Glass Message Board

Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: nocross on July 18, 2020, 01:07:56 PM

Title: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: nocross on July 18, 2020, 01:07:56 PM
I have two tankards and a small bowl that have what looks like an etch mark of "nj"  where the n sits in the foot of the j, or at least that's what it looks like to my untrained eye.
I've searched a number of websites and books to no avail, even here.

Please can someone help.
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: chopin-liszt on July 18, 2020, 05:26:32 PM
Your photos blur the letters of the mark - I can't make them out.
Could you try rubbing a little talcum powder or even cocoa over the etched mark with your thumb to bring it up better, and take another pic?

From what I can make out, it might be Dartington or Reidel.
It's a very traditional sort of cut and I associate Dartington and Reidel with rather more adventurous work.  ???
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: flying free on July 19, 2020, 12:05:59 AM
It looks like a Nachtmann piece?

https://cookinglife.eu/nachtmann-tall-drink-glass-noblesse-37-cl-set-of-4/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp9r6koLY6gIVyO3tCh0gWAYPEAQYBiABEgJArvD_BwE

mm,maybe not. Just realised the design is different on looking at your pics again.  I didn't see the fan shape initially and thought it was vertical individual cuts.  Sorry.

Good photo of a Nachtmann mark here though if you want to try and compare yours as it might just be an older design cut onto your item perhaps?
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Pottery-Glass-Porcelain/Can-anyone-identify-this-glass-maker-mark-I-believe-that-it-is/td-p/23870127
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: nocross on July 19, 2020, 05:54:51 AM
Thanks. I've tried the talc trick hopefully the mark is clearer
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: flying free on July 19, 2020, 10:18:23 AM
Pattern cut is the same as this set called Speymore

https://www.forevercrystal.co.uk/speymore-cut-crystal-whisky-glasses-set-of-6/


No idea what or who Speymore is  - maybe the design name of the cut?


Then there is the Replacements site - where you'd have to do a search to try and find a match:

https://www.replacements.com/crystal/most-popular-patterns
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: chopin-liszt on July 19, 2020, 12:24:38 PM
Speymore might be the name of the cut.
The paper label on the glasses reads Caledonian, which might be the maker. I haven't heard of them.
There is a fairly newish company, Glencairn, which makes traditional cut stuff too. It's been around maybe 15 -20 years.
The trouble nowadays is there are so many middle men and subsidiaries and agents you haven't a clue where something actually comes from.  :'(
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: flying free on July 19, 2020, 04:44:23 PM

The trouble nowadays is there are so many middle men and subsidiaries and agents you haven't a clue where something actually comes from.  :'(

Yes, I remember this issue being discussed on the board years ago - was it where Edinburgh Crystal stuff was being produced?
I also remember Ivo mentioning ( maybe Slovakia?) as somewhere where much table glass was being produced.
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: chopin-liszt on July 19, 2020, 05:16:09 PM
Edinburgh and Waterford both contract out. Waterford calls that stuff Marquise (or is Marquise the genuine Waterford stuff? it's got a waterhorse logo)
Edinburgh also does, but not for its signature patterns of Iona, Star of Edinburgh and the Thistle one.

I was referring more to things like the importer LSA, and these new companies - like Glencairn - (and perhaps this one, Caledonia) which might well be all made elsewhere and just imported under a Scottish sounding name.

Not to older, more established companies contracting out.
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: flying free on July 19, 2020, 05:22:30 PM
yes, apologies :)  I was conflating two issues in terms of id.

m
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: chopin-liszt on July 19, 2020, 06:17:00 PM
"They" set out to confuse and conflate.  ;D
I just went on a hunt to try to find out where the glass Glencairn sell is made. They appear to be a company about 30 years old. (perhaps my time scale is out because I'm looking at stuff in the secondary market and it took 10-15 years for this to get there).
But I couldn't find out where the glass is blown. They give an address in Glasgow, which might be a glassworks. Or a storage facility. Or a printworks. Or a school. Low buildings in a block, all currently shuttered up.

What I did find, was a tankard that looks as if it could be the one in question!  ;D ;D ;D

https://glencairn.co.uk/product/skye-tankard/
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: nocross on July 20, 2020, 06:53:27 AM
Thanks all for the information, the cut does indeed look like Speymore which on looking appears to be a Caledonian design.
As always a font of knowledge.
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: chopin-liszt on July 20, 2020, 02:33:53 PM
Caledonian Crystal appears to be a picture framing shop in Wishaw.
Their website is still under construction. But they appear to be engravers and cutters only. I don't know where they get their blanks made.
Same for Glencairn. I don't know where the glass is made, and can't seem to find out. ???
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: flying free on July 20, 2020, 02:39:55 PM
Glencairn Crystal here:

https://glencairn.co.uk/

Is that the right one?

Hmm, their link says they are 'A leading manufacturer of bespoke crystal and glass'
I couldn't find any reference on their site to them making the actual glass.  But that might have just been my poor search efforts.
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: chopin-liszt on July 20, 2020, 03:53:08 PM
I found that, copied the address out and put it into google maps.
 

google.com/maps/place/1+Langlands+Ave,+East+Kilbride,+Glasgow+G75+0YG/@55.7409093,-4.1690349,3a,75y,331.33h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNxPXjEI0ZzY1DTjgpT2k9Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x48883f19b0d5d305:0xf66383ef7d656a94!8m2!3d55.741074!4d-4.16914

I really suspect both companies buy in blanks and just decorate them.
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: flying free on July 20, 2020, 04:26:45 PM
me too.  If they actually made the glass they'd be showing it.
Title: Re: ID sought for makers etch mark "nj"
Post by: chopin-liszt on July 20, 2020, 04:35:01 PM
I don't really count them as being glass manufacturers at all.
They are glass surface decorators. :)

So, why would they etch a mark on the base? That is far more indicative of something done at the time the glass was made.  ???