Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: stew2u2 on August 18, 2013, 12:04:50 AM
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acquired this at a car boot sale in the northeast. i recognised it as purple slag glass. the lady said that she knew a gentleman that worked at the davidsons glassworks in dunston gateshead and he gave them to her. i just wondered if it was officially made or something the workers did in there spare time.
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Looks like a Chinese birdie to me, just in purple, sorry Stew
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Here you go Stew, enjoy this thread and your sweet little Chinese bird.
I love them and have quite a collection now....pictures oare on this thread for you to see.
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,49203.0.html
This might amuse you though, it is the second she has sold, and I can't tell you how rude the replies were to my very nice message explaining the true provenance!!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ART-GLASS-BIRD-ENCASED-YELLOW-WHITE-COLOUR-FEATHERS-HAND-BLOWN-GLASS-MURANO-/350846217642
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I always wonder just how such things are blown :o ::)
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I just was so gobsmacked by the description and the replies I got!!
I just had to give the link Christine... did you know that Sommerso is a studio on the island of Murano? She has actually been there and seen these being made!! So there is no arguing with that, is there??
Look at the price she sold it for! <<<FAINT>>>
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Best start unloading yours Rosie ;D
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:D Might just do that Christine, I have quite a few stashed away!
There are quite a lot on eBay at the moment if you want to cash in by buying cheep(!) and selling as pure Murano Sommerso hand blown in Venice! ;D
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I should think that being hand blown in Venice is quite something ;)
Hello Rosie - sorry to hear that you've been on the wrong end of some bad ebay communications - I'm tempted often to correct the many mis-attributions etc. that I see, think it's probably a waste of time and energy, in view of the sort of response you've exprerienced. Wouldn't you think that people might appreciate the correct information?
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Hi Paul, Many do and it is only for that reason that I bother at all.
I have to confess that I am thick skinned enough to take the rude replies, because in themselves I see them as the seller's admission of guilt.
When I get the:
'Thank you so much for taking the time to help correct my listing, I do really appreciate it'
type of replies, it makes up for the
'Haven't you got anything better to do than try and tell me how to sell? I have 450 satisfied customers, so I am happy with my listing and it will stay that way!'
Thankfully the latter type of replies are less common, but there are some very ignorant sellers out there!!
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hi thanks all for the replies. i took it all in thinking as it was not far from the factory and being a woman on the wrong side of 60.
ho well
thanks again for looking
stew
i sell on ebay as well thats why if i am not sure i ask the nice people on here.
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There are a couple of us ladies on the wrong side of 60 Stew, so don't let that worry you. :)
If your little bird were in a colourway I didn't have, I would be offering to buy it.
I always think the term Slag Glass sounds a bit negative, and the few I have sold on eBay I have always described as Chinese Art Glass, and given a close up of what, in my opinion, is a very attractive 'feather' effect where the colours are mixed. They have always sold for around £4 - £5 so I have been content with that.
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The "hand blown" description for solid glass items is often seen and has been used for many years. Unfortunately, the confusion is made worse by items which have a genuine company (or importer?) "hand blown glass" label attached!
Negative responses from various sellers have been discussed at length in the Cafe and elsewhere. But my favourite response is of the type, "It is my own research" when I make an enquiry about background to an attribution. There is never any information given about what research has been done or when and where!
As for Slag Glass, it is not uniquely English. However, some examples of the English (Tyneside) type are given below which might help to show the difference between that type and the Chinese (or other) "streaky / marbled" form.
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my two penn'th as usual...........
When something has become part of acceptable standard language, then whether right or wrong, we have to go with the flow it seems.
However, we've been down this road before, and seem to recall coming to the conclusion that those swirl coloured pieces, whatever the colours (but which include white, usually) might be more correctly termed marbled Vitro-Porcelain.
Sowerby initially created a product which they called Malachite, and this was offered in blue, brown, and the obvious green (the alternative name for Malachite may well have been Sorbini, but not entirely sure).
Malachite then seems to have been superseded by New Marble Glass - they all have this general look of marbling.
I like the States take on the purple and white effect which they seem to call blackberries and cream.
But coming back to the word slag - now so well embedded in the glass world that pieces showing a marbled effect will doubtless never be called anything else - the following may be of interest...........
Somewhere around the beginning of the 1880's, Sowerby's advertised a specific factory product which they called 'slag' glass. According to Slack............ "This was a type of glass that was black by reflected light and either a bottle-green or dark purple colour by transmitted light. As far as is ascertainable this was the only coloured glass that was termed 'slag' glass and it always appeared semi-opaque, being made in the same manner as cheap bottle glass. Apparently it was a short-lived product and was superseded by a dense black opaque glass which was advertised throughout the 1880's as 'Jet'."
Whether or not slag actually ever found its way into the pots (deliberately or accidentally), may not be known........Lattimore believed it was added deliberately, but can't imagine that scum from the smelting works would have improved anything. It may just have been a comment that was repeated down the years without question.
The other less than technical name was 'end of day glass', and this does now seem to have been a notion dispelled completely.
Anyway, nice piece of 'slag' glass Stew ;)
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Trying to take it all in. i like blackberry and cream sounds good to me. the word slag to me means the leftover rubbish at the bottom of a coke works thought slag glass might have been the same
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Paul and Kevin as always, give a clear explaination of slag glass.
Like Stew, I too see it as a slightly derogatory description, conjuring up images of cleaning out the coke slag at the bottom of our old boiler!!
These little birds seem to be composed of pretty fused canes and the feather effect is remarkably life like. I have some wondeful examples of them which I am very happy to share should any of you wish to see closer pictures.
To me though, the most important fact is that these are Chinese, although sold extensively as any other make rather than say they are Chinese, and yet they were never made or intended to deceive, unlike many Chinese pieces made these days.
These little birds always left the glass studio proudly bearing the 'Made in China' Oval Label. :)