Topic: Pretty iridescent bowl any clues as to who or when??

[dirk.]

Paul, I´m sure you mean Perlmutter (mother-of-pearl) not Perlora decoration?
While the foot surely looks similar to WMF pieces I can´t see any other similarities
to Perlmutter pieces. The ´standard´ Perlmutter colours are either smoke or blue and
generally darker than the slight irridescence on this bowl.
Like Ivo - and I can be sure he´s seen by far more WMF pieces than me - I´ve never
seen a WMF piece of that time without a perfectly finished pontil mark.
The shape isn´t covered in ´WMF Ikora & Myra´ by Carlo Burschel and Heinz Scheiffele
either. Personally I´m not sure they are Art Déco.

[paulbowen]

Blair's comments on WMF products NEVER having unfinished pontils (and handles) reminded me of this thread from a long time ago.  Yes, the correct term here would indeed be Perlmutter (my apologies) if this is a WMF product, but the fact that the pontil is unfinished should not rule out a WMF attribution.  As with Anik's handled piece, this piece could also be a WMF product.

[paulbowen]

Mikensharron's thread "Not WMF Ikora. Id please - could be Fenton?" reminded me of this piece from a long while back, which I also feel is WMF Perlmutter (mother of pearl).  Again, to summarize an overblown discussion from back then, WMF pieces do sometimes have pontil marks, some of which, on occasion, are not extensively finished.  Unfortunately, until someone develops a definitive authoritative reference on Perlmutter, we may never know.  However, perhaps the best test of legitimate attribution is cash: if these pieces were for sale, attributed as Perlmutter, I would be willing to lay my money down and buy them as such.

[jonchellycain]

Hi there Paul
I did actually sell this piece on ebay listed as possibly WMF and as memory serves it didnt make a great deal of money I have been unable to find the old advert unfortunitly but i think it was less than £20
michelle

[Ivo]

German yes, but WMF no. WMF is well documented and no amount of wishful attribution can stretch the existing documents.  You'd have more luck researching Gralglashütte, Eisch or Von Poschinger.

[paulbowen]

On the other hand, whereas Ikora and Myra are well documented, Perlmutter is not; documentation is scarce, very little of it was made, and people do not know a lot about it in general.  Therefore, too quickly dismissing the possibility of WMF could just as likely lead to an incorrect attribution.  The best thing for the owner to do right now is to hang on to it and keep all of their options open, only making an attribution when concrete knowledge is available later on.  Good luck.

[jonchellycain]

I have another one of this as bought them from same charity shop, ive thought i had sold the other one but have just found it, Im hopefully going to be at the cambridge glass fair on the 27 feb so can take it along for anybody wanting a closer look and feel
michelle