Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: ardy on April 29, 2008, 12:01:48 PM
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Hi All hope you are all well. Haven't posted for a while as I haven't bought any glass for a while.
Just bought these door knobs on ebay. Have no great expectations from them and will use them as er! Front Door Knobs.
Anybody seen anything like these?
I am assuming they are Chinese copies but the seller insists they are from the 50's and they have some wear on them. They are 15cm (7") wide x 9cm (2") thick and are 22cm (9") in overall length.
Somehow they 'feel' right but I have no great faith.
Anyway whatever they are I will enjoy having them on the front of my house as a statement about my feelings for murano glass.
regards from down under.
Ardy
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Nice knobs Ardy,
it may be worth putting this in the general glass board for a while?
Someone may have more ideas, they look a bit Scandinavian to me.
Ask a moderator if you agree.
Regards Andy
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Hi Andy
Thanks for the reply. I will leave them here for a couple of days and then move them. I am hoping they are Murano.
regards
Ardy
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Just received them and they are gorgeous. They are VERY large and the brass is very heavy. They must be at least 50 years old looking at the wear and the old spindle but I agree with Andy I don't think they are Murano. They are brown centered with a clear band around the edge that reflect whatever colour the door is. I will put them on a gold coloured door and they will look very lovely.
They can only be used for door pulls as they are too big for the average person to get their hand around. They weigh all up about 2.4 kgs or over 5 lbs.
A great buy that will look great on the front door.
Cathy you can move them now if you want to.
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Can we have some new pictures on a plain background. Weren't these sort of handles fashionable for public buildings/offices in the 60s/70s? I hadn't realised they were so large
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Any chance theyre Whitefriars??
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Hi Andy and Lustrousstone
I have attached 3 pictures one is in natural light and has a bit of camera shake and the other 2 are taken with a flash. The natural light is obviously more what they look like.
We are planning to build an 'echo's' of art deco house in a couple of years and these are planned to go on the double doors. They are too big for our current house.
I think they may have come from a public building but I suspect a hotel as they are a bit showy for Australian public circus types.
Thanks for your input to this puzzle.
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I've definitely seen these in situ before - no idea where though
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Hi All
Had Chris a antique dealer friend of mine over for lunch on Saturday and he pointed out a few things about them. One is made for the outside and the other is the inside handle. The inside handle has a ridge where 2 parts were molded together and the outside one has been polished clean. The outside handle also had stratch marks from rings against the glass. His thought was that they would have been part of custom sets made for a building.
His thought was that they are Orrefors as he believed the colour was an Orrefors colour and they had the feel of Orrefors.
Any thoughts from any of you who know anything about Orrefors sp?
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Hi All
Had Chris a antique dealer friend of mine over for lunch on Saturday and he pointed out a few things about them. One is made for the outside and the other is the inside handle. The inside handle has a ridge where 2 parts were molded together and the outside one has been polished clean. The outside handle also had stratch marks from rings against the glass. His thought was that they would have been part of custom sets made for a building.
His thought was that they are Orrefors as he believed the colour was an Orrefors colour and they had the feel of Orrefors.
Any thoughts from any of you who know anything about Orrefors sp?
I don't quite understand what the differences between the inside one and the outside one. Obviously if there are more scratches on one, this might suggest that it was used on the outside, or indeed the inside, but I don't think it is a left shoe/right shoe situation.
I also don't really understand the bit about two parts being moulded together. It is difficult to tell from your images but I can see a ridge on the outside rim of one of them. This is a consequence of the hand making process and nothing to do with moulding two parts together so far as I can make out.
Of course, your friend Chris has the benefit of handling them, so I would not like to contradict him, although I wonder whether he is a glass specialist or a general antiques dealer?
http://www.aaronsonnoon.com/work.php?navID=7&subID=5 As you can see from this link, I make door handles, among other things, so I have a fair idea about the methods involved. :)
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hi aa
I agree it seems strange and I didnt notice the difference until he pointed it out. The handling scratches also give away the outside one.
The idea that it might be 2 parts molded together was my idea not his. I couldnt see how else you would end up with a ridge apart from 2 parts joined at that point. If they wern't so large and weighty and old I wouldnt be so interested but they are attractive and I would like to know something about them if possible.
BTW Chris is a general antique dealer not a glass specialist. He is a good generalist as he has been at it for 30 years but by his own admission and by some of the glass he offers me he doesnt know a huge amount about it.
thanks for your input.
ardy
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Why would the scratches necessarily be on the outside one? Logic suggests that as many people leave a building as enter..... ;)
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Hi aa
I asked the same question and it seems the doors would have been open outwards and on your way out you could just push, with or without the door knob. If you think about it you grasp it in your hand involving your fingers, thus ring scratches, to open it and push it with your palm minus the fingers on the way out.
Interesting but doesnt get us anywhere does it?
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it seems the doors would have been open outwards and on your way out you could just push, with or without the door knob. If you think about it you grasp it in your hand involving your fingers, thus ring scratches, to open it and push it with your palm minus the fingers on the way out.
Unless of course the doors opened inwards, when the 'pull' scratches would be on the inner handle?
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I was thinking that the country and weather might have a bearing as well. If you were wearing gloves when entering, you wouldn't scratch with your rings....
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Leni in Australia and I assume in most Western Countries doors to major buildings have to open outwards in case of an emergency.
aa you could be right.
You 2 are amazing! the amount of detail you are interested in. I assume it must go with the job? or is it an obsession?
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A lot of concerns about door directions...
Datewise the brass ferrules look like they were specially made and not off the shelf which would support an architect/decorators commission. They could easily be 1950's but 20 years later is not impossible. As the original seller insisted on 1950s perhaps he had some idea of their source. Such things as door furniture were made by many if not most glassworks and very likely close to where they were used. But even if you found the building it is unlikely you would be able to trace the maker.
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Thanks Frank I think you are correct and is the place I was getting to. There is too little in terms of detail to define a particular maker and were most probably a one off commision to suit the building. There were many buildings including hotels pulled down in Sydney in the 70's and 80's and these could easily have come from one of these.
Maybe time to give up on these and just enjoy them.
regards
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It's nearly 5 years since I first posted these here. I am going to use them as the front door handles on my new house. There are some changes to make, but they should look very handsome on the large door I plan to put them on. So in a few months they will be back as a useful functional lever again.
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About four summers ago!!!! yes we did have one , I rented an apartment in Rome near the Coliseum you entered into a quadrangle from the street thru a massive door weighing God knows how much , you could only pull it open by a large glass handle there was nothing else to grab hold of but on the way out we always just pushed the door although there was a handle , it just seemed the natural thing to do Simple as that .... think about it , you need a handle to pull but not to push . ??? jp
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Hi John thanks for the reply. I will put the better quality side to the front and it will not get a huge amount of use as we will use the back door (as most people do I guess).
I have planned a 1.5m x 2.1m glass window with glass shelves all the way up to show my best glass - The rest will be in display cabinets. I have attached an image of the new house just for interest.
regards