Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => British & Irish Glass => Topic started by: NevB on June 13, 2023, 06:05:00 PM
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I didn't recognise it but this basket shouted Sowerby. Obviously the handle's not original, definitely home made and I doubt if I'll find the correct one, but you never know. Not surprisingly it has a crack by each of the handle holes. It's 7" long and shown here:
http://www.victorianpressedglass.com/pdf/sowerby/sowerby_1874.pdf
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I'm now wondering if the handle on mine is the one shown on the 928 basket next to it in the catalogue. It is a bit crude and has a piece missing but the ends of the wire have been threaded and have nuts screwed on to secure it.
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The gauge of the wire for the handle looks quite thick, it looks very neatly made for something homemade. I think it’s as you suggest, original as the 928. It’s brass is it, same as the catalogue?
The 942 in the catalogue has quite a different rim, like a rope twist?
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Yes Ekimp the wire is brass and quite thick, possibly adapted to fit, but why it's got a piece missing is a bit odd. The bowl does have a rope twist rim but it's quite lightly moulded into the underside, with a smooth edge, and doesn't show up well in the photos. I don't think Sowerby catalogues diagrams are always dead accurate.
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Nice early piece of coloured Sowerby Nev.
Do you think I would be correct in thinking that Sowerby made a number of the earlier items in this kind of green, using uranium, before they developed the vitro-porcelain colours?
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Mike, it would be my guess that Sowerby were producing uranium glass before 1874, perhaps back to the 1860's but it is only a guess. This may have been the wrong thing to do, but with limited equipment and a lot of luck, I've shortened the handle to look better. The brass is very difficult to work with as it snaps very easily, I've given it a quick polish.
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Is it possible the handle was made for it as a sort of "professional" repair some considerable time ago?
It's a little reminiscent of the kind of work put into stapling old glass back together to repair it. :)
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That's a possibility Sue if the handle got damaged. It looks to me the original 942 handle was cast brass, the 928 handle may also have been cast or made of twisted wire, it's impossible to tell.
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It can be far too easy nowadays to think that a piece of broken pressed glass would be thrown out, but in the times these were made they were expensive and treasured items and folk would go to considerable effort to repair them.
The handle looks as if it is graduated - thicker in the middle and thinner towards the ends, it's not an amateur-looking rough job, despite the odd bit missing originally.