unearthed in a parental clear-out (as in my parents were clearing out their junk, not me clearing out the parents and finding these glasses concealed under them. Well, probably not, anyway).
They've been in the family since at least the late 1940s after my sailor grandfather won them in a game of cards (many many family heirlooms seem to have been acquired by gambling sailor grandparents). They were originally in a presentation box (long since thrown away), but my mother remembers that on the box it said that the gilding was real gold, and not just coloured paint.
H=65mm D=50mm, and they're really very light and delicate.
Shot Glass (http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/pinkspoons/danish-shot.jpg)
Any clues? I can't really find anything similar by Kastrup / Fyens, the likely culprits in Denmark. Kastrup did have an identical shape in production from 1886 - 1934, and Fyens in 1890, but nothing with this decoration. I expect that many factories were also making this shape in thin glass.
Could they be from outside of Denmark?
-
Isn't that the swiss flag the ship is flying?
Carolyn
-
The white cross on the Swiss flag doesn't go right to the edges... plus it's a land-locked country, so galleons would probably be wasted on them! ;D
-
Naughty Nic, the Swiss do have a millitary Navy, and quite a long history with merchant shipping 8)
-
I didn't know that.
But... where do they keep their ships? Parked in a nearby lake? ;D
-
I think the Swiss Navy practices on Lake Lucerne...
As for the tot, this transfer is used by Chance on the Lotus tot glasses, although these can be easily distinguished by the mega-heavy bases.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7473
I suspect the transfer was Johnson Matthey and would suggest an English maker: Dema, Sherdley, Nazeing?
The gilt is normally 24 carat gold, probably Johnson Matthey again.
-
Oops, just realised the transfer is different! :-[ However, this does crops up on other Chance glass - I have a Lancer tankard featuring this same one.
-
Does the late 1940s date tie in with the info you have? I suppose, given the falliability of memory, that there can be a few years either way in the acquisition date.
Also, would you know why the ship is flying the Danish flag? It's an odd choice for an English maker - unless they were for export?
-
Yes, although J-M was producing transfers in the mid-1930s so it could originate even this early. Chance used this, and similar transfers c.1950. It is possible the transfer maker produced a range of similar ones, hence the slight differences.
Just checked the Lancer tankard again (made from 1950) and it's definitely the same transfer as yours.
-
Now if the glasses had this pattern on...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230141470096
;D
Not a great photo, but I think these have the galleon design on them:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150132627670
-
Thanks so much for the information and confirmation - very appreciated.
I think if they'd had the Beatles on them then they would have been given to a charity shop decades ago - my mother is staunchly anti-Beatles.
-
Ref eBay tankards. France were a prolific supplier of blanks to the decorating trade.
(David-Should this thread switch forums?)
-
That was my intention, but I was leaving it to stew here fore a while.
-
Ref eBay tankards. France were a prolific supplier of blanks to the decorating trade.
They were indeed - there are examples with Festival of Britain and 1953 Coronation transfers. However, these are normally embossed 'France' on the base.
-
That's the first thing I looked for on the base when the glasses were passed to me - completely unmarked, though.
-
I would hedge my bets on the glass being English then.
As for the naval flag, I poked around:
http://www.gwpda.org/naval/s0100000.htm
It would appear that the white cross on a red background signifies 'Affirmative' as shown here:
http://www.gwpda.org/naval/s0120000.jpg
-
That would probably make more sense than a Danish flag on a set of English glasses!
-
Affirmative ;)
-
David
I have a small glass with Festival of Britain transfer http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7516 is this the one you have seen.
Tony H in NZ
-
There are quite a few that I know of, Tony. I have seen that style of glass before, but the majority appear as small tots.