Topic: Large Harbridge 1930's art deco cut glass vase perhaps missing it's frog .

[Baked_Beans]

I was lucky to find this. Very faint 1930's Harbridge mark to base. 8.75 inches tall weight 1.9 kg. There is some internal scratching where there may have been a frog .    Thanks for having a look.

[keith]

Nice and chunky, I like that, good find,

[chopin-liszt]

It's a lot bigger and fancier than my Grandma's Harbridge confiture, but has the same diamond shape cutting on the rounded sloping sides. The cutting of those shapes must have been a nightmare - each and every single one has to have been modified from the "pure" diamond shape to accommodate the shape of the glass and cover it evenly and completely. It is done so well you almost don't notice.

[Baked_Beans]

Thanks Keith & Sue,
It really is the best piece of cut glass I have found . I hadn't thought of that subtlety Sue . The mark to the base is so worn that it can only really be seen in bright sunlight at a certain angle. It was a flook that I eventually saw it. It doesn't have the V shaped cuts around the rim that have been mentioned elsewhere . I'm pretty sure it must have had a frog as the diameter to the rim is 8 inches unless a frog from another vase was used which was the cause of all the internal scratching . Ta, Mike.

[chopin-liszt]

You need to take a magnifying glass to it!
That way you'll be able to see a lot better how each "diamond" is truly shaped - and see the flat surface cut onto that. Fiddly, mind-blowingly difficult stuff.

[Baked_Beans]

I shall do so, Sue . I might have missed your grandma's confiture in my searching so I will see if I can find it 

[Paul S.]

Nice piece  -  Harbridge doesn't turn up that often.

Extremely unusual to find cut glass pieces that genuinely had a frog/flower support, such double acts seem to have been almost exclusively the property of pressed glass.
I know Stuart did at least one 'pair' (a large wide cut vase) with accompanying frog, where the support carries Rd. 637674.    Although the vase is without a No. I'm assuming it was 637675, since they're partnered in the Blue Book  -  however, the vase does carry the Stonier =S= mark, so probably a genuine pairing - and Bernard has commented that John Stonier sourced only from Stuart.      There must be others, but they're certainly thin on the ground.

Apart from my Stuart example I don't recall seeing any other cut piece with a support, so although it's possible this Harbridge vase was born with a frog, the probability is that it's more likely the scratches were caused by a housewife's engagement ring or other cleaning implement.

I believe the company were producing for some considerable time after the '30's, but if the mark remained unchanged then perhaps not easy to be specific about a production date, but it does have a pre war look.

just goes to show that some backstamps can be the devil to find - it's easy to spend hours before finding them, and then again you can spend days and find nothing  - or even invent something      

[Baked_Beans]

Thanks Paul for the information about frogs. Interesting that cut glass vases didn't have them in general. All the internal scratching occurs on or near the horizontal cut band , do you think this might be too low down for a frog (if it had one ...which is unlikely ) ? Where is the frog positioned on your Stuart piece ,if you don't mind me asking 

As you say the mark was so difficult to see , I kept looking at the vase and thinking that a vase of this quality must surely  have one . I could only see the word crystal the last few letters of British and the last few of Harbridge. So I went to the glass marks website (superb site !!) and worked my way through the whole lot ! The website does say the mark is from the 1930's and is identical to the one on the base of a Harbridge oil lamp discussed here on the GMB. The vase does have a slight Art Deco look about it so I guess it is very likely to be pre war .

I shall be looking out for more Harbridge from now on , it's amazing quality and as Sue said the skill needed to produce a vase like this is exceptional. Ta, Mike

[chopin-liszt]

I do have a pic of my grandma's thing, and I think it has been posted here somewhere. I also know Paul is waiting for me to produce an image of it.
If I can't find it (finding pics is a nightmare, having to name everything and remember what I've called it, is where I and computers fall out.) I'll take another. 

[chopin-liszt]

  found it.