Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => British & Irish Glass => Topic started by: LEGSY on November 18, 2019, 06:34:17 PM
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:)
These arrived in the post today sadly one was broken in three bits, When washed i spotted a
very faint Brierley mark it seems these marks were only used before they changed to Royal Brierley
after supplying the royal household?? Anyway i noticed when looking for the marks age range that,
Keith Murray was working in the 30's for them and wondered if there might be a chance he had a hand
in the design of these glasses any suggestions happily received :)
8 cm tall rim 6.1 cm base 4.5 cm BRIERLEY to base on its own.
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The plain 'Brierley' mark seems to be a bit random through out the 20th century, the only time I've seen the Keith Murray signature it is usually with the S&W's mark but who knows ? ;D ;D
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taking a completely uneducated guess, I'd suggest this one isn't from Murray - apparently he worked at S. & W. for seven years from 1932, if that helps at all. I'm not sure when the name changed to Brierley, and as Keith mentions, it look to be the case that for those pieces that he was responsible for, then his name mostly accompanied the factory name.
This one looks too compact and tight for Murray - makes me think more of a Kny or Irene Stevens sort of decoration.
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Not KM I'm afraid. The design is too fussy for his type of work IMHO.
The KM mark includes both S&W and Brierley as well as a facsimile signature, however drinking glasses are not usually marked. The decanter that goes with them would be.
Having said that, I've seen many more totally attributable pieces that have not been marked, than those that have. This could be because the shop that sold them wouldn't allow the origin to be marked on the items they sold. Liberty's were a good example of this, as were Lawley's (the china shop).
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To add some information to the reference re the use of the name Royal Brierley in original post #
'When washed i spotted a
very faint Brierley mark it seems these marks were only used before they changed to Royal Brierley
after supplying the royal household?? '
The history of Stevens and Williams is here in as much detail as possible date wise and name wise:
https://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,58268.msg348362.html#msg348362
It seems from all the evidence available that Royal Brierley was not the name of the company at all until the 1980s and then it was actually renamed 'Royal Brierley Crystal Limited' . Prior to that the company was Stevens and Williams or Stevens and Williams Ltd depending on the time periods.