Topic: Is this Georgian or Victorian ?

[brucebanner]

Hello another one of my spectacular photo adventures, i picked this up today for 20p, it's thick heavy lead crystal with razor sharp edges, in fact it would not pass a health and safety test, it's 11 inches in length 8 inches in width and 2 inches in depth with a lovely ring to it, i'm looking at a cartoon version of one in a book called " a collector's guide to antique glass by ruth Hurst Vose page 170 regards Chris.

[Ohio]

This may or may not be useful since you are in the UK. This bears a strong resemblance to a piece I have (measurements are an exact match) which is from the Meriden Flint Glass Co. of Meriden Ct. 1874-1896. Oval shape is the same as well as the oval base ring & as you noted the cutting is razor sharp. Meriden cut glass for its partner the Meriden Britannia Silver Co. 1808-1898 & these were incorporated into pieces such as mine shown. Mine is dated 1875 (probably a wedding present) is just slightly pre-dating the American Brilliant Period of 1876-1917. Might be sheer coincidence but they certainly share common traits.

[brucebanner]

I'll have to say the stand looks great, lovely piece of glass, very Egyptian looking, before i joined this board i thought all the glass in England was English the more i read the more mixed up everything is, i read a book today from the 50's and in it it states more glass from America in 1900 was coming into Britain than was being exported, if thats true or not i do not know, how much would a bowl and stand like that cost in the States? regards and thanks for the reply Chris.

[Paul S.]

quote............................" before i joined this board i thought all the glass in England was English the more i read the more mixed up everything is, i read a book today from the 50's and in it it states more glass from America in 1900 was coming into Britain than was being exported, if thats true or not i do not know"

If you think that's surprising, here are some comments from a thread earlier this year......................

quote............."The export records he prints (Westropp) are staggering - glassware of every type going to every corner of the world."       Couldn't believe it either.........I'm part way through an oldish U.S. book by N. Hundson Moore ('Old Glass European & American') - who quotes Westropp as having said  "it's quite possibly there's more old Irish glass here (the U.S.) than there is in Ireland".               Moore says "surely it can't all be broken".          The export volumes are almost unbelievable."

[Ohio]

I'll have to say the stand looks great, lovely piece of glass, very Egyptian looking, before i joined this board i thought all the glass in England was English the more i read the more mixed up everything is, i read a book today from the 50's and in it it states more glass from America in 1900 was coming into Britain than was being exported, if thats true or not i do not know, how much would a bowl and stand like that cost in the States? regards and thanks for the reply Chris.

Probably in the $125-$150 range just because it still survived...most of this type of item(s) were discarded by the 1930s because the designs & cut glass were so far out of date for that period of time. Cut glass here really did not enjoy any collectible audience until the mid 50s & it had a good run into the early 90s...its market is down again unless its spectacular, but everything has a cycle. Brides basket & bowls were lights out in the 80s into the early 2000s, now they are 1/2 of what they were back then. 

[brucebanner]

Well i'm convinced cut glass prices are on the up, how can they not be, 5 years to train as a blower, great quality, you can buy a Georgian wrythen twist ale glass for the price of a Stuart crystal hock glass, the local auction house where i live "fieldings" dismissed a recent "lot" of cut glass as worthless, that's not reflected on the glass i sell, people want quality, they want refinement at the dining table, i just hope it remains cheap long enough for me to make my fortune.

[Bernard C]

Chris — Note that Fieldings don't sell glass, they auction it.   It's not the same at all.   When you sell glass you have two advantages over any auction house.   Firstly, and if necessary, you can explain to your client how to appreciate the particular piece (basic client training).   Then you can provide him or her with the story that they can pass on to their friends and relations.

At the National in November I sold an early 1930s Walsh decanter, not because it was a high quality blank, nor because it was expertly cut, nor because it was lightly polished, retaining its crispness and faint cutting striations, nor because it was elegant and beautiful, all of which helped.   I think the main reason I sold it was because it was slightly different to the design shown in the Walsh factory pattern book, and was an excellent example of Clyne Farquharson's early work in updating Walsh's existing designs (the story).   It made the decanter really interesting.

You and I can do this — auction houses can't.

Bernard C. 

[brucebanner]

You must have me mixed up with a proffessional, i'm selling about hundred pieces a month, and probably keeping ten nice things, true when someone collect's a piece,  it's good to have a chat and pick up on the history and exchange information, but i'm nothing in your leauge,  not yet anyway. 

[Paul S.]

In response to Bernard's comment re his sale of the Clyne Farquharson' designed bottle, my opinion would be that probably anything from that designer would be very saleable, anytime, anywhere.               Could be wrong, but I would be surprised if it's sale was principally based on pattern variation.             I did buy a bottle cut with Kendal pattern (from an auction house) earlier in the year  -  it was catalogued simply as 'a 1930's decanter', and I had to fight to win the piece  -  there are a lot of collectors for this sort of material who are eagle eyed and don't miss a trick and who scan auction house sales all over the country for pieces with this sort of provenance/attribution  -  Farquharson is a desireable name, and assuming it wasn't Kendal, I'd have probably bought it.

I don't know if Bernard advertised the piece as such, but certainly at such a venue I'd be surprised if something like that didn't sell based solely on the designer's name  -  provided the price was right.

Of course, I agree with the other points that Bernard was making.

[brucebanner]

My weakness is Salviati glass. When buying glass you think no one is looking or bidding on a blurred image, or a glass listed as finishing at 3 in the morning, but there is always someone who knows what something is worth, maker, pattern and rarity etc, my problem is i collect everything Skruf, Salviati, Georgian ale glasses, Victorian decanters, Deco pressed glass, early Stuart glass, Stevens and Williams, i know bit's about them all and enough to recognise the piece or at best be aware it might be worth something, I keep the best bits i find as i could not afford to pay £60 for a glass and the rest i sell on, i could keep posting on here lots of old glass but i fear everyone would just get tired and bored of replying to brucebanner posts.