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Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => British & Irish Glass => Topic started by: Lustrousstone on April 14, 2010, 12:03:51 PM

Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Lustrousstone on April 14, 2010, 12:03:51 PM
I don' recall seeing this design before, but picked one up recently at the boot sale - very good nick - in 'Smoke', and 7" tall.   Got home and realized that I was minus the frog/internal divider (or whatever you call it).     cheers   Paul S.

Did the vase have a frog? The adverts shows just the bowls with frogs. Scroll to bottom http://www.cloudglass.com/Davidsonbetweenwars.htm
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Paul S. on April 14, 2010, 01:02:27 PM
thanks for your reply.     Had you asked me when I first picked up this piece I wud have said no it probably wasn't designed to have a stem support  -  no internal lugs etc. etc., - but I'm sure that when I looked at one of the illustrations towards the back of the Stewart's book, the pic. seems to show something inside the vase, which I took to be a thingy for stems.    Maybe I have mis-interpreted that image.   I am at work at the moment, perhaps you have the book to hand and cud look for me (or is that also under the dust sheets  ;))
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Littleblackhen on April 14, 2010, 01:57:52 PM
To piggyback on your enquiry, I have a large Ripple vase in Ruby, yet on the Davidson Cloud Glass site, it gives Amber, Emerald, Smoke and Flint as the only known colours.  http://www.cloudglass.com/galllerybetweenwar.htm 

Does anyone know if this vase was also made in Ruby, perhaps in later years?  It seems to be impressed inside with the word Palia - does that mean anything to anyone?
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Mosquito on April 14, 2010, 03:22:06 PM
Did the vase have a frog? The adverts shows just the bowls with frogs

The 741 vase is sometimes seen with a 'Wheel' flower support, see here: http://www.cloudglass.com/Frogs.htm
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Paul S. on April 14, 2010, 06:57:02 PM
thanks re the correct name of a 'wheel' support  -  and have just looked again in the Davidson book - page 150 - and top left is a pic. of a 'Smoke' vase showing the 'Wheel' in situ, which was what was in the back of my mind.    However, judging by the comments on the Stewarts web page I don't stand much of a chance of finding a 'Wheel' in smoke, so I will settle for an example in 'Briar'................any offers  :)
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Paul S. on April 15, 2010, 04:29:34 PM
Littleblackhen  -  I have tried googling the word 'palia' but unable to find anything that makes too much sense.    Incidentally, does the size of your vase fit with the standard heights for this design  i.e. 5"/7"/9" and 11"?
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Littleblackhen on April 15, 2010, 05:46:31 PM
Hi Paul

I didn't have any success with google either, but it is hard to read as it is right on the base inside, there is other writing that I can't make out, perhaps a reg. design number. The vase is 7 inches tall.
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Paul S. on April 15, 2010, 06:19:24 PM
if you clean really well, and use a half decent camera, you should  :) end up with an image something like (or better than) the attached.    This I took on close-up with the camera held at the mouth of the vase.    Don't forget that the Australian design no. is 18221, apparently.   Now that I have shown you mine, may we please see yours ;)
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Littleblackhen on April 15, 2010, 07:34:51 PM
I did try and get a photo, but my camera is not great and I just got a blur.  I have just had another good look at it with a magnifying glass, and it appears to say G BFI   3344 and I think it might be AUSTRALIA not PALIA!  Does that make any more sense?  I noticed that the reg design number was 833445 but it doesn't look as though any numbers are missing, although the printing is bad and some letters are very faint.
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Paul S. on April 16, 2010, 01:34:41 PM
bit of a stab really, but if you are seeing nos. like 3344 then I would have thought this was indicating a GB production piece, and not a down under jobby  -  and sounds as though your vase may have been pressed from a worn mould.     But thats only a guess.     We really need a knowledgeable person to help us now, especially since your colour seems to be non standard.
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: pamela on April 16, 2010, 03:24:33 PM
Paul, guess you also saw this image http://www.pressglas-pavillon.de/vasen/06491.html

As far as I can judge from the photo this vase has got both G.BRIT and AUSTRALIA numbers

This vase belongs to my friend Anja, I'll ask her whether it's still there.

 :)

Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Paul S. on April 16, 2010, 03:37:43 PM
thanks Pamela  -  and no, I hadn't seen this piece.    Possibly unique maybe with both marks.   I wonder if Chris Stewart is aware of this?  
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Mosquito on April 16, 2010, 05:24:15 PM
There's nothing unusual in these vases having both marks. In fact, all that I've handled have had both the British & Australian marks. As Chris Stewart points out Davidson started registering their designs in Australia in 1939 after their 255 Barrel shape beer mug was copied in Japan, presumably for export to Australia. http://cloudglass.com/r19311945.htm
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: pamela on April 18, 2010, 10:12:26 AM
Paul, Anja prefers to keep the vase, it was expensive and she loves the colour. However I could convince her that you'd need the wheel more than she does, as it is English, and bought it as a gift for you  :thup:

She points out that there are at least two 'lines' leading from a hole to the outer rim which could be stress cracks, but I guess these are normal?

Have lost your address - please mail to arminewa and I shall post it after the ashes vanished  :P
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Paul S. on April 18, 2010, 11:50:20 AM
Pamela  -  you are a 'brick'  -  English slang for telling you that you are wonderful  -  a million thanks, and will send you an off board email today or tomorrow.  Tell Anja Paul sends a kiss or two :kissy:
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: pamela on April 23, 2010, 07:15:30 AM
posted yesterday as 'maxi'-letter, should be with you soon - hopefully in one piece  :gfit:
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Paul S. on April 23, 2010, 11:35:46 AM
my thanks again Pamela  -  I will look foward to receiving the 'wheel' to complete my vase :)
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Paul S. on April 27, 2010, 07:34:37 PM
Pamela  -  I am over the moon with joy, for today I have received your parcel with the 'wheel' for my Smoke Ripple vase, which is a gift from Anja.  Please tell your friend that Paul is ecstatic because his little vase is now once more complete with it's insides.   Although quite hard, it fits comfortably and very well, and sits there beaming and smiling at me, and if I drink any more I shall fall off the chair.   But seriously, as Michelle says, a miwyon thanks from England, and I will treasure your gift always.
Title: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: pamela on April 28, 2010, 04:51:52 AM
Paul, your joy is catching and worth a miwyon  :pty:  :-*
Title: Re: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Paul S. on August 07, 2010, 05:00:10 PM
not having seen a 'Ripple' vase for several years, I have now found another within a matter of several months - so just thought it might be of interest to show an 'Emerald' version alongside the 'Smoke' vase.   Quit a coincidence that they are both the same size, unfortunately.   I'm thinking that the green vase would have been a very late production piece (1960's), since the Reg. No./Nos. are virtually obliterated, and in fact at first I thought this had been produced without them, but there is just a vague something showing on the base.
Er......Pamela........er....don't suppose Anja has a green 'wheel support' ;D....only joking. :)
Title: Re: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: pamela on August 07, 2010, 07:59:57 PM
 :hi: Sorry Paul, no further wheels I'd know of  :thud:

beautiful colour too BTW  :sm:

Title: Re: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Adam on August 13, 2010, 06:01:18 PM
Widening this a little (sorry, mods) to cover the whole question of frogs (a word I never heard in the industry by the way)/blocks/holders and plinths.  I can't speak for Davidsons, where I had hardly anything to do with domestic sales (apart from teaching the sales manager to drive!) but I don't expect they were much different in this respect to Sowerbys.  Here I had a lot to do with sales and, regardless of what appeared in the catalogues and price lists, any customer could order exactly what he wanted, i.e. with or without the bits and pieces or even the bits and pieces themselves if he fancied marrying them with someone else's product.

So anyone without a frog or whatever can rest assured that the vase or bowl may very well be in exactly the condition in which it left thefactory.

Adam D.
Title: Re: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Lustrousstone on August 13, 2010, 07:46:39 PM
That's what I keep telling them; the customer could have whatever he wanted.

Is this one Sowerby please Adam? http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,26104.0.html
Title: Re: Davidson 'Ripple' vase - did it have a frog or not?
Post by: Adam on August 22, 2010, 02:41:47 PM
Christine - Sorry - been away.  Also sorry your bowl/vase is nothing like I ever saw at Sowerbys (or Davidsons).

Just to add a little to what I said re sets of vase/frog/plinth etc.  People nowadays may imagine such sets to be packed together in pretty (or even plain) cartons.  No way.  At Sowerbys, at least until 1957, every article (not set) was individually wrapped in colour-coded (i.e. amber, green, white etc) tissue after washing and was warehoused and packed like that.  Packing was with straw in large returnable wooden barrels (honestly!) or for small orders in tea chests or if the customer had complained that barrels would not pass through his shop door!  Individual parts of "sets" might be anywhere in the container.

Tea chests were non-returnable but barrels were individually marked.  On return, waste straw was removed (by our two coopers - maintenance of the barrels) and any glass, usually in the bottom layer, was recorded to await the inevitable complaint of shortages.

Adam D.