Topic: Small,heavy iridescent vase,English?

[keith]

A little over 3 inches high,polished pontil mark with a crackle finish that reminds me of a Walsh piece I have,

[flying free]

Keith I like that - very pretty.  I can't see a crackle finish though. It looks as though it was blown into a ribbed mould maybe  I'm not very good on those things.
m

[keith]

Thanks m,it weighs a ton considering how small it is,the crackle finish is tiny and can't get a clear picture

[Bernard C]

Keith — What a lovely and interesting find.   It's unmistakeably Walsh.   What's the spiral count?   Where's the fine crackle effect?

Bernard C. 

[keith]

Thanks again Bernard,it has 16 ribs with 20-25 'spirals' on each one,managed a picture of the crackle finish that is around the rim,The rim looks like it was attached separately this is just the camera flash the vase is one piece.

[Lustrousstone]

That just means that it was worked after it was iridised I think. Sometimes it's deliberate, as in stretch iridescence.

[Bernard C]

...   it has 16 ribs with 20-25 'spirals' on each one,   ...

Keith — sorry, I asked an ambiguous question.   What I meant was "How many different spirals?", i.e. the interval between a spiral and the same spiral coming round again.   Anyway I've done a count and I'm fairly certain that it is 16.   Note that the centre of the spiral is not in the centre of the ground out pontil scar — this is not a fault but is a typical outcome of the twisting technique used.

So, your piece is typical Walsh mother of pearl, made from a small initial gather of opaque white glass, probably a lampshade or button glass, thickly coated in clear crystal.   Then it was dip-moulded using a 16-rib mould, then twisted (complicated — involving creating a sausage shaped bubble, taking it off the blowing iron, twisting it, chopping the ends off, and reattaching it to the blowing iron), then dip-moulding it again, blowing it to the correct size, transferring it again to the pontil rod, flaring and crimping the rim, and, finally, iridising it before breaking it off the pontil rod.   Phew!

Note that the white glass had a slightly higher melting point than the crystal, so was solidifying as the rim was being shaped, hence the fine crackle on the inside rim.   Also the lopsided rim crimp is classic Walsh.

It also matches the production technique of Walsh's Vesta Venetian, launched in late 1907 — see Reynolds for details, although, as Reynold warns, it's not known to what extent this name was applied to manufactured glass.   It's the first example of Walsh Vesta Venetian to appear on the GMB.

Bernard C.  

PS — Readers should note that the covered jar on the right of colour plate 15 in Reynolds has now been shown to be postwar Empoli, not Walsh.   This error was discovered when a GMB member discovered an example carrying its original label.   Virtually all references to Vesta Venetian on the GMB (mostly mine) are now incorrect and should be changed to Empoli.

[Lustrousstone]

Does it have a white layer?

[Bernard C]

Christine — This small vase is the worst possible shape for seeing the very thin inside white layer apart from the fact that it is finely crackled here for the reason I explained above.    If you'd looked at my display of Walsh mother of pearl at the National twelve days ago, you would have seen eleven (later nine — I sold two) examples, three of which showed the inner layer clearly.   The best shape for showing this characteristic is a flute (epergne or footed vase).

Bernard C. 

[Lustrousstone]

I have seen Walsh mother of pearl, but Keith's piece looks clear, so my question was to him.