Glass Circle_50th Anniversary Exhibition_1937 – 1987

Strange

Rare

50th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
1937 – 1987

THE GLASS CIRCLE

STRANGE AND RARE

50th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
OF

THE GLASS CIRCLE

1937 – 1987
AT

BROADFIELD HOUSE GLASS MUSEUM FROM SEPTEMBER 1987
BY KIND PERMISSION OF THE KEEPER,

MR. CHARLES HADJAMACH
AND

THE PILKINGTON GLASS MUSEUM FROM JANUARY 1988

BY KIND PERMISSION OF THE DIRECTORS AND THE CURATOR,
MR. I.M. BURGOYNE

no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior

written permission of the Glass Circle.

Artwork & Printing by
DEADLINE,

190, Grays Inn Road, London WC1.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

HISTORY OF THE GLASS CIRCLE: 1937 to 1987

vii

“WHAT IS GLASS”

EXHIBITS
I LOAN EXHIBITS

II THE FIRST GLASS MAKERS (PRE-ROMAN)

III AFTER THE DARK AGES
Italian Renaissance : Venetian Glass

Facon de Venise
and other early glass

IV THE ASCENDANCY OF LEAD CRYSTAL

Before 1700
Fine and Rare Examples of 18th Century Glass

Baluster Stems

Newcastle Glasses and Plain Stems

Hollow Stems

Air-Twist and Mixed-Twist Stems

Lynn Glass and Coloured Glass

Opaque-Twist and Coloured-Twist Stems

Cut and Facetted Glass

Glasses for Special Occasions

V DECORATIVE TREATMENTS

The Exuberant Glass Maker

Toys, Novelties and Friggers

Applied Decoration:
Engraving

Enamelling and Gilding

Cased and Cut Glass

Later Cut Glass

VI TRADE AND TRANSPORT

VII ROYAL CONNECTIONS

VIII PRESSED GLASS FOR EVERYBODY

IX CONTINENTAL GLASS

X FAR EASTERN GLASS

XI UTILITARIAN

Lighting

Musical Glasses

Pictures

Windows

Horticultural and Domestic

Scientific and Medical

Glass Circle Associations

XII MODERN STUDIO GLASS

XIII BOOKS AND EPHEMERA

,UV THE ART OF GLASS ON STAMPS

iii

INTRODUCTION

Every piece of glass is in its own way unique. Every engraving for instance is

as individual in its execution and design as any painting or drawing.
We have tried to gather together not only some of the finest and rarest

examples of such work from the collections of Glass Circle members, but also some

stranger applications of the art of glassmaking that are rarely seen, even in

museums.
We hope this exhibition will inform, amuse and stimulate; we shall feel

rewarded if our visitors see at least one item that they have never seen before that

will remain in their memory.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are pleased to acknowledge the following:-

Charles Hadjamach and Roger Dodsworth of Broadfield House Glass Museum for their
generous support and enthusiastic assistance without which this Exhibition would not
have been possible.

Ian Burgoyne of the Pilkington Glass Museum for offering the facilities of the Museum

and covering the cost of the exhibition at St. Helens.

Dudley Metropolitan Borough for hospitality at the Opening and other support.

The following sponsors for their generous donations:-

Marks & Spencer for covering the special costs of the British Museum loan.

Delomosne & Sons
Phillips Fine Art Auctioneers

Royal Brierley Crystal

Somervale Antiques

Stuart Crystal
Mrs. Cremieu Javal

Mr. Dwight Lanmon

Mr. Jack Martin

Mrs. Jane Shadel Spillman

Mr. Richard Whatmoor

Mr. D.G.V. de B. Wilmot

The British Museum, Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, Dartington Glass Centre
and private collections for contributing glasses to the Loan Exhibition.

The following Glass Circle members who unstintingly loaned glasses for exhibition and
bore the cost of transporting them to Broadfield House:-

Mr. & Mrs. D. Bell, Mrs. J. Benson, Mrs. B.M. Bikker, D. Bowman,

Mrs. M. Boyden, J.D. Butler, RJ. Charleston, Miss S. Coppen-Gardner,

S. Cottle, A.G. Cranch, Miss K. Crowe, P. Dreiser, KJ. Dudding,

Prof. FJ.G. Ebling, Miss W. Evans, HJ. Fox, Miss M.C. Frazer,

J.I. Greaves, E. Gros in memory of the late Mrs. G. Gros Galliner,
RA. Haigh, C.R Hadjamach, Dr. H.J. Kersley, D.P. Lanmon, P. Layton,

B. Levy, M.W. McLain, Mr. & Mrs. G. Miller, D.G. Manning,

Mrs. B. Morris, Mrs. E. Newgas, R. Notley, J. Pacifico, J.P. Pitcairn,
Dr. & Mrs. P.H. Plesch, B.S. Richards, M. Savage, J.S.M. Scott,

Mrs. W.L. Seddon, P.R Seymour, RM. Slack, F.GAM. Smit,

Mrs. N.M. Smith, Dr. D. Stuart, Mrs. EJ. Thompson, J. Towse,

Dr. & Mrs. D.C. Watts, G.F. Watts, A. Waugh, DJ. Whatmoor,
P.H. Whatmoor, Major R.T.P. Williams, D.G.V. de B. Wilmot.

EXHIBITION COMMITTEE

Simon Cottle, Kate Crowe, Henry Fox, Charles Hadjamach, Catherine Ross, David Watts,
Philip Whatmoor.

HISTORY OF THE GLASS CIRCLE: 1937

TO 1987

The Circle of Glass Collectors was founded on 27th May 1937 by John Maunsell
Bacon. He was a contemporary of many of the pioneers of scholarship on the

subject of glass, such as Joseph Bles, Grant Francis, Wilfred and Francis Buckley,
Edward Dillon, Cecil Higgins, Arthur Churchill, Barrington Haynes, Albert
Hartshorne, Kirkby Mason and WA Thorpe to mention only a few. Many glasses in

the hands of today’s collectors are from the collections of these men.
John Bacon was the great-great-grandson of John Bacon, RA., the talented

sculptor who made busts of King George III, Dr. Johnson and William Pitt, and

models for the china factories of Bow and Chelsea-Derby, and died in 1799. A

series of Bacon pastels and pieces of family furniture were among J.M. Bacon’s

prized possessions.
Born in 1866, he had gone from Felsted to Cambridge and the Sorbonne. He

became a schoolmaster, mostly at the United Service College, Windsor. He had

other military connections and interests. Before the 1914 war he lived at Hyde Vale,
Greenwich, overlooking Blackheath, and after the 1914 war and service in the
Enemy Debts Office, he moved in retirement to Trebovir Road, SW5. A catholic

collector, his first main interest was pewter, but he sold this to specialise in glass.

Bacon’s style was to be “at home” between 9.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. when

students of glass could visit and ask for advice and see his collection of balusters in

an enormous glass case. He would also take would-be collectors around the antique

shops and advise them on what to buy to start a collection. Thus the seeds were

sown for the idea of a Society, and The Circle of Glass Collectors was formally

inaugurated, under that name, on 27th May 1937, at a meeting at No. 33 Trebovir

Road of the following nine persons: Dr. E. Frankland Armstrong, F.RS., J.M. Bacon,

Esq., Mrs. Bland, Lady Davy, W.P. Isgar, Esq., Colonel E.E.B. Mackintosh, Ivan R

Napier, Esq., Miss D. Stott, and WA Thorpe, Esq. The first evening meeting was
held on 21st October 1937, and the first list of foundation members was printed in

January 1938.
In 1939 it was feared that so recent a foundation might not survive the

dislocation, destruction and departures due to the war. The Founder was living for
much of the years 1939-1945 at Pooley Bridge, near the upper end of Lake

Ullswater. Stencilled notes were then circulated by him in order to sustain in

scattered members their interest in glass and to keep the Circle together. In 1942

he wrote
English Glass Collecting for Beginners in a Series of Five Letters to One of

Them,
which was published in Penrith, and continued his fondness for imparting

knowledge to those starting in the field of glass collecting.
After the war, Mr. Bacon returned to London, but by now was suffering from

cancer. During a memorable evening at a meeting given by Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm
Graham, he was toasted in wine drunk from fine old glasses and shortly after died

on 8th April 1948, in his eighty-second year. Part of his collection of flint-glass was
subsequently acquired by the City Museum and Art Gallery at Bristol, although it is

sad to recall that he had accidently tipped over one of his large cabinets while

moving in 1939, and many prized examples were broken.
Those first meetings of the Circle before the Second World War were formal.

Invitations were handwritten and full evening dress was worn, and while the style

has changed certain relics linger, such as a rule against alcohol at meetings which

was introduced from the start as a kindly limit to the hospitality which a host might

be expected to provide. Indeed the custom which prevails to this day of providing
refreshments at meetings through voluntary hosts reflects these origins, although

over the years increasing numbers at meetings, and increasing costs have
necessitated subtle changes to the arrangements, such as the introduction of co-

hosts and a standard charge from contributing hosts in 1984. Other reminders are

the peripatetic nature of the Circle, with no fixed meeting place, and the careful

selection of new members for their serious interest in glass.

vii

The Circle is run by a committee with a President/Chairman, and only in 1986

has there been the necessity to divide these two offices. A remarkable continuity is

demonstrated by the only two Presidents the Circle has had since inauguration.

W.A. Thorpe, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, was President from 1937 to

1957, to be succeeded by Robert J. Charleston, Keeper of Glass and Ceramics at the

Victoria & Albert Museum until his retirement, who holds the office today and is
acknowledged as the foremost authority on the subject of glass.

Another remarkable achievement by one of the present members and also a

member since 1940, Miss Katherine Worsley, was to succeed Bacon as

Honorary Secretary and Treasurer from 1948 until 1971. At that time the Secretary’s

duty was taken over by Mrs. Janet Benson, who holds the post today. As the

membership was increasing, the separate post of Honorary Treasurer was created

and this was held by Philip Whatmoor from 1970 to 1984, and since then by Tim

Udall.

The expansion of the Circle from the 1960’s increased the range of interest in

glass, originally confined to 18th Century and earlier English drinking glasses. In the
mid 1960s it became customary to abbreviate the name from “The Circle of Glass

Collectors” to “The Glass Circle” and this has now been adopted as the official title.

There are today few aspects of the subject which are not studied by the Circle,

from early Egyptian and Roman, through the archaeology of glass-house sites, the
intricacies of 15th and 16th Century Venice to the golden days of English flint

glasses, to be followed by the Victorian vision and experimentation, the richness

from the continent, the important contributions from the East and the exciting

developments of the 20th Century and contemporary studio glass movement.

The members of the Circle include authors on glass, museum curators

throughout the UK, in America, on the continent and as far as Australia,

archaeologists and conservationists. Nearly all members have collections covering

conventional and unconventional aspects of the subject, and it is from this source

that the present exhibition is drawn.

A most important aspect of the Circle is its monthly meetings, at which papers

are read by members or guests, with the objective of presenting original research

on the whole breadth of the subject of glass. In addition to stencilled notes

distributed during the war to keep the Circle together, certain of the post-1945

papers read to the Circle were also duplicated and some are still available today as
the only source material on certain subjects. But in 1972 it was decided to publish

the best papers of the past and present them in more substantial form, and to date

five volumes of
The Glass Cirde

have been published covering over twenty sub-

jects. In addition,
Glass Cirde News

appears quarterly.

The Society continues to attract new members and add to the breadth of its

interests. The elusive subject of glass, old and new, continues to give endless scope

to original research, and an assured future for the Glass Circle seems certain for

many years to come.

P.H. Whatmoor, Miss K. Worsley

viii

WHAT IS GLASS

All hobbies have their associated jargon and glass collecting is no exception.

Particularly confusing are the terms used to described glass made in different

countries and over different periods of time.
Glass is a family name for a very large group of substances whose composition

and properties can vary widely from one to another. It may be transparent,
translucent, opaque, clear or coloured. Traditionally a fragile substance, sensitive to

knocks and sudden changes of temperature, it can nowadays be made almost

unbreakable and heat resistant for domestic applications like cooker hobs or

commercial heat shields such as the insulating outer skin of the American space

craft “Challenger”, both, no doubt, collector’s items of the future!
What is it that brings this diverse group of materials together? The answer is

that “glass” describes a physical condition rather than a chemical composition.

When a hot, molten substance such as iron or common salt is allowed to cool, the
component atoms rapidly sort themselves out into organized arrays that form

crystals. A glass, on the other hand, has the curious property that as it cools it
becomes viscous, like toffee, faster than the atoms can get organized into crystals.

This results in a more or less random arrangement of atoms, often described as a

supercooled liquid, and gives glass its most characteristic property – the way in

which it can be blown like a bubble or stretched and twisted while it is still hot.
Ordinary “soda” glass cools by about 200 degrees centigrade from being hot
enough to blow to being almost solid. Over this “working range” its viscosity

increases ten thousand times.
Glass occurs naturally as obsidian but the discovery of its manufacture is

traditionally attributed to Phoenician merchants who used blocks of soda from their

cargo to support cooking pots over a fire on a beach near Tyre on the east
Mediterranean coast. This introduces the idea that glass is made from sand
combined with an alkaline flux which lowers the melting point. Even so, the heat

intensity required renders the story improbable; there would certainly have been
`burnt offerings’ for dinner that night! More likely, glassmaking arose from a study

of the natural glaze that formed on the walls of furnaces used for smelting metals or

from decoratively glazed beads.
The earliest glass vessels date reliably from 1500 BC, the time when Tutmoses

and Tutankhamen ruled in Egypt, although glass beads a thousand years older than
this have been found. By 1500 BC, too, goldsmiths were using a softer form of

opaque, coloured glass to decorate their wares – the first cloisonné enamel. Egypt

was later to become famous for its coloured mosaic and millefiore glass but the first

glassmakers probably worked in Assyria, a region bounded by the rivers Tigris and
Euphrates corresponding to modem Iraq. The last great king of Assyria was

Assurbanipal (672-647 BC) and it is from his library at Nineveh that documentary
evidence of glassmaking, in cuneiform on a series of clay tablets, was first found.
Even these appear to be copies of earlier tablets, one from Babylon dating to about

1400 BC. The recipes are based on mixtures of sand and a special plant ash. The

plant ash contributed the flux as variable amounts of soda and potash, as well as

other substances, notably calcium salts, that are important to make the glass water-
insoluble and reduce its tendancy to crystallize. Quite remarkably, Assurbanipal’s

recipe of one part sand plus two or three parts ash became the basic mixture used

for glassmaking in the western world right through to the end of the seventeenth

century.

In Egypt, about 300 BC, soda glass was made from natron, a crude form of

soda obtained from the dried lakes near Cairo at Wadi Natrum. It had many uses,

including embalming, and its export probably led to the story, recorded by Pliny in

1 AD, about the origin of glassmaking mentioned above. Natron glass can be

distinguished by chemical analysis because it lacks the potassium and magnesium
found in glass made from plant ash. Although this soda glass was of good quality,

similar in composition to modem container glass, the use of natron was not widely
used outside Egypt.

Although some clear glass was made in Assurbanipal’s time it did not become

popular until the invention of glass blowing, also in the Middle East, in about the

last 50 years BC. This new technique made glass vessels cheap enough for the mass

of the better off people rather then just the very rich. Before then, opaque glass

simulating jewels was favoured. Although copper blue was most common, colouring
agents for red, green, white, yellow, purple and black were all known.

Assyrian glassmaking spread westwards, particularly to Akko (near Tyre),

Aleppo and Damascus, famous for its enamelled oil lamps. It continued to prosper
until the sacking of Damascus in 1402 by Tamerlane who carried off most of the

craftsmen to his capital, Samarkand. However, this devastation favoured the

development of the infant industry in Europe.

In Roman times good quality glass was exported throughout Europe and was

probably being made there also. With the collapse of the Roman empire in the 5th

century Europe entered the dark ages and it is generally believed that the

technique of making high quality glass was lost. And so we find that at the time of

Tamerlane’s conquests, the high quality glass of the Syrian glassmakers was, with
perhaps rare exceptions, not being matched in Europe. Most of the European glass

was of poor quality and that which was meant to be colourless glass frequently had
an unpleasant green or yellow cast due to contamination by iron in the ingredients.

But just as the old alchemists sought to make gold, the glassmaker sought to

imitate the brilliance of natural rock crystal. The secret, if such it was, was

discovered in 1460 by Angelo Barovier, a Venetian whose family had a long
tradition of glassmaking. His was a quick setting glass made from roast and crushed

white pebbles, from the river Ticino, and partially purified Syrian ash plus a secret
clarifying (decolorizing) agent, manganese dioxide (glassmaker’s soap), which

“washed out” the unpleasant green colour. The new glass, called
cristallo,
or

sometimes “flint glass” reflecting the use of pebbles rather than sand, exactly suited

the temperament of the Venetian glassblowers. Their unbelievable skills produced
new and exciting shapes so thinly blown that any residual grey brownish tinge in

the glass passed un-noticed. In the sixteenth century thin rods (canes) of opaque

white glass were used to decorate the
cristallo
in an unbelievably elaborate manner.

The dominance of Venetian glassmaking is characteristic of the Renaissance period
and this supremacy lasted until the end of the seventeenth century.

Elsewhere in Europe glass was being made with mixtures of local sand and,

instead of the superior Syrian ash, wood ash in Germany, or bracken in France

from which the terms
waldglass
and
verre de fougere

are derived. The natural grey-

blue and green shades of this glass are now highly esteemed and the simple but

satisfying designs are much sought after by collectors.

Secrecy is traditionally associated with glass making. The Venetian

glassworkers, moved to the island of Murano because of the fire hazard they posed

to Venice, were threatened with death if they took their skills elsewhere. But the

glassworkers of nearby Altare were under no such threat and many, as well as a few

Venetians prepared to chance their luck, travelled to the Low Countries and,

eventually, England. They could not match
cristallo

for quality but there was nothing

wrong with the designs produced in the Venetian manner
facon de Venise

although

in precisely which country such pieces were made is now lost to us.
In England, desire to break the Venetian monopoly on the manufacture of fine

glass led, in 1673, to the setting-up of an experimental furnace in London, near

where the Savoy Hotel now stands, by George Ravenscroft, a merchant with
experience of Venice and its glass industry. With the help of a Venetian assistant he

successfully produced what he called ‘a crystalline glass resembling rock crystal’,
patented in March, 1674. Details of the recipe are still controversial but it is thought

to have been a mixture of roast crushed flints, red lead oxide, tartar (a by-product

of the wine industry), borax and saltpetre. Unlike glass made with wood ash, all the

ingredients were highly purified and gave a clear, lustrous crystal with the

unexpected property that it rang like a bell when struck! The initial experiments

were not entirely successful as the glass tended to crystallize (crissel) due to too
much tartar in the mixture. Ravenscroft had a sales contract with the Glass Sellers

Company and, after he had corrected the composition of his glass (or “metal”, as it
is now often called), he affixed his personal seal of a raven’s head as a guarantee of

quality. This has enabled the identification of the few surviving examples, some of

which show, after all this time, extensive crisseling.
The Venetian ambassador in Britain lost no time in reporting this new threat to

Venice. His concern was justified for by the turn of the 18th century new designs in

the heavy lead crystal had become the order of the day. The composition was

simplified, sand being used instead of flints for most work, and purified potash
replacing the borax and tartar. The glass lost some of its brilliance, however, and

manganese dioxide was introduced to decolorize the green tinge of contaminating

iron. Today, collectors consider the dark cast of an early 18th century baluster glass

to be one of its most desirable qualities. The term “flint” was taken over from the

Venetians and advertisements appeared offering one-half penny per pound for

broken ‘single flint’ and one penny for ‘double flint’. The difference between these

two qualities is not known but the most satisfactory explanation appears to relate to

the use of crushed flints for best glass and sand for ordinary ware.
On the continent, at about the same time, a new glass had appeared made

from purified wood ash supplemented with chalk to provide the stabilizing calcium.

This “chalk glass” became the continental “potash crystal” and was magnificently

exploited by the growing industry of engraved commemorative ware. For domestic
tableware the brilliant lead crystal was the envy of Europe, and fancy stem forms
involving twisted air threads, twisted opaque glass (enamel) threads and cut facets

successively became popular. The second half of the 18th century saw the rise of

the, initially English, cut glass industry which later developed in Scotland, Ireland
and abroad. Isolated examples of continental lead crystal occur as rarities in the

mid-eighteenth century but it was not until 1782 that the French factory of St. Louis,

assisted by English migrants, discovered the true secret of its manufacture. In the

nineteenth century the continental glassmakers typically adopted a glass containing

about 20% lead, known, slightly disparagingly, as
demicrystal,

compared with the

English full-lead crystal of 30-33% that endures to the present day.

The use of moulds for casting and for shaping blown glass goes back to the

Assyrians. As with the invention of blowing, the invention in America of machine-
pressed glass in 1828 for the mass production of cheap, popular lines, initiated a

new era of glass development and brought glass for the first time within the pocket

of the working classes. Early pressed glass used the traditional lead metal but by

1900 the requirements for higher speeds for pressing reduced the lead content to
only a few percent and saw the introduction of new additives, such as barium,

which give a quick-setting glass with a greater brilliance. From the mid-nineteenth

century a bewildering variety of coloured glasses, particularly exploiting shading

from one colour to another vied with each other for public attention. About 1870

coloured pressed glass, either in plain colours or intermingled with white, often

called ‘slag’ became popular and now fetches disproportionately high prices. ‘End

of day’ glass, usually a thinly-blown mixture of bright colours, was produced in

quantity in Czechoslovakia – a highly commercial product that had little to do with
the romantic notion that it was made from what was left in the pots in the furnace

at the end of the day.

Much 20th century pressed glass is of poor quality compared with deeply

moulded, crisp patterns of the previous century. Its quantity is such that only the

experienced collector knows what to look for. But from this amorphous mass,

anyone can recognise the brash exuberance of Carnival glass, achieved by coating

the surface of pressed glass with metallic oxides, mostly iron, and then reducing

these to a brilliant metallic sheen in the furnace. Unfortunately, popular designs

continue to be made in quantity and dating Carnival glass requires considerable
experience. The characteristic designs of the Art Deco period, both at the quality

end of the market and the cheaper mass-produced lines, have also become very

popular.

In response to the technological demands of the industrial revolution new

glasses were developed with greater chemical and heat resistance. The first world
war saw the inventions of toughened glass and, in America, of Pyrex where boric
oxide, first used by Ravenscroft, was found to make glass that could be subject to

heat stress without cracking. Today the infusion of metal ions into the surface of

glass will make it bounce when dropped while foam glasses are light enough to

float on water. Glass has become one of the most versatile and ubiquitous of all

materials – a far cry from the recipes on those old clay tablets jealously guarded by

Assyrian king Assurbanipal.

D.C. WA I IN

xii

I LOAN EXHIBITS

A. A Babylonian Clay Tablet with a cuneiform
inscription giving instructions for the manufacture

of two types of red-stone glass.
This tablet represents the best preserved

glass recipe of that period known today. It is dif-

ficult to date, but on stylistic grounds the text has
been attributed to between the 14th and 12th

Centuries B.C.
The recipes mention the addition of lead,

copper and antimony in varying proportions to
two different types of primary glass (ZUKU and

ANZAHHU), but the manufacture of the two
cullets is not described. The text continues with
further instructions for mixing the two batches,

and with remedial action to be taken if the glass

does not turn out as expected.

14th to 12th Century B.C.

9.5 cm wide
B.

A “Segmental” Ingot from Assyria. An opaque

dark red, round ingot with flat top and convex
bottom, i.e. “segmental” in shape. Strain cracks all

over the surface, the majority on the flat top. Cast
in a concave crucible, probably not unlike a plain

pottery bowl. Cuprite glass, with about one-third
missing. Surface turned greenish and covered by a

blackish deposit. From the Burnt Palace, Nimrud,
Room 47. Excavated in 1953 together with similar

ingots and slag near two intrusive and badly

damaged kilns.
Probably 5th-4th Century B.C.

16.4 cm diameter

Items A and B on loan from the British Museum.

An Anglo-Saxon pale green Glass Bucket, the

straight-sided body with spiral ribbing and minute

bands of trailing round the foot, with two loop

handles on the rounded and slightly convex rim,

white marvered around and just below the
exterior rim, the whole with traces of iridescence.

Found in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery on the
Longmeadow Estate, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk
In 1972 a portion of an Ango-Saxon cemetery

was excavated on the Longmeadow Estate, on the
banks of the River Linnet, a tributary of the River

Lark Enough of the cemetery was excavated to

show that it belonged to the earliest phases of

Anglo-Saxon England, ranging in date from the

early 5th Century to the late 7th, covering not only
the period of the pagan settlement, but also the

period of the conversion to Christianity. This

cemetery forms one of a group surrounding Bury

St. Edmunds and extending along the Lark valley.

The bucket, which was made for liturgical or

domestic use, was manufactured in the Rhineland
and imported into England.

c.5th Century A.D.

13.7 cm high

On loan from a Private Collection, normally on

loan to Moyses Hall Museum, Bury St. Edmunds.

D.
Clear glass Goblet engraved by Peter Dreiser

with designs incorporating scenes from the fifth
of Malcolm Arnold’s English Dances (1951).

The goblet was commissioned and presented

to the Museum by the Friends of Northampton

Museum and Art Gallery from a bequest by

William Arnold, the father of the composer. The

glass was made by Baccarat.
1980

22.5 cm high

On loan from Northampton Museum
and Art Gallery
E.

A Ship’s Decanter by Dartington Glass in

“Kingfisher”. Designed in 1967 by Frank Thrower

M.B.E. as part of the first range of Dartington

glass. “Kingfisher” colour was developed by Eskil

Vilhelmsson, the first Managing Director of

Dartington Glass and was in production between

1969 and 1973. The Ship’s Decanter was never
made commercially in “Kingfisher”, but was made

in dear
glass
from 1969 to 1980 and in

‘Midnight” between 1969 and 1973. This piece

was made as a sample in about 1970.
c.1970

F.
The

Victoria Suite
by Dartington Glass in

“Dartington Blue”. One of Frank Thrower’s
earliest designs, pre-dating the opening of

Dartington Glass, the
Victoria Suite

has been in

production from 1967 through to the present day.

The Goblet, Claret and Sherry Glasses were made

in “Dartington Blue” in 1976 and 1977.

1976-1977
Items E and F on loan

from The Dartington Glass Centre.

II THE FIRST GLASS MAKERS (PRE-ROMAN & ROMAN)

1. A Diadem consisting of 12 plaques in light
blue glass. Moulded with two four-petalled flowers

and rouleau end, both ends being pierced to the
plaques, through the rouleau. All plaques
encrusted. These beads are thought to have been

used either as diadems or sewn to a cap.

Mycenean.

14th Century B.C.
Each plaque 2 cm long and 1 cm wide at the

widest.

A Balsamarium of deep blue glass with

turquoise and yellow zig-zag and banded

decorations, two small loop handles. Hand-formed
before the invention of blowing. Egyptian.

c.6th Century B.C.

9 cm high.

3.
A faience Ushabti covered in a creamy white

glaze. Very crisply moulded with lively face,

mounted on a black block. The inscription on the
back reads “From the tomb of Wen ro, Priest,

scribe of the temple of Ptah. Born in Esi-ieshe”.

Egyptian. Faience is not a true glass but sand

grains stuck together with glaze.
30th Dynasty (379-342 B.C.).

14 cm high.
4.

A dark blue mould-blown glass with tapering

neck and inward-folded mouth-rim; very strong

moulding of six columnar niches, each containing
a different ritual vessel and arches above the

niches, below them garlands and fruit. Sidonian.

1st Century AD.

8 cm high.

5.
A pointed spindle Unguentarium in dark blue

glass with white trailing. Syrian.

2nd Century A.D.

20 cm high.

A quadruple Unguentarium of green glass

with silvery iridescence, enmeshed in spiral and
zig-zag trails, with elaborate three tier handle.

Roman.

4th to 5th Century A.D.

23 cm high.

7.
A triple Unguentarium of greenish glass with

silvery patination, three loop handles, vertical

snake trails on each of the three tubes, and a

spiral trail surrounding all three together. Roman.

4th to 5th Century A.D.

16 cm high.

8.
Double Unguentarium in bright blue-green

glass with single strap handle. Roman.
4th to 5th Century A.D.

14 cm high.

A Vessel (modiolus) in the shape of a

truncated cone, of very pale green glass on a

folded hollow foot rim, with everted lip, wheel

engraved grooves and a small loop handle with a
bright blue thumb piece. Roman.

1st Century AD.

16 cm high.

10.
A very wide shallow conical Dish of pale

green glass with gallery rim, a single thin trail on

the underside, and a strong wrythen-moulded

conical foot. Roman or Egyptian.

4th to 5th Century AD.

31 cm dia.
11.

A large green glass Flask, the compressed cir-

cular body with dose spiral ribbing, the cylindrical
neck with folded mouth rim and elaborately

trailed twin handles, and an original bronze

chain with large ring around the neck Roman.

3rd to 4th Century AD.

25 cm high.

12.
A very large globular Urn with everted wide

mouth, massive vertical pinched trail handles and

matching lid, in almost dear dark green glass with

patches of iridescence. Possibly Syrian, three

similar ones in the museum in Nimes were found

there. Vertical handles are very rare.
5th to 6th Century AD.

27 cm to top of handle

loop.

I 2

13. 19th Century Collector’s Cabinet of Egyptian/

Roman glass fragments. Probably assembled while

on the fashionable “Grand Tour”, this cabinet
houses two collections.

Trays Ito V show fragments from bowls and tiles
of mostly millefiori and mosaic glass with one

side polished, and neatly displayed in Victorian

gold cardboard mounts.
Alexandrian.

3rd Century AD.

Trays VI and VII show a miscellany of glass
fragments including Egyptian core vessels, beads,

counters, a glass cylinder seal and other objects

not glass.

3rd Century B.C. to 3rd Century AD.
14.

A complete example of a vessel in millefiori

a deep Dish with up-turned rim on opaque trail

foot, of mainly aubergine coloured glass with

white “eyes”, blue patches and some differently

coloured patches. Roman.

3rd to 4th Century AD.

9 cm dia.

15.
Glass Bangles in a variety of sizes which

could have been used as bracelets or for the hair.

Probably Alexandrian.

3rd Century B.C.

3 to 6 cm dia.

15a. A squat globular- Bowl in amber coloured

glass with low everted rim, with sharp downward

tapering ribs. Roman.

1st Century AD.
6 cm high

III AFI ER THE DARK AGES

Italian Renaissance: Venetian Glass

16.
A pair of footed

reticello
Cruets with spouts

and pincered applied handles. Exceptional

workmanship using the technique of trapping air

bubbles between a network of opaque white

threads.

c.1575

13 cm high.

17.
A

cristallo

Goblet of greyish metal, the slender

bell bowl with flared rim supported on a merese

upon a hollow baluster stem on a folded conical

foot. Note the perfect proportions.

16th Century

17.5 cm high.
18.

A Goblet in

vetro a retorti,
flared bowl with

moulded nodules around the base, set on a plated

stem and foot.

16th Century

17.5 cm high.

19.
Ball Ornament in

vetro a retorti
with a pair of

plain white canes alternating with two patterns of

twisted white canes. The ball, drawn at the top

into a finial of three smaller balls is supported on

a ball knop between dear glass mereses, or

collars, and a flared folded foot.

c.1575

17 an high.

20. Bowl, the outward curving and folded rim

bordered by two trailed bands in blue and mauve,

the lower half ribbed, on a hollow pedestal with

blue frilled collar, outward curving to a circular

foot with pale ruby trailed rim, the ribs continuing
to the rim.

c.1550

26 cm dia.
24. A Wine Glass, the conical bowl resting on a

two-bladed Imp with a hollow quatrefoil bulb as

the main stem feature, with a collar below and

terminating in a folded conical foot, the bowl

diamond engraved with birds amongst foliage.
Probably Netherlands.

17th Century.

13 cm high.

25. A Flask, the cylindrical blue glass body

vertically ribbed, with applied coiled wheeled

stringing, kick-in base. Rhenish or Hall in Tyrol.

1600-1650

17 cm high.

Fawn de Venise and other early Glass
21.
Vetro a retorti Fawn de Venise

Goblet from

Saxony in dear glass and opaque white enamel

with hollow spreading folded foot. A similar glass
illustrated in
Glass,• A Handbook
plate 24c,

Victoria & Albert Museum, W.B. Honey.

c.1623

14.1 cm high.

22.
A glass vessel, possibly a Cruet, with slender

hollow handle and spout. Soda glass of a greenish

tinge with blackish striations.

c.1625

23.
Very thinly blown fruit Tara, with shallow

saucer-shaped bowl, on inverted hollow trumpet
foot with folded rim.

“Buckingham Glass” ex Barrington Hares

collection, ex. Horridge Collection, ex Wentworth

Woodhouse, “Lord Fitzwilliam’s House”. Found
there with 9 other similar pieces.

c.1665

17 cm dia.

IV THE ASCENDANCY OF LEAD CRYSTAL

Before 1700
26.
A very early Goblet with round funnel bowl,

the tall stem with three hollow knops, the middle

one gadrooned, divided by collars, resting on an

almost flat, folded foot. This glass is somewhat

crizzled and possibly from the glass house of

George Ravenscroft.

c. 1670

28.5 cm high.

27.
Anglo-Venetian Wine with flared trumpet

bowl, wrythened nonuniform gadrooning on a

merese above a plain stem with 6 wings pincered

at the top and a plain ball knop at base. Folded
foot. No other 6 winged glass is recorded.

c. 1685

15 cm.

28.
Candlestick of lead glass with a knopped

hollow stem of baluster form. A rare form, typical

of the period.

c. 1690
29.

A single flint Wine Glass of brownish metal,

round funnel bowl, double knopped stem on

conical folded foot. The term “single flint” is

commonly, and probably erroneously, used to
indicate that the vessel is made from one

gathering of metal.

c. 1690

13.5 cm high.

30.
A very rare Coin Goblet, the ovoid bowl

containing a blown internal bulb inside which is a

silver groat of Charles II, dated 1680, on a

quatrefoil lobed knop terminating in a domed

folded foot.

From the Kirkby Mason Collection; Gwen Smith

Collection. See WA Thorpe,
English and Irish

Glasses,
pl. l No.2.

Burlington Magazine,

October 1935, p.IX. Peter M. Woolley Collection.

c. 1690

17.1 cm high.

Fine and Rare Examples of

37. Two heavy Baluster Wines with acorn knop

18th Century Glass

stem; one of the most attractive of all baluster

stem formations.

c. 1710

Baluster Stems

31.
A heavy Baluster Goblet with a deceptive

bowl of unusually thick metal, supported on an

inverted baluster stem enclosing a large tear

terminating on a thick folded foot.

Ex Thomas Arthur Lewis Collection.

c.1700.

16.5 cm high.

32.
A Cylinder-knopped Baluster Wine Glass, the

trumpet bowl with solid base and tear, set on a

typical cylinder section with mushroom shaped

air-tear, flattened knop above and below and

basal knop on a conical folded foot.

Ex Bentall Collection.

c. 1705

17.2 cm high.

33.
An extremely rare early Serving Decanter Jug

and Stopper mould-blown, octagonal body with
tapering neck, embellished with neck ring and
pinched spout, scroll handle, stopper with hollow

globular finial and shaped lip to cover pinched
spout. Kicked base.

c.1705

31.3 cm high.

34.
A small Baluster Wine Glass with a unusual

configuration of seven rings.

1715

35.
A Baluster Ale Flute with four graduated

knops; there is no other recorded glass of this

configuration.

Ex Walter Smith Collection.

1710

18 cm high.

36.
A Baluster Cordial Glass with a trumpet bowl

on cylinder stem above a domed and folded foot.

Small bowled cordial glasses are much rarer than

wine glasses, especially of this period.

From the A.P. Milstead and W.F. Smith collections.

c. 1700

15 cm high.
38.

A uniquely engraved Baluster Goblet, the

round funnel bowl inscribed in diamond point

“Robert Buxton att The Oxford Inn Exon”, the

inscription surrounded by finely executed scroll

work in diamond point engraving. In the Exeter

Archives Robert Buxton is mentioned as an Inn

Keeper in a case of arrest for unruly conduct by a

patron in 1726.

cf: Joseph Bles,
Rare English Glasses of the 17th

and 18th Centuries,
p.72, illustrated p.73, p1.19. Ex

Sir J.S. Risley Collection.

cf. Robert Charleston,
English Glasses
(London

1984) p.137, referring to this glass.

c.1720

17.8 cm high.

39.
A Wine Glass with round funnel bowl on half

knop over an egg knop with tear, base knop and
folded foot.

Ex Collection C. Kirkby Mason.

Ex W. Horridge Collection.

Ex Roy Dunstan Collection. Ex Dr. C. Lewis

Collection.

c. 1710-1720

17 cm high.

40.
Engraved Baluster Goblet with a round funnel

bowl with a tear at the base over a 6-sided

Silesian stem moulded with diamonds. The bowl

engraved “T. WELVAARE VAN DE WERF. DE
HOOP.” Folded foot.

1720

37
37

16
38
40

Newcastle Glasses and Plain Stems

41.
Dutch engraved armorial “Newcastle” Wine

Glass with unusual bobbin knopped stem, a name

taken from wood turning.

c. 1750

11.5 cm high.

42.
Newcastle Light Baluster with a waisted bell

bowl with two rings round the rim on a double-
knopped stem with tear. Domed and folded foot.

1730

43.
Light drawn trumpet wine, plain stem,

engraved with fruiting vine on a plain stem with a

tear, and a domed foot. The attractive tear, or
bubble of air, in the stem has been unusually

elongated in this example.
1745

18 cm high.

44.
A very rare bobbin-knopped Sweetmeat Glass.

Heavy double ogee bowl on a stem with eight

graded knops over a conical foot.

Ex Cater Collection.

Ex Hamilton Clements Collection. Formerly in the

Henry Brown Collection.
Ex The Dawson Collection.

Ex The Walter Smith Collection.
Illustrated in Percy Bates,
English Table Glass,

p1.43, fig. 173. Illustrated in J. Bles,
Rare English

Glasses,
p1.70, fig. 103. Illustrated by Thorpe,

History of English and Irish Glasses,
p1.63C.

c. 1720

17 cm high.
45.

An extremely rare Sweetmeat or Wine Glass,

the bowl with wide flat bottom set on a straight

columnar stem, terminating on a domed and

folded foot.
Ex Hamilton Clements Collection.

Ex Walter Smith Collection.

Illustrated in Thorpe,
History of English and Irish

Glasses,
pl. LXIII No. 2. See also Bickerton,
18th

Century Drinking Glasses,
No. 257. Also J. Bles,

Rare English Glasses of the 17th and 18th

Centuries,
p1.70.

c.1735

Hollow Stems
46.
A Wine Glass with pan-topped round bowl,

stem with bladed knop and full length tear, base

knop, conical folded foot.

cf: Bickerton,
18th Century English Drinking

Glasses,
p1.154.

c. 1750

15.5 cm high.

47.
Hollow stem centre knopped Wine Glass with

overall moulded ogee bowl and extremely rare

inverted saucer shaped matching moulded foot.
Hollow stem glasses are rare and thought to be a

transient response to the introduction of the

Excise Tax on glass in 1745.

c.1745

12.7 cm high.

43
17

Air-Twist and Mixed-Twist Stems

48.
Tall Cordial, bowl solid at base on a complex

stem with a single corkscrew air-twist surrounded
by multiple spiral air-twist. and a plain foot.

Ex Walter Smith Collection.
Illustrated in G. Wills,
A Guinness Signature
No. 3

1750

17.7 cm high.

49.
Rare acorn knopped air-twist stem Wine Glass

finely engraved around bowl rim.
Ex Walter Smith Collection.

Illustrated E. Barrington Haynes,
Glass Through

the Ages.

c.1755

12.7 cm high.

50.
Drawn-trumpet Cordial Glass with a double

spiral air-twist stem. This type of stem is often
called a mercury twist due to the silvery reflection

produced by the particular shape of air bubble.

Ex Walter Smith Collection.

c.1750

18.5 cm high.

51.
A Mammoth Ale with narrow round funnel

bowl on an air-twist stem comprising a pair of

spiral cables. Plain conical foot.
For similar type see D.C. Davis,
English and Irish

Antique Glass,
p1.19.

c.1745

39.3 cm high.
52.

A Wine Glass with an exceptionally tall pan-

topped (or double ogee) bowl, supported on a
mixed-twisted stem terminating on an unusual

domed foot. A very rare type of glass due to the
unusual combination of features.

c.1760

13.7 cm high.

53.
A composite stem Ale Glass with waisted bell

bowl on a multi-spiral air-twist stem over an
inverted baluster knop on a domed foot.

c.1750

21.8 cm high.

54.
Wineglass with ogee bowl on a triple series

opaque twist stem. Three concentric twists are

more unusual than one or two.

1760

15 cm high.

49
19

Cut and Facetted Glass

68.
An unique tall Toast Master’s Glass with a

deceptive bell bowl on a columnar stem and

domed foot, the whole glass facet cut. The straight

stem in long diamond facets, the foot in terraces
and round the edge in flat slices, the edge of the

foot cut and undercut alternately. A heavy glass

probably dating before the Excise Act of 1745 and

showing the elaboration possible, even as early as
this, given a good bulk of metal.

Ex Hamilton Clements Collection.

Illustrated in Francis Buckley,
Old English Gasses,

p1.25A.

c.1740

19 cm high.

69.
Cut glass Wine with a round funnel bowl

engraved with flowers and with basal cutting.

Four-sided facet stem and petal-cut foot. Only

three other glasses of this type recorded.

c. 1745

70.
Early English cut and engraved Wine Glass of

very heavy construction; rare domed foot. Cut

decoration on English wine glasses became

popular about 1760 and earlier examples are very

rare. The finely engraved design is

typical of the early period. Exhibited at the Glass

Cirde 25th Anniversary Exhibition.

Ex collection Mrs Stevenson.

c.1745

17.5 cm high.

69
23

Irish cut glass Jug. A finely wrought piece

exhibiting all the best features of Irish cutting of

the period. Such pieces were made in Ireland to

escape the excise duty levied by weight on glass

in England.

1790

21 cm high.

71.

Cordial Glass with cut bowl, panel-cut stem

with diamond centre knop and petal-cut foot.

c.1770

14.8 cm high.

Glasses for Special Occasions

73.
Seven rare Toasting glasses

demonstrating a plain stem, a swelling knop, an

air-twist, opaque-twist, mixed air and opaque

twist, a Jacobite example and a cordial glass.

Toasting glasses are those which, after a toast to
Royalty or leaders was drunk, are traditionally said

to have had the stems snapped and the glass
thrown away so that no other lips should defile

the toast.

18th Century.

74.
Two clear glass Wedding Cups engraved FRM

-Aug. 26 1793. Possibly lacking matching saucers,

these very unusual pieces are dose in shape and

decoration to porcelain of the period, and can be
paralleled with similarly inscribed porcelain

teacups from the New Hall factory.

1793

5 cm.

75.

Goblet unusually engraved with skull and

crossbones, cut flutes and the initials D.B.

1800

76.
A presentation Ale Glass, with deep funnel

bowl, wheel engraved with a side view of the S. Y.

Mekong inscribed “S. Y. Mekong, Septembre

1912”; engraved on the reverse diagonally across

the bowl “Capt. Henry Morton”. The bowl sits on

a hollow knop endosing a silver coloured
medallion with profile bust and coat of arms.

English. Originally British built in Leith in 1906 as

the Maund, the yacht was bought by the Duc de

Montpensier in 1912 and renamed the S.Y.

Mekong. She was lost in Hong Kong waters in

1915
c.1912.

24.8 cm.
V DECORATIVE TREATMENTS

The Exuberant Glass Maker

77.

A mallet-shaped, light green Vase with dark

green feathering. The base acid etched “Clutha
Registered Design CD”. It was designed by the

brilliant and influential designer of the period,

Christopher Dresser.

c.1890

39 cm high.

78.
A Jug in red, white and blue glass, cased in

dear glass with opal base, possibly made by W.H.

& B. Richardson of Stourbridge.

Ex Manley collection.

1900

27.5 cm high.

79.
A blue Nailsea Flask with white spiral quilling

and a dear “interrupted” trailed overlay of very

unusual type. The method of applying this type of

trail is a mystery.

c.1875

80.
A flower form Goblet, made by James Powell.

The slender stem with a moulded knop flares into

a frilled rim with vaseline colour striations. An

example of the very delicate work of the period.

c.1920
81.

Unusual Miniature Vase of dear copper blue

glass heavily reduced at the furnace to give a
metallic copper finish; enhanced with iridescence.

From the Frederick Carder collection and made

by him in Stourbridge before going to America in

1903 to found the Steuben Glass Factory.

19th/20th Century

9.9 cm high

82.
An experimental gold ruby iridescent Vase of

simple flask shape with dear glass handles. Mark

for Thomas Webb of Stourbridge on base. Never

put into production.

c.1890.

10 cm high.

83.
An Intarsia Vase by Galle, with a carved

design of toadstools rising in front of a speckled

ground with leaf patterns. Intarsia is the method

of placing the pattern between layers of glass.

the base.
Original paper label from the Galle workshops on

c.1900

30 cm high.

83a. A small Vase in the shape of a hollow tree
stump with blossom. Signed and engraved Crane

“A La Japponica. Fect Nancy No 225”.

1884-1889

12 cm high

25 cm long.

84. An ice glass Strawberry Set of unusual design.

The gilded sugar bowl and cream jug fit into wells

in the shell-shaped strawberry bowl which is

enamel-decorated with violets. French or

Bohemian.
19th Century
Urn 14.5 cm high.

85. 3 dear glass Ornaments, lustred at the

furnace, perhaps inspired by soap bubbles, in the

form of 4 linked posy bowls, 3 balls with posy
bowl on top and an urn supported on four balls.

Manufacturer unknown.

19th/20th Century

81
85
82

Toys, Novelties and Friggers

86. A glass Cannon in heavy dark glass with
trunnions and four triple rings. There are signs

that this cannon has been fired. Probably made

for a glass fort in a Glassmakers’ Procession. The

Tyne Mercury
on September 12th 1823, describes

a glass makers procession from the South Shields

glasshouse “A fort mounted with 7 cannons …. the
first halt at the Mansion House where a salute was

fired from the glass fort to the astonishment of

every person present …. a salute was also here
(The Cock Inn) fired from the fort, which during
the procession, has sent forth its mock thunders

four or five times”.

c.1823

22.5 cm long

87.

A glass Crown, probably Swedish, and

representational of processsional crowns of the
time. It is rare in rising to 3 tiers and was perhaps

made as an exercise by an apprentice.

18th/19th Century

88.
A ruby glass Musical ltumpet with wrythened

decoration.

1900

47.5 cm long

89.
Glass barley-sugar-twist Shepherd’s Crook

1850

167.5 cm long

90.
A Nailsea Pipe of exceptional length in pale

green with opaque white stripes.

Such pieces were particularly made for
processional occassions and few have survived

intact. Striped glass is traditionally associated with

Nailsea in Somerset but similar items were made

by many manufacturers.

1850

135 cm long

91.
A green glass three-pronged Nailsea Toasting

Fork with three flanges with milk glass applied
knobs. Obtained in the village of Nailsea and

similar to one made by Thomas Vowles, employed

in the Glass Works 1871-1873, and given to his

grandaughter, the late Miss Beatrice Vowles of
Sycource Cottage (adjacent to the glassworks) on

her 21st birthday.
c.1865

35 cm long
95.

A trick Drinking Goblet with a funnel bowl

on a narrow neck, giving access to a large
bulbous sphere on a short stem with shoulder
knop and tear. Folded foot. The extra reservoir

causes considerably difficulty if a drink is taken in

the usual way.

c.1750

23.2 cm high

96.
Pair of trick Drinking Glasses in white opaque

glass with gilt symbols. Each glass has been cut in

a wavy-line spiral form rim to base. With the glass

at rest it is water tight. When the glass is raised by
the rim, the crack opens because of the weight of

liquid which promptly runs out. The “cut” was

probably introduced by applying water to a spiral

scored on the surface while the glass was hot.

c.1800

11.5 cm high

97.
A conical Cocktail Glass on a straight

columnar stem with two multiple black and white

spirals on centrally domed foot. English. One of

the most evocative designs of the 20th Century.

c.1920

15 cm high

98.
Pair of Beer Mugs, one with metal cover, with

cut decoration and photographic portraits of the

two betrothed within, gilt oval cartouches,
protected by a thin film of transparent enamel.

Believed to be one of the earliest known

examples of photographic reproductions on a

beer mug.

c.1880

12.5 and 20.5 cm high

92.
A red glass Table knife, painted gilt scroll on

handle.

c.1850

93.
A pair of pale green Knitting Needles –

attributed to Nailsea. Very useable with care!

1900

30 cm long

94. A rare Masonic Mawl or Gavel
Late 19th Century

99.

Green glass Doorstop or chimney ornament

with a rare internal decoration of a blue flower on

silver bouquet.

1800

100.
English, hand-made, cobalt blue Egg Cup

and two opal press-moulded “hatching chick”

Covers. The covers are marked “Musterschutz No.
1393”; perhaps Vallerysthal.

19th Century

101.
A collection of early colour twist Marbles on

a solitaire board. It is not generally recognised
how early marbles were made.

c.1850

102.
Lamp-worked miniature Venetian deceptive

Goblet with vertical, ribbed decoration. The

double-walled bowl, sealed and containing red
wine(?), extends into the flared, knopped and gilt
hollow stem and folded foot.

18th/19th century

3.7 cm high
103.

Toy Claret Jug, cut stopper.

9 cm high

104.
Lamp-worked Winged Figure, in opaque

white glass with applied red, blue and green glass

details, hooked to a dear glass float in a water-
filled modern cylindrical glass container. Figure

and float, French or Venetian.

18th Century

Figure 5 cm high

105.
Font-moulded and cut glass Duck by Webb

Corbett, Stourbridge. Mould by Royal Doulton.

Short-run presentation piece.

c.1974

13 cm long

106.
Moulded and cut lead crystal Handcooler in

the form of a frog by Steuben Glass. Design by

Lloyds Atkins 1974. Steuben crystal, discovered by

Houghton in 1929 and code named “10M” is

reputedly the whitest in the world.

1974

114

107.

Two lampwork glass King Charles’ Spaniels,

black and white, one with a pink collar, the other

blue, tied in a bow. Under original glass domes,

one on original base. English.

19th Century

108.
A pair of
glass

drop Ear-rings consisting of

two thin twisted canes, black edged in white.

These are a family piece and date back to the

Victorian period.
c.1870

2.5 cm diameter

109.
A double spiral opaque twist Pipe Stopper

with Sheffield plate mounts. This could be a letter

seal.

1760

110.
A spun glass Peruque or Hairpiece in

original boxed frame. Fantasies of many kinds

were made in spun
glass

from the mid-18th

Century and exhibitions of spinning glass were
held publicly.

c.1830

111.
Three “Watch Balls” of dear glass internally

silvered in silver, blue and gold. Watch balls are
listed in the price-list of Beatson Clark, Rotherham

for 1829. They were hung in the

window and gave a panoramic view of the

outside. They are more popularly known as

‘Witch Balls” to scare away evil spirits.

19th century

25 cm diameter

112.
Christmas Hanging Decoration in dear ruby

glass, consisting of one large ball and three small
balls by the Kastrup Holmegaard glassworks,

Denmark

c.1950

20 cm and 8 cm diameter

113.
An irregular lump of green glass from the

last batch of window glass made at James

Hartley’s Wear Glass Works, Sunderland. Passed to
the present owner by a descendant of the firm.

c.1896
Applied Decoration

Engraving

114.
A heavy Baluster Stem Goblet with conical

bowl and solid base, inverted baluster stem with a

tear, and folded foot. Finely engraved with the

figure of Athena standing on grasses, wearing a
helmet, flowing robes, the Aegis bearing head of

Gorgon. Athena looks to her left, eyes cast down,

a lance in her right hand and her left rests on a

shield decorated with the head of Medusa, the

hair consisting of snakes. By her right foot is the

owl. Probably the work of a contemporary

continental engraver. Possibly representative of the

accession of Queen Anne.

c.1705

18 cm high

41fi
g
;-
,
.

_4041440010

Arr

IIS

116

117

115.

An unusually massive Goblet with a deeply

cut representation of the young Bacchus on a

wine barrel with fruting vines. Moulded pedestal

stem.
c.1740.

28.2 cm high

116.
A tall Goblet on a stem with beaded and

flattened knops. Engraved with the Arms of War

and the legend “Arms are the best foundation for
peace”.

c.1720

21.5 cm high

117.
A Decanter engraved overall with a floral

and leaf decoration with stylized flowers. Shallow
cutting around the neck. An unusually full

treatment for this early date.

c.1750

118.

A superb Newcastle Goblet, Dutch engraved.

The deep round funnel bowl facet cut beneath

arches around the base. One side decorated with

flanking monograms and the date 1783. The

reverse with a lengthy text in Dutch. The cut stem

with a multi-spiral air-twist section shaped as a

dumb-bell on a vertically cut, inverted baluster

and base knop, cut conical foot with scalloped

edge. Engraving attributed to Jacob Sang.

c.1770

20 cm high

119.
An exceptionally rare and finely engraved
armorial facet-stemmed Wine Glass, attributed to

Jacob Sang, the funnel bowl engraved in a neo-
classical design with the Lion of Holland and
martial trophies, suspended from laurel swags

pendant from a simulated metal band below a
border of scroll ornament, the lower parts with

polished oval and circular dots. The whole on a

facet-cut inverted baluster stem.

c.1770

18.2 cm high

120.
An Irish Volunteer Glass on an opaque twist

stem, wheel engraved with crossed banners,
inscribed “Liberty” and “Free Trade” and “Loyal”

and Determined”.

1782

121.
Cut glass Claret Jug finely engraved with the

Royal Coat of Arms. The engraving is attributed to

Franz Tieze. Lipped Goblet engraved with

shamrocks and initials. Both made by T. & R
Pugh, Potters Alley, Dublin.

1880

25 cm and 15.5 cm high respectively

122.
A Claret Jug in clear glass of oval form,

engraved overall with mythical beasts, flowers,
birds and animals. The handle and neck engraved

with fine lines and polished cirdes. An example of

the very highest quality work of this period.

1870

26.5 cm high

123.
Jug signed on the base “From Franz Eisert,

London V’. Very finely engraved with three

prancing horses against a background of palm

trees and hills.

1875

22.5 cm high

121a

121b

122

118

119

120

Enamelling and Gilding

129.
A small rare Beilby enamelled Tumbler,

enamelled with Masonic emblems in bright

yellow/gold, possibly for use in Masonic ritual. A
very good example of the attractiveness of

coloured enamelling.

1770

130.
A Beilby enamelled Wine Glass on a double

series opaque-twist stem. The ogee bowl is
enamelled in white with a figure of a skater.
Ex Bles collection.

1770

14 cm high

131.
Enamelled Wine Glass with the monogram

and cypher of the Horsey family, attributed to

Beilby.

1770

128

128. Decanter stipple-engraved by Laurence

Whistler. Entitled “Though Dynasties Pass”, this
decanter was illustrated as the frontispiece to

Whistler’s book
The Image on the Glass
and

depicts the White Horse of Uffington. Laurence

Whistler has for many years been the leading

contemporary stipple-engraver and was
responsible for the revival of this beautiful

medium in the 20th Century.

1973

27.5 cm high

38
134)

129

132.

Vitrified enamelled Water Goblet with a

round funnel bowl enamelled with green water
plants and trailing ivy. Registration mark for the

maker, W.H. & B. Richardson, Stourbridge.

c.1850

16.2 cm high

133.
Ovoid Bowl in lead crystal on three rib-

moulded feet enamelled with flowering water-

weed, lilies and fish. English, perhaps Stourbridge.
This is a later 19th Century example reflecting the

influence of the “Well Spring” glasses designed c.

1847 by Richard Redgrave for Henry Cole’s
“Summerly’s Art’s Manufacturers” and made by

the firms of J.F. Christy, Lambeth and W.H. & B.

Richardson, Stourbridge.

c.1875

19 cm high
135. Three Tumblers, two gilt and one engraved

by Absolon of Great Yarmouth. These three

tumblers are in 1/4-pint, 1/2-pint and 1-pint sizes.

Decorated by Absolon of Great Yarmouth, the 1-

pint size is signed on the base by Absolon. The

1/2-pint size retains the paper band used to mark

out the decoration. These tumblers could have
been supplied by the Whitefriars glasshouse with

whom Absolon had dealing.
Inscriptions on the glasses are:

1/4-part : “MW”

1/2-pint : “The first troop of Yeoman Cavalry under

the command of Captain Alphe did Garrison Duty
at Yarmouth Jan 1804 WILLIAM STAINES”.

1-pint : “A token of love from Yarmouth JMH from
MAS” and “Accept this trifle that I give and let

me in your memory live”.

1804

7 cm, 11 cm, 12.7 cm high

134. Two green gilt decorated Cups with handles,

the bases cut with shallow flutes, possibly missing

matching saucers. The floral pattern gilding is in

the style of James Giles, and these cups may be

examples of “lemonade cups”, listed in the sale of

Giles’ workshop 24th March 1774.
1770

6 cm high

132

133

136. Dish, cased pale dear uranium green on

opal, with a broad rim pressed into two regularly

alternating bands of crimping. The finely gilt

decoration, a central floral motif surrounded by
two concentric rings of geometric design, is set
into relief by overlaying with reticulated dear and

opaque white enamels. Probably Bohemian.
19th/20th Century

30 cm dia.
Cased and Cut Glass

137. A collection of 9 Hock Glasses by Stevens

and Williams with the bowls cased in sapphire

blue or sapphire blue over gold ruby.

The decorative techniques include acid etching,

cutting, wheel and intaglio engraving and rock

crystal polishing. The development of intaglio
engraving is associated with Joshua Hodgetts and

the wheel-engraved bird motif is by him. The

Willow Pattern shown was a speciality of Charlie

Swayne who ran a cutting shop at the back of his

house in Delph Road, Brierley Hill. Possibly a set

of traveller’s samples.

1900-1910

20 cm average height

135

l-14

NNW

137

138.

Scent Bottle. Clear

glass,
overlaid blue with

cut printies and mirror surface beneath. Silver cap.

1800

139.
Double walled, diamond facetted Inkwell of

bell shape in gold ruby glass with silvered interior.

The silver mounted ruby facetted ball cover has a

pearl-inlaid metal finial. The base is marked “W
LUND PATENT LONDON.” and the silver mount

“PATENT T.R. MELLISH MAKER”. This type of

silvered ware, first patented in 1848 by F. Hale
Thomson and Edward Varnish, was made by

Whitefriars; it enjoyed only a brief popularity.
Several examples were shown at the 1851 Great
Exhibition. W. Lund was probably a glass seller.

c.1851
141.

Individual Rum Jug and Bowl for sugar or

cream, decorated with cut diamonds and splits.
Made in Vienna to accompany black coffee. From

the Heinrich Heine, Karlsruhe collection.

1820

Jug : 7.5 cm high

Bowl : 6 cm dia.

142.
Double-lipped, double-handled Sauce Boat

in heavy lead crystal with elaborate step cutting.

c.1825

9.4 cm high

140. Flashed ruby pedestal cup and cover with
traditional “through” engraving of running deer

between two bands of printies and elaborate

scroll decoration by Egermann, northern Bohemia.

This piece still uniquely carries the original
maker’s labels, one with a portrait of Friedrich

Egermann.

c.1860

139

138

140

145a
145

144

Later Cut Glass

143.
Two examples of cut glass Scent

Bottles in the form of open crowns, one with a

removable scent bottle inside. Of the highest

quality and possibly from the workshop of Apsley

Pellatt. Perhaps made to mark the accession of

George IV.

1820

144.
Heavily cut Jug with a central band of

curved pillars between overcut hexagons, the rim

scalloped and decorated with step-cutting and
vertical blazes. The handle and foot treated in a

similar manner.

1880.
VI TRADE AND TRANSPORT

146. Facet stem commemorative Ale Glass, the
bowl engraved “SUCCESS TO THE THWAITE

COLLIERY” on one side and with heraldic crest

and initials “J.S.” on the other. The Thwaite

Colliery was at Thwaite Gate between Hunslet and
Rothwell (Leeds) and the pit shaft was sunk in

November 1779 and the mine opened a year later.

It dosed in 1794. The crest and initials belong to

John Smyth, principal proprietor of the Aire and

Calder Navigation Company which owned the
mine. John Smyth was a Privy Councillor and a

Member of Parliament for Pontefract for 25 years.
No other 18th Century glasses associated in this

way with a colliery are known.
c.1780

14 cm high

145. Flower Holder with narrow trumpet-shaped

bowl with fan-cut rim over step-cutting, enlarging
into a flute-cut and notched bulb. Stem short with

cut hexagonal centre knop. Foot hexagonal, the
underside finely decorated with overcut hexagons.

Colour bright electric blue.
1880

20.6 cm

145a. Two large Wine Goblets by Richardsons,
flared bucket bowl with elaborate cutting and

surface matting, cut Pedestal stem and star cut

foot.

Pattern book Nos 751c and 1072c.

c.1880

18.6 cm high

146

The following engraved glasses (items 147-150)

are poignant examples of cheap glass

commemorating pit disasters and other events

and which were sold at local pubs to raise cash
for dependants.

147.
Wine Glass

“Robert Burr who lost his life Seghill Colliery

1888”

10 cm high

148.
Mugs

“Hartley col disaster 204 lives lost 1862”

“Burradon col explosion 46 lives lost 1860”

Each 5.5 cm high

149.
Goblet

“The SS Regiau was wrecked upon the Bondicarr
Rock between Broomhill and Amble 1884”. The

Bondicarr Rocks are off the Northumberland

coast.

14.5 cm high

150.
Drinking Glass

“William Jobling Gibetted at Jarrow Slake August 3

1832”. This event was a well known miscarriage

of justice and the glass may be a commemorative
as it appears to be of a later date.

c.1870

9.5 cm high

151.
A Tumbler with straight tapering sides with a

band of narrow flutes around the base. On one

side engraved a 3-masted man-of-war in full

sail flying pennants and flag. On the reverse is
depicted a church organ surmounted by musical

instruments, namely a violin, horn, flute, drum,

trumpet, harp and banjo.

1810

12.1 cm high
148

147

148

151

152. Rummer with bucket bowl and lemon-

squeezer foot, wheel engraved with “The
Rockingham” coach and four with driver and

passengers. The side of the coach marked with

the destinations London, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield,

York, Yarm. On the reverse the initials WSB within

a star. Above, the motto “Success to the Town and

Trade of Leeds”, and below “May the Last Journey

we ever Take be the Happiest we ever Make”. The

Rockingham coach plied between Leeds and

London and Leeds and Hull. Yarm was an

important staging post on the Hull route. One of
the last drivers was William Bramley (always more

or less drunk!) whose initials these may be.
Competition from the railways closed “The

Rockingham” in 1840. Three other coaching

glasses by the same engraver are recorded.

English.
c.1830 (the glass perhaps earlier)

15 cm high
152a. T. Bradley

The Old Coaching Days in

Yorkshire
(1889), page 201, illustrates the

Rockingham Coach.

152

154

153.

An engraved Gimmel Flask. Engraved on

one side with the Newcastle High Level bridge

with a train on top, the reverse engraved “H.

Eustace 48 Regiment”. Perhaps to commemorate

the opening of the Bridge which was designed by
Robert Stephenson and opened by Queen Victoria

in 1849.

c.1850

154.
A large Goblet engraved with a picture of

the American Locomotive “The De Witt Clinton”.

This engine inaugurated the Mohawk & Hudson

Railroad, the first railway in New York State, U.S.A.

in 1831. The engine was named after De Witt

Clinton, a well known politician of his day, who

stood unsuccessfully for the U.S. Presidency.

c.1831

22 cm high

154a. A related metal paper-weight depicting the

“De Witt Clinton”, possibly a centenary souvenir.

c.1931.

155.
A Jug with oval body engraved with a

named panel of Edinburgh Castle with a steam

locomotive emerging from a tunnel. Engraved all

over with
vermicelli
pattern. Probably from the

Millar workship, Edinburgh.

c.1865

32 cm high

153

156.

Commemorative Tumbler acid etched with a

railway engine enclosed in a quarter inscribed

“Grand Station Hotel Jeppestown”. Jeppestown is

an eastern suburb of Johannesburg. The Jeppes

family were Danish mapmakers from the 1870s,

one of whom was a consular official in

Jeppestown.
1890

157.
Black glass Rolling Pin chip engraved

“VICTORIA CROWNED JUNE 28 1838” above a

crown. Further decoration indudes the
Sunderland bridge with adjacent glass cone and

two sailing ships named “ARCO” and “ANN”. A
very early example of this work Compare the
bridge with the succeeding examples.

1838

38 cm long

158.
Black glass Rolling Pin chip engraved with

the Sunderland Bridge and glass cone within an

oval cartouche, flanked by a paddle steamer and

sailing ship. Inscribed “PRISCILLA NICHOLES
1843”. The reverse with elephants etc.
32 cm long

159.
Green glass Rolling Pin chip engraved with

the name “SUNDERLAND BRIDGE” between

swans. Further decoration includes elephants,

Sunderland jugs etc. Inscribed “GEORGE

ASHMAN 1862” and “ELIZABETH ASHMAN 1862”

1862

47 cm long
155

159

158

160.

Inkwell of black glass, spherical body with

rubber and bakelite fittings, the circular base with

three raised supports and marked “Property of

U.S. Navy”. Marked in the well “Zephyr American

Corp, New York, NY, Swivodex Trade Mark Pats
Pending”.

20th Century

9 cm high

161.
A commemorative Dish of the opening of

Tower Bridge. Press-moulded clear sweet dish

with an impression of Tower Bridge with the
bascules open and “LONDON TOWER BRIDGE”.

Extremely rare. Said to have been made for the

opening of Tower Bridge. Manufacturer unknown.
Presumed 1887

15.5 cm dia.

161a. A Paperweight in clear and satin glass
moulded in the shape of a reclining Indian bull,

inspired by the image of the Nandi Bull on the

Chamundi Hill, Mysore. Engraved “Rotterdam
Lloyd, Royal Dutch Mail”. Acid etched signature

R Lalique.

1930

4.5 cm high
162.

A giant Tumbler in clear glass etched with

the Royal Coat of Arms and “A Present from IMP.
International Exhibition London
1
909, with a

portrait of Robert Burns with “Robbie Burns”

below and “Its a braw bricht nicht the nicht,

Hooch Aye”. Wheel engraved with initials AMJ.

1909

15.5 cm high

163.
The Auschwitz Goblet, stipple-engraved by

James Denison Pender. The engraving is a

combination of realism and symbolism. The

details are accurate but the composition is

symbolic. All the figures are real people,

photographed on a single day when a German

photographer was allowed to take pictures of

one shipment of Hungarian Jews arriving at

Auschwitz. A German Officer stands in the centre

of the picture on the inside surface. He

separates the families for ever. On the left are
two columns selected for work in the camp – the

able-bodied men and able-bodied women

without children. The sequence follows the men
through the fence into the camp. Here they pass

to the inside of the front surface of the glass.

They are broken by work, starvation and

brutality. Only one figure is on the outside

surface – he has chosen the electric wire as a
way out. To the right go the old men, the

women and the mothers and the children. They
pass beyond the train to one of the killing

factories. They seem not to understand their fate.

The smoke from the crematorium chimney

drifting back towards the light symbolises the

only other way out.

Goblet by Whitefriars.
Exhibited by the Guild of Glass Engravers in

1984.

c.1983

19 cm high

162

156

161

160

164. A Dartington real ale Tankard engraved by

Hilary Virgo with the sinking of the
Rainbow

Warrior.
On one side the ship’s history laid out

as a gravestone. The reverse a procession of
people led by the Greenpeace flag. The

underside engraved with a frogman.

1985

17.5 cm high
VII ROYAL CONNECTIONS

165. An unique commemorative Goblet. The
round funnel bowl engraved in diamond point

with a bust of Queen Anne within a label
inscribed “Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense”. The

reverse with a view of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Solid

lower part, supported on an inverted baluster

stem with tear on a folded conical foot.

Queen Anne attended services in St. Paul’s on

12th November 1702 to give thanks for the Allied

victories on the Continent.
Churchill,
Glass Notes,
No. 14, 1955, Figs. 7 and 8.

Churchill,
Exhibition Catalogue of Engraved

Glasses,
June 1957.

1,000 Years of the English Monarchy
Exhibition in

Bath 1973.

c.1702

18.7 cm high

I 64
49

I
I S

15.5 cm high

168. A light baluster Wine Glass engraved with a

blackbird and a flower of Jacobite significance.

The stem with a knop and a bladed knop

containing an almost full length tear. Conical
folded foot.

c.1750
166.

A Williamite Cordial, engraved with a

classical bust of King William and the motto

“The Ever Glorious Memory”.

Facet-cut stem.

c.1750

17.2 cm high

167.
An engraved Jacobite Wine Glass with

multiple air-twist stem with five knops, engraved

with a Jacobite rose. This combination of a five
knopped stem with an engraved bowl is

believed to be unique.

1750

15 cm high

169. Engraved Jacobite Wine Glass mounted on

a replacement silver foot; the silver is engraved

“God Bless King James the Eighth”. Reputedly
repaired after a contemporary toast when the

stem was deliberately snapped.
1750

166
168

167

170.

Regency period perfume or smelling salts

Bottle of flattened shape with silver mount and

small cut glass stopper; the body heavily cut and

with insert of rare sulphide of the Princess
Charlotte, daughter of the Prince Regent, later

George N. She died in childbirth in 1817 thus
inspiring many commemorative items. The back

impressed “Pellatt and Green, Patentees,

London.”

c.1817

8 cm high

171.
The King’s Champion Rummer with bucket

bowl wheel engraved with an equestrian
portrait of the King’s Champion in full armour,

glove in hand. On the reverse the Royal Crown

and “G N R July 19 1821”. This was the last

occasion on which a challenge to allcomers, on

behalf of the King, was issued.

1821

13 cm high

171

143

170

143

172.

A white glass portrait Medallion by Tassie of

William Pitt, set in a silver gilt oval frame. After the
death of William Pitt in 1806, Pitt Clubs were
formed in most of the major towns in the country.

The Clubs existed from 1808 to 1849. Members
had medallions either of silver or glass bearing

the member’s name. The name “Chas Wreight
Esq.” is on this badge.

c.1820

173.
Two moulded glass Portrait Busts of

Edward VII and Queen Alexandra as Prince and
Princess of Wales. Matt finish, with black glass

base. Possibly commemoratives of their Silver

Wedding.

1888

15.5 cm high

174.
Chip decorated Jug. A patriotically

decorated jug of the Royal Family with flags and

garlands, signed and dated 1913. Probably a

product of a cottage industry in the St. Helens,
Lancashire area.

1913

108

109

172

175.

Engraved square canister Flask with silver

mounted neck and silver gilt cap. Engraved with

the Russian Imperial Arms of the Empress
Elizabeth Petrovna and on the reverse date 1745.

Possibly made in Saxony. There is a

signature, as yet unidentified, along one side of

the base.

1745

11.3 cm high

176.
Beaker from St. Petersberg, in blue glass,

transfer printed
en grisaille

with a portrait of

Tsarina Charlotte Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of
Tsar Nicolas I of Russia. Illustrated in

Bildnisglaser der Sammlung Heine.

c.1840

8 cm high
175

176

173

183

173

179

177. Bohemian Goblet with lid, engraved with

the portrait of Charles VI of Austria, father of

Maria Theresa, in a cartouche surrounded by
flags and emblems of battle.

1740
VIII PRESSED GLASS FOR

EVERYBODY

178. Clear pressed lead crystal Cup with

scalloped rim. The decoration consists of a band
of holly and the name “Cardinal” enclosing the
crested bird perching on a holly branch; finely

stippled ground. pressed with the hitherto

unrecorded initials AW (seen from front) and a

minute lozenge. Perhaps a Christmas give-away

by the well-known tile-polish firm, probably

English made.

c.1840

9 cm diameter

177

180

179. Press-moulded Plate in orange-amber glass

with scroll border and a central design of 3 roses
entwined with ribbon. The invention of mechan-
ically press-moulded is attributed to the American

Deming Jarves in 1828. Glass of this period is not
usually trade-marked and is attributed on the

basis of design. Closely similar patterns were

pressed in England, France and Belgium. This is

the only coloured example known of a small

group of plates (all with slight differences in size

and the central design) one of which carries the
initials W.R, thought to stand for William Reading,

a Birmingham mould maker. European.

c.1830-1840

16.5 cm diameter
180. A pressed glass Plate in dear

glass,

with a

portrait, possibly Arthur Orton, in the centre
against a dotted background. Around the border

“Would you be surprised to find that this is

Tichbome”. The text refers to the celebrated case
of the Tichbome Claimant. Roger Charles
Tichbome, heir to a baronetcy, was lost at sea in

1854 off the South American coast. His mother,
refusing to believe in his death, advertised widely

for news of her son. This led to a court case in

1871 which lasted 100 days and in which a claim

of one who turned out to be Arthur Orton, a
sailor & son of a Wapping butcher, was rejected.

Orton was subsequently convicted of perjury and
sentenced to 14 years_penal servitude in 1873.

c.1871

12.5 cm diameter

178

181.

Press-moulded lead crystal Pickle Jar and

cover, both with the diamond registration mark
for Thomas Gammon, Birmingham, and a

matching tumbler in a heavy facetted design.

1849

Jar 15 cm high

nimbler 10 cm high

182.
Heavy press-moulded lead crystal nimbler

decorated with arches over splits. Diamond

registration mark for Benjamin Richardson of

Stourbridge, 1849, which is the earliest known

date for a piece of registered English press-
moulded glass.

1849

10.5 cm high

183.
Moulded Figure, possibly a copy of a

Newhaven fisherman derived from a Hill/

Adamson calotype and possibly made by John

Ford, Holyrood Glass Works, Edinburgh.

1870

184.
Pressed glass Butterdish – Rajah on

elephant – pressed in two parts in caramel

coloured glass, this is a rare shape in a rare

colour. Vallerysthal Factory, France – catalogue in

1890 and in 1908.

1890
185.

Pressed glass Butterdish in green

malachite. The lid, with crown finial, carries

portraits of the Marquis and Marchioness of

Lome and, within a shield, “Marquis and

Marchioness of Lome landed at Halifax. N.S. 25th
Now. 1878”. Produced to commemorate a visit

to Canada. The Marchioness was Princess Louise,

daughter of Queen Victoria. Early Lion trade

mark of Henry Greener & Co. Sunderland.
Registration mark for 8th June 1878.

18.4 cm diameter

186.
Glass Paperweight Winged Sphinx, pressed

in black glass by John Derbyshire, Regent Road

Flint Glass Works, Salford, Manchester. Diamond
registration mark for 9th March 1876.

181

182

186

161a

184

187

185

187. Finely detailed press-moulded purple/

white slag glass Sphinx on a pillar-decorated

plinth. Manufacturer unknown.

c.1875

10 cm high
189. Pressed glass Plate in blue iridescent

carnival glass with a Greek key pattern border
and chrysanthemus and flowers.

c.1920

188. Thick lead crystal press-moulded pedestal

Sugar Basin, pedestal Cream Jug and Comport in

a heavy curved design. A family heirloom and
documentary evidence associated this design

with the Shamrock glasshouse, Belfast. This is

the only press-moulded glass known to have
been made in N. Ireland. A similar design,

c.1850, is associated with George Bacchus &

Sons of Birmingham and the moulds were
probably made in England.
Second half 19th Century

14.5 cm high

189

IX CONTINENTAL GLASS

190. A collection of seven Wine Glasses with

moulded bowls and incised or ribbed stems.

Probably Liege (Belgium). Some of these contain

various amounts of lead in the glass; the tallest

has about 30%. This reflects attempts to make

English lead crystal but retaining continental

styles.

c.1750

Max. 16 cm high
192. A Kothgasser Tumbler. Decorated in

transparent enamel, the body of slightly waisted

form, superbly decorated with a picture of St.

Stephen’s Dome Vienna, gold script.

c.1820

11.1 cm high

191. Two Lauensteiner baluster Goblets in

potash crystal, one wheel-engraved with a lion
rampant beneath the foot. The Lauensteiner

glasshouse was founded in Hanover in 1701.

English workmen were employed there and it is

said to have been the first to have attempted the

manufacture of English lead crystal. It is unusual

that the glasshouse marked some of their glasses

with a lion rampant or a letter “C”.

c.1750

197

196

193

192

193.

Viennese “pearl-glass” Beaker finely inlaid

with a band of floral decoration and the initials
M.S.. This technique of decorating glass with

small, coloured beads is now lost.

c.1820

11 cm high

194.
Bohemian Beaker saucily engraved with a

fisherman catching a dainty damsel in a net. The

three watching figures are saying (in German):
Gentleman: “Fisherman, if this fish is for sale I

want the front half!” Monk: “I would gladly do
without meat if I could eat such fish!”
Old gentleman: “Gentlemen, take great care. It is

just such fish that have brought me onto my

crutches!”.

c.1820

14 cm high
196.

Cut Bohemian blue glass Beaker, from the

Newelt factory in Reisengebirge, with gilt
decoration and exceptionally encrusted with a
fine sulphide portrait of Johann Christoph
Friedrich von Schiller. Schiller and his dose friend

Goethe are considered the most important figures

in German literature of the time.

c.1840

12 cm high

197.
Baccarat nimbler with cut sharp diamonds

and inlaid representation of the star of the Legion

d’Honneur (Henry IV) in coloured enamels.

c.1840

9.2 cm high

195. Bohemian Beaker or Spa Glass with copper
ruby overlay, through engraved with scenes of

Dresden – subsequently devastated in the Second

World War.
c.1825
14 cm high

194

195

X FAR EASTERN GLASS

198.
Powder Compact in red Lithyalin glass with

cut decoration and gilt metal mount by Friedrich
Egermann, Northern Bohemia.

Mid-19th Century

199.
Paperweight. Tourist souvenir of Venice

decorated in colourful mosaics with a gondola

surrounded by a floral decoration mounted on a

thin aventurine background on a solid glass base.

Aventurine, glittering spangles of gold embedded
in
glass, was

made by a secret Venetian process

only discovered in England in the late 19th

Century.

19th Century

7.5 cm diameter
200.

A very large, deep shallow Bowl of brilliant

blue glass with rounded sides, large flat everted

circular rim; vestigial footrim. Chinese.

18th/19th Century

41 cm

201.
Opaque white Pekin

glass
Bowl, almost

hemispherical, deeply carved in rich blue overlay

with scrolling flowers, a blue flower in centre,

finely carved Chien-Lung mark on foot. Chinese.

18th Century

17 cm diameter

202.
A deep Bowl of opaque yellow glass,

carved inside and out with lotus petals, inside of
base with carved pods. Chinese.

Published in “Festschrift for P.W. Meister” page 74,

p1.6.

Exhibited in the Dusseldorf Museum in 1968.

18th Century

16 cm diameter

203.
A decorative glass Screen in a wooden

stand. Diamond engraved with a robed and

hatted Chinese dignitary holding a fan seated on

a folding chair on a veranda, before him a

Chinese girl with elaborate coiffure, one hand
raised, the other holding a fan. Chinese.

Exhibited at the Ashmolean, Oxford, Oriental

Ceramic Society Exhibition, October 1979, item
77.

Early 18th Century

17 cm high

198

199

211

200

204.

A pair of cast Chinese scroll weights in the

form of squatting Fo Dogs, mirror images, in

turquoise blue glass with brown-black spots and

streaks. The upper and lower canine teeth applied

in same colour glass. Both have a pearl in each

ear.
Exhibited at the Ashmolean, Oxford, Oriental

Ceramic Society Exhibition, October 1979,

item 72.

18th Century

6.5 cm high

205.
A massive Jar (Hu) in Han style of

transparent amber glass with almost flat base,

showing some striations. Polished mouth rim.

Chinese.
18th Century

39 cm high

206.
Double gourd Vase on flat base, short

cylindrical neck of white glass with pattern of

fruiting gourd plants in blue, red and yellow dear

glass. Chinese.
18th Century

23 cm high

207.
A Sha-tou (pitto) Vase of

conventional form, thinly blown, of

opaque pea-green
glass,
with wry shallow foot-

rim, flat base with well written 4-character Chien-

Lung mark in double square. Chinese.

18th Century

10 cm high

209

208

206

XI UTILITARIAN GLASS

208.
A Japanese Vase of white opaque glass with

orange overlay, carved floral sprays, lilies, and a

butterfly. Of baluster shape with short, wide,

flaring neck.

Probably 19th Century

23 cm high

209.
Two Indian Water Sprinklers. Flat foot,

spherical body, double bulge, long tapering neck

The bright green
glass

has marked gadrooning

and twisted neck. The deep purple has slight

gadrooning.

18th Century

Green
glass
20 cm high

Purple glass 21 cm high

210.
Chinese pressed or moulded white glass

Dish with ornamental character.
19th or 20th Century

211.
Peking glass tableware, Bowl and Plate, in

dense black glass for regular domestic use.

c.1930

Bowl 5.8 cm high

Plate 20.6 cm diameter
Lighting

212.
Fine triple knopped air-twist stem

Candlestick on large wide domed and moulded
foot; pan shaped nozzle.

1750

20 cm high

212a. Tall Jug of coffee pot shape with loose fit-

ting lid. The role of these jugs is uncertain, but it

is thought they were used to hold oil for filling

lamps.

c.1820

24 cm high

213.
A pair of press-moulded
glass

Candlesticks

in black glass with Sowerby’s impressed mark

With “Queen Anne Candlestick, J. Mortlock & Co.
Oxford St. and Orchard St. London.” impressed

on the base and the only known example with

the original paper labels showing the price: 8/6

pair.

1880

26 cm high

211a. A group showing
glass
made by the

Chinese in imitation of natural stone. The large

Vase, blown in light green
glass
overlaid in dark

green in imitation of jade. The Snuff Bottles are in

imitation of natural rock and agate.

19th century

Vase 21 cm high

Bottles 4-6 cm high

213

212a

214.

Satin opal Night Light Shade, with two rings

of inset jewels, in metal mounts, and painted
flower decoration, on a conventional Clarke’s

base. Clarke introduced jewelled shades with an
elaborate metal stand as a Christmas novelty in

1892. Candle-lit fairy lights became internationally

popular in the second half of the 19th Century.
Interest peaked between 1885 and 1892 and then

fell away. In England they are particularly

associated with Samuel Clarke of Cricklewood,

London, importer and distributor, with show
rooms at 31 Ely Place, Holborn. Probably Austrian.

1892

10 cm high

215.
Miniature satin opal Night Light Shade with

hand-painted decoration of a strawberry plant on

a dear glass Clarke’s base. Perhaps by Walsh Walsh

of Birmingham.
c.1891

6.5 cm high

216.
Pressed glass Flower Trough for table

decoration with green glass shade. The base holds

a cricklite for illumination. Made by Samuel

Clarke, London.
c.1886

212

217. Three-part Night Light in yellow and dear

satin glass with separate wrythen shade, ribbed

font and pedestal stem with dear pincered feet.

Probably English.

c.1890

23 cm high

214

217

215

Pictures

218.
Electric Lamp Shade in the form of fruits

and leaves in satinized coloured glasses mounted

on a metal frame decorated with clear and ruby

glass beads. Probably Bohemian.
19th/20th Century

16 cm high

219.
Painted globe-shaped heavy Bowl with

narrow plain short neck, the body entirely

decorated with an early 19th Century pheasant

shooting scene (after Aitken). Is it a lamp base?

19th Century

20 cm high

220.
Tall Oil Lamp set on a floral decorated white

opaque glass-encased column with brass capital
and stepped base, matching oil bowl and shade

(possibly French).

c.1890

80 cm high

Musical Glasses

221.
A glass Xylophone in sycamore case with 34

flat glass notes suspended on red ribbon. 2

octaves chromatic scale plus A and B. The label
reads “R Hack, sole manufacturer of the
improved semitonic folding harmonicon –

registered. 174 Fleet Street London. Price Lists and

Orders for any kind of Harmonicon sent free to

any part of the country.” Robert Hack worked in
London from 174 Fleet Street as a music and

musical instrument seller in 1844 and 1845. Prior

to that he worked as a pianoforte maker and

music seller from 4 Grays Inn Passage, and from

1846 he worked from 174 Fleet Street and

9 Portland Road, Camberwell Road. Tubular glass
xylophones are more common than this type, of

which this is the only example known so far with

such a large compass.

c.1845

67 cm wide

222.
An unusually small diatonic set of 15 tuned

Musical Glasses. The pristine condition of the

interior is because it had remained dosed due to

a broken key in the lock The glasses were played
by running a moist finger tip round the rim. The

glasses enjoyed their hey-day in the second half of
the 18th Century and by this time were little more

than a drawing room diversion. Unsigned.

c.1820

75 cm wide
223.

Glass Painting of five uniformed figures,

possibly depicting a Russian, Austrian, Turk

Frenchman and an Englishman in diplomatic

dress, and possibly commemorative of a

diplomatic incident of the time. Very difficult to

place the country of origin but probably Eastern
Europe.

1830

224.
A Reverse Glass Painting of wine bottle and

grapes with peaches in a basket signed VISPRE.
1770

27 cm high x 35 cm wide

225.
A Reverse Glass Painting of a vine with

grapes and peaches and cob-nuts.

1770

31 cm high x 27 cm wide

The two Huguenot brothers, Francis Xavier Vispre,

and Victor Vispre came to London in the mid

18th Century. Between 1763 and 1783 they both
exhibited glass paintings at the Society of Arts and

elsewhere. Examples of the style of the larger

signed painting are found, either unsigned or
signed simply “Vispre”. Fine examples, all

unsigned, are also known in the style of the

smaller picture. In the present state of knowledge, the signed example is attributed to Victor, the

smaller unsigned example to Francis Xavier.

227

\!„

224
65

222

226.

A Reverse Glass Painting of a rustic winter

scene, chopping wood and smoking meat,

probably Augsburg and possibly one of a set

depicting the seasons. An unusual style and less

stereotyped than many glass painting subjects.

1750

35 cm high x 42 cm wide

227.
Chinese Reverse Glass Painting, copying an

English print, Canton China. This is an example of

work from a studio which copied suitable pictures

on to glass for the overseas export market from

China to Europe and America.

1790

39 cm high x 32 cm wide

Windows

228.
A Stained Glass Window entitled ‘Visage

Verues” by J. Sheedie. The late J. Sheedie was
English and lived in Lincoln. Apart from this

nothing is known of him. This beautiful subject is

dearly influenced by the Picasso school.
c.1940
Horticultural and Domestic

229 An example of a French Wasp Catcher,

moulded glass with a blank seal. Similar to a

standard English model of blown glass.
Late 19th Century

230.
Cucumber Straightener, used td encourage

cucumbers grown on the ground to grow

straight. Older professional gardeners can

remember using these to ensure a straight

cucumber for the “House”.

19th/20th Century

31 cm

231.
A mammoth Storage Jar of baluster shape

on high flared foot with inset lid which has a big
raspberry prunt knop. English.

Second half 18th Century

51 cm high

232.
An early example of a Pyrex heat-resistant
glass Measuring Jug with golden tint. Many

people are still using glass of this type from the

pre-war period unaware of its durability.

c.1925

8.5 cm high

233. Lead glass Goldfish Bowl on a drawn stem

with inverted rim and folded foot. Goldfish

bowls are known from contemporary illustrations

of the 18th and 19th Century but rarely survive.
c.1770

226

Scientific and Medical

234. An early free-blown Kipp’s Gas Generator.

This device for the on-tap availability of gases for

chemical analysis etc. was invented by the
German Kipp in the mid 19th Century. Gas is
liberated by the interaction of a solid, placed in
the middle bulb, with acid introduced via the

upper bulb through the central funnel to the

lower bulb. From here it can rise into the middle

bulb as a result of the head of liquid in the
upper bulb. The gas is drawn off via a tap

(missing) in the side arm of the middle bulb.

With the tap closed the gas pressure forces the
acid from the middle to the lower bulb and back

up the funnel. This both stops the chemical
reaction and provides a gas-tight seal, whilst

storing gas for immediate use. The lower side-
arm is for cleaning.
Early 20th Century

45 cm high
235. A collection of 6 hand-blown Vessels for

the accurate measurement of volume and

density. The wheel-engraved calibrations are also

variously marked “Gramm”, “Grammes”,

“Grammen”, “Grains” and “CCM” in addition to

the temperature for use. One has a mercury

thermometer integral with the stopper. The
purpose of the minute flask with capillary neck

and loose ball stopper is not known. Probably

German.
Early 20th Century

Tallest flask 12 cm high

231

229

233

234

236.

A presentation set of Prince Rupert’s Drops

in an engraved glass casket in a leather case.

Presented to Dr. B.P. Dudding by the German

Delegation to the 2nd International Congress on
Glass, London 1936. Prince Rupert’s Drops are

drops of hot glass which have been quenched in

oil. This sets up an inherent instability due to

conflicting internal and external stresses. If the
tail of the drop is broken the drop immediately

disintegrates.

1936

237.
One of a pair of pharmacist’s Specie Jars

bearing the Royal Coat of Arms and the word

“RHUBARB” within an elaborate scroll on a light
yellow ground. Gilt glass domed cover. From

their exuberant decoration, these are thought to

date from Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee

(1887). The “twin” jar is a lighter yellow colour
and bears the legend “SULPHUR”.

1887

84.5 cm high

236

238.

Nailsea glass Ear Trumpet in pale green

glass with inverted rim. Whether made for use or
as an amusement is not known.

c.1840

239.
Feeding Cup with incurved rim, applied

handle and shaped spout.

19th Century

9.5 cm high
240.

Two Stools on insulating glass legs, one

rectangular with 4 tapered glass legs, the other

oval with 4 swelling glass legs, used in a
laboratory to provide an insulated base for early

electrical experiments. Other more colourful

descriptions have attributed these items as
witches stools, associated with tests for

witchcraft (West Country description), or to

stand on to avoid electrocution from lightning

during a storm.
c.1800

Glass Circle Associations
241.
Lead crystal Paperweight with cut concave

top and fine large printies. The base wheel-

engraved with the Glass Circle logo. One-off trial

by Webb-Corbett, Stourbridge.

c.1975

7.5 cm

242.
Ceremonial Chairman’s Hammer in a case.

A presentation piece made for the Glass Circle.

237

238

239

240

XII MODERN STUDIO GLASS

243.
Early studio pieces by: Pauline Solven, blue

Vase; Asa Brandt, Schnapps Glass; and Peter

Layton, handled Vase.

c.1968-1970

244.
Vase entitled “Blue Face” by Ray Flavell,

formed with special tools in the manner of

Maurice Marinot.
1978

245.
Two Pictures by Dana Zamecznikova with a

three-dimensional perspective created using

various techniques on stacked glass plates held
in stainless steel frames.

1980
246.

Slumped octagonal Plate, decoratively etched

and sand blasted by Glyn Hawkins.

1982

247.
Mask; construction of fused and slumped

glass with matt finish and silver gauze by Karen
Lawrence.

1987

248.
Lamp worked Goblet and two cast

Ornaments with lampwork inclusions by Pavel
Molnar.

1984 and 1987

244

243

248

243

249.

Two blown forms with internal colour

decoration by Claude Monod.

1984

250.
“Kimono”, by Peter Layton, two fluid forms

with black and white decoration incorporated

into the hot dear glass.

1987

251.
Sake
cup with fused silver decoration by

Yoshiko Takahashi.
1986

249

248

252. “Pyramid”, finely cast to simulate intaglio

engraving by Kristian Klepsch.

1984

252

253. Leaded construction with panels of clear

glass, hand-silvered mirror and engraved fish by

Karin Stockle-Krombein.

1984/5

XIII BOOKS AND EPHEMERA

254. Dr. Christopher Merret,
The Art of Glass,

published in 1662. This was an English

translation of
L’Arte Vetraria

published in Latin in

1612 by Antonio Neri. This copy signed by
Christopher Merret.

255. Apsley Pellatt,
Curiosities of Glass Making,

1849. Signed and inscribed by the author to

William Little Esq., Holland St.

256. Francis Buckley,
A History of Old English

Glass,
1925. Author’s own copy heavily

annotated, possibly for a revision or a second

edition.

257. Arnold Fleming,
Scottish and Jacobite

Glass,
1938. This copy belonged to W.A. Thorpe

and is heavily annotated.

258. Two Grants of Letters Patent:

a)
Jean Pierre Bourquin for an

invention for “Improved Means of Ornamenting

Glass” – 1854

b)
Tom Kilner for “Improvements in Tank-

furnaces for Smelting Glass” – 1875

259. John M. Bacon, MA. Cantab., F.RSA,

English Glass Collecting for Beginners in a Series

of Five Letters to One of Them,
published in

Penrith, 1942 (price 2 shillings). A very rare little

book published by the Founder of the Cirde of

Glass Collectors.
260.

The first Minute Book of the Committee of

the Glass Circle, recording the first meetings and

the inauguration of the Society.

1937

261.
Invitation Cards to meetings of the Glass

Circle, which for many years met at Members’
private houses while numbers and costs

permitted.

1954

XIV THE ART OF GLASS ON STAMPS

262. Postage stamps portraying glass objects are

relatively few in number in comparison with

most other subjects in the field of thematic

philately. Even so, the stamps hitherto issued do

span the long history.of the art of glass-making
and glass-decoration. The stamps depict in

miniature many outstanding pieces covering

core-formed glass, glass-blowing, Roman,
Frankish, Islamic, Mediaeval and later glass, also

Art Nouveau and more recent products.

262

136

7
5

Join

Search

Member

Join

Search

Member

Join

Search

Member

Glass Circle_50th Anniversary Exhibition_1937 – 1987

Recent Posts

Address

Email

Instagram

Facebook