Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: idiganthro on August 29, 2017, 03:30:25 PM
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This is a total newbie question. I have several Victorian type, enameled vases that have numbers on the bottom. It usually is in addition to a dot... i.e. "10." or "7." One vase even has three different numbers; on the base, the inside base rim, and inside the mouth.
I'm assuming these are marks from whomever decorated the vase. My question is can they tell us anything about maker/date/etc? Or were they so standard as to be irrelevant?
I've googled in every way I can think of to try and learn more, without result.
Thanks,
Annette
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Often stoppers and their respective decanters have the same number put on each bit, to show they are matched.
But apart from that, unless it's a specific maker's system for numbering things, (eg Kosta or Orrefors) very little can be gleaned.
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Occasionally numbers can be pinned to Harrach but these sound like decorators' marks. They were on piece work so it was important that their output was indelibly marked
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So, are you saying the artists got credit for their work based upon the marks? It was a way to "punch a timecard" so to speak?
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Yes, they were often homeworkers (often the whole family) working for refiners, but even if they were employed in a factory it was often piece work. They weren't artists; they were painters painting decorations to order. No output, no pay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piece_work