Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => British & Irish Glass => Topic started by: WhatHo! on September 17, 2016, 10:39:51 AM
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Hi guys, I purchased this bowl from an antiques fair yesterday, I took a bit of a gamble as I wasn't sure who made it. It was one of those ones where you think it must be something good, well hopefully :)
It is 10" across and heavy at just over 2kg.
It is thickly cased on the inside in yellowy glass, or rather the first gather was a ball of yellow glass. You can clearly see this line of casing from the top view pic. I think it has then rolled in silver choride (I might be wrong there, it could be some sort of dark yellow glass powder) then in frit applied. The frit is red and blue but because it has been thinly cased on the outside in yellow the blue frit looks green. You can see this where the pontil has been ground into the frit.
The base has a large, almost 3" pontil which is smooth but not highly polished. The base has been put on the flattening disc which has produced a flat 1/2" ring around the pontil and this area shows plenty of age related wear.
Any ideas? Tia, Wolfie
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The first thing that springs to mind is Webb Corbett for some reason.
It does remind me slightly of their Agate Flambe but I don't know enough about it nor have seen enough pieces to know if the colour is laid on in the same way. I have one piece and the colour is laid on differently to yours. But still, that is what springs to mind, so might be worth searching a little on that angle.
m
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I have Strathearn stuck in my brain. I don't think the base is right, but I might be wrong.
What shape is the profile? Is there aventurine in it?
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I wondered if it might be Scottish? There is no adventurine in it. I think Webb would have polished the pontil? Another point is that I'm sure it is lead crystal.
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::)
It would have helped if it did have aventurine. It looks less Strathearn-y now I see the profile, but it's the patterning of the colours that's gone awry, not the shape.
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this was posted as a 'STeuben or STevens williams moss agate ' and I'm pretty sure it's a Webb Corbett Agate flambe.
https://new.liveauctioneers.com/item/5715143
think it's a similar shape to your bowl and similar colouring.
And yes, I'm pretty sure yours is a Webb Corbett Agate Flambe :)
(caveat - obvs I could be wrong - hopefully someone else will confirm that id :) )
m
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I have checked pics of Agate Flambe and it looks too blue, its apparent supposed to look like the semi-precious stone blue john. I think it might be this Moss Agate by Stevens & Williams. It is defo the same maker as this,
http://www.stylendesign.co.uk/guidepages/ehtom1.html
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These say Webb Corbett :/ Hhhmmmmm https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/fieldings-auctioneers-ltd/catalogue-id-srfi10014/lot-257a4409-994d-4fd5-8bdc-a42f00715541
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Webb Corbetts Agate Flambe came in two kinds of colours - yours and a purply base colour.
edited to add: And yes, those vases are the same decor as your bowl.
Stevens and Williams Moss Agate is different.
m
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see my post above this one and also from Charles Hajdamach's 20th Century British Glass:
page 111 plate 217 shows those vases from the Saleroom link you gave, in their taller versions but otherwise identical including the oddly angled base profile.
the plate was issued in the 1920s by Webb Corbett for their 'Agate Flambe, The New English Art Glass'.
Which I think is the confirmation that your bowl is indeed Webb Corbett Agate Flambe :)
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and this piece has a similar base finish to yours - not polished.
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,25777.msg142523.html#msg142523
A correction - I'd not clicked on the Saleroom link and assumed those vases were a squat version, however if you click on the link they enlarge to correct size which is the same as the ones in the CH 20th Century British Glass plate, which is a Webb Corbett advert .
So the Saleroom pair are identical to those in the advert in the book, and your bowl is the same decor as those.
m
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Thanks for all your help with this piece, the evidence is strong :) Webb Corbett Flambe Agate it is then!!!
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Spot on M :) :)
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:)
I've just realised something as well -
This bowl here
https://new.liveauctioneers.com/item/5715143
is definitely a Webb &Corbett Agate Flambe and NOT a Stevens and Williams Moss Agate bowl (which I knew anyway) but the signature underneath which looks a bit strange is only strange because you can't see the entire signature which was W & C England.
I've seen another purple Agate Flambe Webb & Corbett piece with that same hand signed signature.
Also, the photograph of the base of that bowl makes it looks strange, but if you click on the close up pic (the two bottom pics) you will see that it has a non polished large pontil mark on the base - you can just catch the edge of the ground but not polished pontil mark.
Not the first time a Webb & Corbett Agate Flambe has been sold as Steuben or Stevens and Williams ::). And there are very few of these W & C pieces around at all.
m
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The script mark is very rarely seen. The first one I saw was some 42 years back in my first year of collecting. Naturally I thought it was normal, but I was wrong >:(
Nigel
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For further reference, attached pic of the signature on a Agate Flambe example:
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Thanks for adding a pic Greg.
Interestingly my piece is the purple version and also has a highly polished pontil mark. It fills the complete foot (it's a bun foot).
m
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You didn't buy the signed piece then Nigel ? :(
That's a shame because these are few and far between regardless of whether they have a signature or not. I wonder why they signed some?
m
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Possibly the signed ones might have been part of a batch destined for export, even if they never left the UK
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Oh that's a good point. Funnily enough the two I've seen have been for sale in the US.
Not to say they were originally sold there but that would tie in.
m
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I have just bought another bowl in the same shape and decor as my Webb Corbett Agate Flambe purple lined bowl (matched to a decor on a vase that is signed W&C England).
The new bowl (not yet arrived) I am sure is identical in shape and has the very fine finish arris on the rim and the large pontil mark and the same shape, but .... it has a white interior and the swirls of colour are completely different to the purple and, I think, the yellowish browny version of these agate flambe pieces. It might be similar colours to the yellowish browny version but because it has a white interior it appears more colourful as the colours can be seen more clearly.
But it's weird isn't it? I am 100% confident it's exactly the same shape and finish as my purple agate flambe bowl. But with a white interior? It's definitely Webb Corbett but is it Agate Flambe?
m
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It has an opaline white interior, then the coloured swirled decor which shows up much more colourfully than on the dark interior and then it is cased in the transparent yellow glass (from what I can see from the photos).
The yellow transparent glass is what was mentioned on the original post on here.
What's different is the white interior.
In CH 20th century British Glass there is an advertising plate with various shapes on. The one on the top right appears to be represented as much brighter than the others.
The book says the range was made using either a purple or a blue-coloured body to take the applied marvered colours.
My original bowl definitely has what looks like almost an opaline purple interior it is so dark, and appears to have been cased in transparent green glass. Correction, I now think it is also cased in a transparent yellow glass.
The original bowl on this thread appears to have a transparent yellow glass interior (which my new bowl is cased in).
My new bowl has a white interior.
My bowl still looks like an Agate though - just a different coloured agate. The swirls and bubbles and colour chips/splotches are exactly the same and laid on in the same way as my purple version.
I'm just wondering if perhaps there were more different coloured interior 'bodies', which the chip/splotch colours were then marvered onto, in this range than is indicated in the CH book.
See also the discussion on this thread about how different they all look:
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,63868.msg357964.html#msg357964
I think they could all be Webb Corbett Agate Flambe range - they all have the chips and splotches marvered on but the differences appear to be the interior and possibly the chip/splotch colours used.
They appear to have different coloured interiors - so far:
opaline purple
opaline white
and then what appears to be a transparent pinky purple
and a transparent blue glass
and a transparent yellow glass interior (on the original bowl on this thread)
The casing I suspect on all of them might be the yellow transparent glass.
So possibly it is the combination of chip/splotch colours under that yellow casing that also give them their 'look' of being two different colours ranges - i.e. the yellowy and the purply as can be seen in the colour plate in CH 20th Century British Glass pp111.
My new one is much lighter in look than all the ones on the GMB - it has pinky and bluey and yellowy splotches with some browny streaks. So it appears lighter than the ones on the GMB so far.
m