not a cue for my return to collecting glass - rather something for show that I would rather have found several years ago, and which IMHO has more than sufficient curiosity that it might appeal to others. Older tumblers tend to be thin on the ground with most being clear, and I don't recall seeing this design previously, and certainly not in U. This came from a charity shop yesterday, and I was so impressed with the thing just couldn't leave it behind - it cost one pound.
Dating is, as usual, a headache ……………………... the evolution of shape of tumblers tends, generally, to go from a more squat 'nearly as wide as they are tall' early C19 appearance, to the later taller, thinner jobs - with of course other obvious differences. Needless to say this one lacks any makers mark or Reg. details, so will probably remain anonymous - there appears to be a complete absence of mould lines.
So, for the technically minded here is the description ……… height 3.75" (95 mm) - width at top rim 3.5/16" (84 mm) - straight sided, and with only very slight tapering of the shape.
The base shows a moulded concave 'lemon squeezer' pattern surrounded by a smooth base rim quite highly polished, showing some wear.
Upward from the base …… convex pillar moulding for one third of height showing evidence of a poor quality or worn mould surface, overtopped by a band of arch-shaped flat slice cut panels, each separated by very narrow blazes - each blaze consists of three very shallow mitre cuts.
The piece is very heavy and thickens noticeably toward the base where the shape comes inward (internally) as is common with many older tumblers, and re-heating at the mouth has produced a very clean and smooth rim - remarkably without a flea bite or chip in sight.
Speculation could be rife as to origin - makers such as P.V., Davidson, and Ed. Moore are known to have favoured heavy pillars, which can be seen in some of their insulators, that's assuming it originated in the U.K.
Reading Brooks 'Glass Tumblers 1700 - 1900' is of little help - his booklet avoids any u. examples and shows only a single heavy pillared job which carries a diamond point inscription for 1806 - well before the introduction of machine mould pressing in the U.K., which I assume this to be.
Silber & Fleming (c. last third C19) show very few chunky pillared tumblers, and in any event much of the wares shown were imported.
I now have only the one volume of Skelcher's books on Uranium glass, and don't see anything comparable - though he does include the odd tumbler. Odly, it could come down to the actual shade/colour of U. that might help more than anything to help narrow the date for this one - this glass has the well-known very oily yellow-green appearance - not perhaps captured too well in the attached pix.
So, in conclusion, am tempted to say this one is second half C19 - perhaps nearer to the start of that period rather than the end.
Topic: moulded and cut uranium tumbler. (Read 1154 times)
