Topic: Pirelli labeled pin-tray

[Leni]

I was lucky enough to find this millefiori pin-tray with a Pirelli label.  I have heard from various sources that they were only labeled by Pirelli for about a year, from 1950, or from 1950 to 1956, for both Vasart and for Strathearn.  Can anyone tell me which is correct (if it is actually known) and whether any of the canes can be identified as being earlier or later in the Vasart / Strathearn period?  I have looked on Richard More's site, and on Kevin H's, but I must be getting old and my eyes giving up, because I can't seem to identify them! 

The base colour is a sort of dark browny-maroony red, although it looks black.

Thank you.   

[Frank]

To many with Pirelli labels for that to be more than an old wives tale. Pirelli were reselling Vasart for a lonnng time.

[Leni]

I apologise for the fact that I have obviously misunderstood or confused such information as I have found on the internet :huh: :[

Richard More says, "It is presently assumed that 1956 was the only year in which these Pirelli labels were used although they may have been used for a few years from 1956." 

Angela says that the Pirelli label was used "from1949" and also that in 1956 the traditional etched Vasart signature was replaced with a black and silver label very similar in design to the Pirelli label, but saying Vasart.

Kevin says "... it is believed that the Pirelli company may well have marketed earlier Vasart items under the Pirelli label and there may also have been a connection into the early years of Strathearn."

You say that the silver and black Vasart label came into use in 1956, and now have informed me that it was used for "a lonnng time". 

So please can someone help me to understand! :cry:

I had foolishly assumed that the silver and black Pirelli label would have been replaced by the silver and black 'Vasart' label, and would not have been used after the introduction of that, but it seems that you are saying the Pirelli label could have been used throughout the Vasart period and into the Strathearn period?  Is that right, or is there still no definitive time-scale for its use? 

I must admit that I had assumed (mustn't keep doing that!  ) that these pin dishes were not common (she says, avoiding the use of the 'R' word  ) since Richard More only mentions one!  But again it seems I have misunderstood    

All enlightenment will be most welcome!   :spls:

[Frank]

1. Pin trays are not unusual.
2. Pirelli were using black and silver labels from the start and it can be assumed that Dunlop was responsible for introducing the shaped label to Vasart from 1956. Possibly he had already introduced that design at Pirelli by then.
3. Perhaps I am responsible for publishing an apparent assumption in this article which was researched some 20 years ago. But all I had intended to mean was that it was in use c1956.
4. None of the Pirelli workers I have since tracked down can throw any light on the labels so it is probably safe to assume that the only ones who know the details are dead and buried.
5. I do have more material on Pirelli Glass that will be published in due course - a catalogue has been published in the Glass Zoo covering animals and glassware in the Glass Catalogue.
6. Paperweights from a Pirelli catalogue are shown here on Scotland's Glass.

[Leni]

Thank you, Frank.

[KevinH]

Leni contacted me by email and I have now sent her a detailed reply.

I think Frank's summary points cover things very well although I will add that my own reading of very poor copies of papers from Companies House records have so far failed to determine any further details about the the years in which Pirelli had a trading association with Vasart.

The extract from my web pages, that Leni posted earlier, still reflect my own opinion, which is that Pirelli-labelled weights and dishes were marketed alongside Vasart-labelled ones, and probably for several years.

As for the cane types, I have not succeeded in identifying any that would prove manufacture of a weight or dish as being in the 1956 to 1964 Vasart period. I can show evidence for Vasart canes from the 1946 to 1955 period being used in later Vasart and also Strathearn items. But the only cane types I can identify as being "definitly later" are ones probably created in the 1970s at around the same time as similar canes began to be seen in items from Perthshire Paperweights. Those canes are formed as a complex bundle of smaller canes in contrasting colours and often with a distinct geometric pattern and with white often being a dominant theme.

The canes in Leni's dish are consistent with ones I have seen in weights that UV checks show to be either later Vasart or (early?) Strathearn. However, the group of four cenrral canes is a feature used in some early Vasart period weights as well as the later period ones, and those actual canes are very probably earlier ones, but used in a later item.

In other words ... I don't really know

[Leni]

Thank you, Kevin  :kissy:

I am also waiting to hear from Richard More, who has asked Dave Moir if he can remember and more information from 'the Pirelli years' and is going to get back to me if he can add anything to the present knowledge.