Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: scavo on July 26, 2012, 09:57:09 PM
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found this wonderful pair today.
They stand around 12" tall and weigh 1.7kg each.
The top edge is finished (see photo 2) in a similar way to a Stevens and Williams art deco vase on p146 of 20th Century British Glass by Hajdamach. Other than that I don't have much to go on, apart from a wide, highly polished pontil (photo 3) and a colour match to some amber Stuart crystal I have.
You thoughts are appreciated.
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Have a couple of vases with similar finished rims no idea where they are from,the colour of yours remind me of Stuart 'Stratford' bowls,but that's not really much to go on ::) ;D ;D
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Hi Keith, thanks for chipping in. I have a Stuart Stratford jug and the colour and pontil are very similar. I was looking it up in the book (above) and found the Stevens & Williams similarity.
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I agree the colour looks very Stuart but I think you would be better looking for the cutting pattern itself and the shape of the vase. The top rim is chamfered (to help prevent chipping) and ground and polished; nothing unique there beyond a mark of quality. The polished pontil mark is not unique either.
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I thought the Stratford all had several rings in the bottom ? :-\ Nice quality .
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Hi Christine, I realise that the threads of evidence I have do not amount to much. And thanks for confirming that this is indeed a quality pair. I was hoping the Hajdamach book would offer more. The designer of the S/W vase mentioned is Keith Murray so I am going to investigate his work more.
I thought the Stratford all had several rings in the bottom ? :-\
I think the reference is to the shade of amber we have on pieces of Stratford.
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I would expect them to lead crystal; are they?
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In my original draft for this post I called them crystal. But I took it out because I wasn't sure. How can I check other than the ringing check? They do have a very long and clear ring.
I know a well polished, concave pontil does not give firm evidence of Whitefriars. But even Mark Hill uses it as a pointer in IDing Whitefriars. I read as much in a post on his website about a rarer Baxter vase he picked up for a tenner.
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A well-polished concave pontil mark just indicates quality, nothing and no-one else. If your vase has a good long ring then it is lead crystal. Whitefriars' bases tend to have cut and polished rims surrounding polished pontil marks; that's possibly the pointer he saw.
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I am pretty sure its not WFs but of similar quality why not ask on W/Fs.com they have wide experience of lookalikes , i tend towards Stuart as i have seen slightly similar Stuart pieces . no harm in asking . I have found Whitefriars pontils are usually not as wide as the other UK firms ie Webb and Stuart to name two . Whitefriars rareley go from near edge to edge .
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I'm having a problem accessing whitefriars.com
The Hajdamach book is not that helpful on the Stuart similarities. My other generalist reference books are useless in this case.
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Had a look in my 'Keith Murray' book,can't see anything similar but there's not much glass in there ;D
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whitefriars.com is working fine for me. There's nothing similar in Nigel's book Art Deco to Post-Modernism
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Where to go next?
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There's a website including Keith Murray's glass designs here:
http://www.btinternet.com/~mike595/glass.htm DEAD SITE
And Ross's Stuart catalogue scans here:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/thumbnails.php?album=938
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Looks like Stuart amber to me, but naturally I'd prefer to hande (well own) them before I made a definative answer.
Nice pair of vases ;)
Nigel
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Thanks Nigel.
Obviously I'd like to be able to ID them before I sell ...