Glass Circle News_No.78, Mar 1999

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS

No. 78

March

1999

Two Venetian goblets of c. 1475 – 1500

Hts. 20.7 cm (left) and 21.6 cm

Sold at Sotheby’s, London, 15th December, 1998.
EDITORS David C. Watts

27 Raydean Rd,

Barnet, Herts. EN5 IAN.

F. Peter Lole
5 Clayton Ave.

Didsbury, Manchester, M20 OBL.

NOTICES Henry Fox
20 Ockford Road,

Godalming, GU7 1QY, Surrey

Photos courtesy Sotheby’s

These goblets, belonging to a relatively (for their age) numerous group dating to as early as the third quarter of the

fifteenth century, just after the invention of
cristallo,

are some of the earliest intact medieval Venetian glasses

known. In spite of
cristallo,

coloured glass, usually clear deep cobalt blue (as above) or green, but occasionally

manganese purple, is generally favoured for these special pieces. The glass is blown thick, the goblets feeling quite

heavy in the hand, which may explain their good survival record. Both are blown in three main sections, bowl,

stem and foot with upturned rim, and then joined together with wafers of clear glass. Apart from ease of
construction this facilitates decoration, enamelling (blue, green, red and white dots) on an imbricated gold leaf

ground to the bowl, before final assembly. The bowl shape is enhanced by the applied pincered collar shown on

the left hand piece.

These goblets came from the household of Alan Stepney Gulston (1844-1914) of Derwydd Mansion, Llandeilo,

Carmarthenshire, West Wales, and although the provenance is only certain to around the beginning of the 20th

century such pieces would be difficult to fake convincingly (although some experts consider the use of clear glass
wafers suspicious in this context). Further details of the Gulston family history are given in the Sotheby catalogue.
Venetian glass of this age and quality rarely comes up for auction and explains the fierce bidding and high prices
realised of £144,400 and £133,500 for the left and right goblets respectively, around twice the estimates.

A fine example of early wheel engraving on a

German or Dutch roemer, signed and dated WFS
1645, but a subject not at all to Ruskin’s taste.

Illustration of glass No. 163 from
Amsterdam’s

Historich
Museum.

See book review on page 9.

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

Page 2

1999

Editorial

THE STONES (AND GLASS) OF VENICE

John Ruskin’s views on cut glass are as well known as the story

of glass making being discovered by the River Belus; but what
was the basis of his remarks and I wonder how many collectors

have read
The Stones . . .
to find out? Until recently, when my

favourite flea market, in Bridport, came up with a three-volume

set, I certainly had no idea. I am now inclined to think that the

widespread dissemination of this particular passage was a ruse

by dealers of the day to deflect interest from the prevailing

enthusiasm for cut glass into the more profitable, for them, areas

of glass collectables. But that is, by no means, all the story.

It has first to be remembered that Ruskin wrote
The Stones . .

published in 1851, at a time when the microscope had come into

its own, natural history was a popular persuit and controversy

over the concept of evolution relative to the

omnipotence of God was rife even before
Darwin’s (1859)
Origin of the Species

brought the problem to the fore. Ruskin’s

outlook is overwhelmingly influenced by
his religion and his writing is an unremit-

ting and logically exacting thesis on the

good of godliness as opposed to “barba-
rous” ungodliness of which Venice is the

the example
par excellence

and cut glass

only an aside. That is not to say that
everything barbarous is bad within its own

context but rather that it is unworthy of a

civilised society.

Ruskin’s view in
The Stones . . .
(Vol. 1) is

that the two conditions pivot around the

date, 1418, after which work, as exempli-
fied by architecture, to the glory of God

declines into the paganism of the Renais-

sance – the self-glorification of man and his

works, excommunication from Rome and

damnation by the Pope. He identifies

Henry VIII’s England as keeping the reli-

gion and discarding the art while Venice

kept the art and threw away the religion. It

follows that for him all Renaissance orna-

ment is to be condemned and within his

analysis of Venetian architecture we find
the basis for his dislike of cut glass.

Roundly speaking, Ruskin’s two ap-
proaches to aesthetic satisfaction are, first,

that all architecture should look as though

it logically and adequately supports itself

and, second, that decoration should be to

the glory of God, appropriate to the form

and not wasteful of effort, both approaches
being guided by pre-1418 Christian princi-
straight lines are ugly things as

lines,
but admirable as limits of

coloured spaces; . .”

The use of chiselled lines in buildings all over London, if not all
England, is a clear indication of how much notice was taken of

that stricture! Following this, in discussing the decoration of a
pillar, he writes:-

“every species of decoration may be wisely lavished, and in

any quantity, so only that the form of the shaft is clearly visible.

This I hold to be the absolute essential, and that barbarism
begins whenever the sculpture is either so bossy, or so deeply

cut, as to break the contour of the shaft, or compromise its

solidity.”

Put these two quotes together in the context of Renaissance

thinking and you have 19th century cut glass – the glorification

of man’s invention of steam cutting – and
hence his description, “barbarous”.

Not just cutting but Renaissance motifs, in

general, are condemned. Barbarous, you

must accept, is the engraved decoration on

any of your glasses identified by the follow-
ing quotation :-

“1. Instruments of art, agriculture, and

war; armour and dress. 2. Drapery. 3. Ship-

ping. 4. Architecture itself.” And, in case

you remain unconvinced:-

“I conclude then, with the reader’s leave,

that all ornament is base which takes for its

subject human work . . .”.

If that doesn’t downgrade the aesthetic status

of some of your highly-prized engraved

goblets I don’t know what will! Ruskin
allows, however, one exception:-

“to represent the human work as an

ornament is conditional on its being neces-

say to the representation of a scene, or
explanation of an action.”

In other words, a man in armour, or holding

a flag on a designated field of battle is

acceptable, but empty armour or a garland of

flags, however worthy (picture top left), is
not. It should be added that this is only a

sample of the derision Ruskin heaps on

Renaissance ornament and its architects.

Not all Ruskin is condemnatory by any
means and we may usefully apply his archi-

tectural thinking to glass. The designs of the

base, shaft and capital, or its related cornice,

of a column have features applicable to a

drinking glass. The base of the English
drinking glass, generally wider than the

bowl, provides favourable stability while

bowl shape may be compared with the

profile of the cornice or capital (picture left).

Ruskin divides cornice shape into two major

groups being either concave (a) or convex (b) relative to the
straight diagonal. Even a slight curve, he claims, is more

interesting than a straight line. Further, he finds the assymetrical

curve, typically based on part of the outline of a salvia leaf,
more interesting than a symmetrical curve. In the figure we may
identify cornice outline (a) with a trumpet bowl and (b) with the

upper part of a bell. The same curve inverted (c) is not a bowl

shape but (d) gives a typical round funnel. Thus (a) and (d), are
not only the typical Corinthian and Doric capital outlines,

respectively, but also those of two of our most common bowl

shapes for 18th century drinking glasses. The series (e) through
(h) combines (a) with (e) and (b) with (d) to give a series of ogee

shapes with (f) and (g) being common among our drinking

pies. Thus, in wall decoration, he contrasts

Some cornice shapes analysed by Ruskin in
The

the dividing lines resulting from the use of
Stones of Venice.

different coloured stone in Romanesque
The diagrams are labelled (left to right):-

buildings with the chiselled lines of Ren
–

top
row a – d, centre row e – h, bottom row k – p.

aissance work as found on the Arthur Club

House (now called White’s Club), St. James St. :-

“But why, it will be asked, should the lines which mark the

division of stones be wrong when they are chiseled, and right

when they are marked by colour? First, because the colour

separation is a natural one. You build with different kinds of

stone, of which, probably, one is more costly than another;

which latter, as you cannot construct your building of it entirely,
you arrange in conspicuous bars. But the chiselling of stone is a
wilful throwing away of time and labour in defacing the

building: it costs much to hew one of those monstrous blocks
into shape; and, when it is done, the building is
weaker
than it

was before, by just as much stone as has been cut away from its

joints. And, secondly, because as 1 have repeatedly urged,

1999

Page 3

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

The Mystery of Purple Lalique?

Adherents of the Daily Telegraph cannot have failed to read the

court summary of the extraordinary and extremely rare case of

fraud in which judgement was given in favour of Mansour Ojjeh,

co-owner of the McLaren Formula One motor racing team,

against the London dealer, Mark Waller of Galerie Moderne, in

Belgravia, involving the sale of “faked” purple Lalique car

mascots. Mr Ojjeh had been tempted to part with his collection

of 12 clear Lalique car mascots and £500,000 in exchange for 17

purple mascots. The case for the prosecution took over a year to

prepare by solicitor, Michael Spears who is himself a glass

collector, involved experts in the field and included a trip to

America. Until the dark purple mascots appeared they were

essentially unknown and while Lalique appears to have produced

the occasional piece in black, although not a car mascot, deep

purple was not a Lalique colour.

The question of whether or not the mascots were genuine
products of the Lalique factory, once checked, was not a matter

of contention although at least one was in a fairly tatty condition,
having been well worked over with the wheel. More important

was how the coloration had been achieved. The story here goes
back to a report in 1905 by Sir Wm. Crookes that a piece of

glass containing manganese from South America had become
violet upon exposure to the sun’s rays. The same year Samuel

Avery obtained glass samples from New Mexico which were

intensely coloured including a bottle that had been partly buried

and had changed colour only in the part exposed to the sun. A
flurry of papers followed in which the requirement for manga-

nese in the glass was confirmed and ultraviolet light and

X-irradiation were found to have the same effect as sunlight. The
process, particularly with sunlight, was, however slow, taking

from weeks to several years to bring the colour change about.

Not all types of glass was affected and Fischer found that Jena
combustion glass, Durax glass (Schott), German lead glass and
English lead glass were not affected whereas ordinary Thuring-

ian glass, apparatus glass from various German manufactures

and Schott thermometer glass were coloured strongly by rays

from a quartz-mercury lamp within 12 hours. All the coloured

group contained manganese; Fischer claimed that the glasses not

affected contained no manganese and, so far as the English lead

glass is concerned, this is possibly because nickel and cobalt
were also being used as decolourisers by this time.

Later, in 1920, S.C. Lind confirmed the effect with radium

emanation and reported the important finding that the purple

colour was discharged by heating the glass to softening point,

around 200
0

C or, in certain circumstances, to 500°C. This test

made possible the distinction between purple glass that had been

coloured by irradiation of clear glass containing manganese in an

amount sufficient to cause decolourisation and glass deliberately

coloured purple by the addition of much larger amounts of
manganese. When applied to one of the purple Lalique mascots

its colour was reduced to a pale violet confirming that the cause

of colouring had indeed been irradiation.

Once this was accepted by the defence the legal arguement then

turned on whether or not Lalique would have used irradiation as

part of his factory work. Much of the early radiation chemistry

continued on page 7

THE STONES (AND GLASS) OF VENICE. concluded

glasses. The series (k) through (p) shows the result of adding a
third curve to form the double ogee with, for example, the

shaded areas of (o) and (p) representing the delightful pan top

and saucer top bowls shown upside down. Other bowl shapes

may be analysed in this way and even the bowls of the Sotheby

Venetian goblets (cover pictures) can be fitted to Ruskin’s

cornice profiles. We may study these shapes in relation to our

own collections and consider with Ruskin that:-

“None of these types, however, are found in perfection of
curvature except in the best work”.

While favouring the salvia leaf curve he also points out:-

“that an innumerable variety of curves may be fitted, from every
leaf in the forest, and every shell on the shore . . .”.

Here, he deliberately associates designing with the glorification

of nature and God. It is interesting, too, that in glassmaking

some cornice shapes are never, or rarely, adopted for the bowl,

presumably reflecting current taste. Finally, we may see in these

cornice shapes the curved outlines of the glassware designed for
Whitefriars by Philip Webb and T.G. Jackson in the late 19th

century, and, to a lesser extent, those of Harry Powell himself.

The shaft takes us into a different sphere, and not just because
the transparency of glass allows decoration within its stem. As

quoted above, it should look comfortably strong enough for its

purpose, a situation not always found in baluster and composite

stems. But at this point consideration of the design similarities of

shaft and stem part company. For, while a drinking glass stands

alone a shaft has to be considered relative to the whole building.
Ruskin, for example, finds that Caryatids, much admired today,

should be condemned as “one of the chief errors of the Greek

schools”; by the same reasoning I think he would find difficulty

with the multiple baluster and composite stem, and excessive

and complex knopping. Similarly, superficial additions, such as

a collar, would be treated as Renaissance barbarosities. Indeed,

one might say of our drinking glasses that they are more often
prized for their rarity than purity of line.

It is unfortunate that Ruskin’s pivotal date of 1418 is far too

early for him to have analysed Venetian glass in support of his
thesis. As described by Martine Newby (GC News No.75, p.7)

although Italian glass history goes back to the 13th century,
intact domestic glass is only known from around the mid-15th

century other than from a few paintings. The Sotheby goblets are

among the earliest known and are typical of the period – blue

glass plastered with enamel and gilt decoration. Although

cristallo
was invented by 1450 it was not relieved from enamel

decoration in the better pieces until the end of the century, while

the exquisitely blown clear glass vessels did not become

dominant until the mid-16th century. As described by Trenchard

Cox
(The Renaissance in Europe 1400-1600):-

“Carried away by the caprices of their own imagination the
Venetians blew their glass into a variety of weird forms . . .”.

Clearly, Italian domestic glass followed an independent evolu-

tion – perhaps their glass makers were always godless! Giovanni

Mariacher
(Italian Blown Glass, 1960, p.37.)

meditates “who

would deny in principle that even the greatest names of the

Italian renaissance – from Paolo Veronese to Tintoretto, from

Palma it Giovane to Jacopo da Bassano – might on some

occasions have assisted the glass-maker to evolve new forms, if

only by providing him with sketches and drawings.” Maybe

architects were not without influence on glass design either.

Ruskin’s Victorian style does not make for easy reading but it is

worth the effort, if only to dip into. He will certainly sharpen

your sensitivity to and appreciation of both architecture and

glass, and place his strictures on cut glass in true perspective and

diffract a much more favourable light for the collector.

New Museum of Scotland
Ever since 1952, Scotland has desired a showplace for its
national treasures. Now, next to The Royal Museum in

Chambers Street, Edinburgh, a new “Museum of Scotland”
opened last November. It traces the events of every aspect of
Scotland’s rich history with much new material on display. The

amount of glass has still to be determined but it does include a

double series opaque twist glass polychrome enamelled with a
bust of Bonnie Prince Charlie in tartan regalia.

The adult entry price of £3.00 includes The Royal Museum, next

door, and a single season ticket can be had for £5.00 or a family

season for £9.00; usual concessions and NACF members free.

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

Page 4

1999

4:
#4
1-
Reilecti”

4
–
4

Perot Zete

One day in November we set off on a round trip of almost two
hundred and fifty miles, planned as two Glassy venues, with a

Jacobite interlude; but the latter unexpectedly revealed a signifi-

cant Glassy interest, too.

The first stop was Chester, where we had a lunch time talk and
display by a member of Chester Archaelogy, an adjunct of the

Grosvenor Museum, on locally excavated Ceramic and Glass

finds of C.16th. to C.18th. The Ceramics inevitably predomi-
nated, with finds of articles imported from the Rhineland,

Flanders, France, Spain and China, as well as local productions

from Staffordshire and N. Wales.

The Glass finds, paradoxically, produced the only intact item, a
nice late C.17th. onion-shaped Black Bottle, which a workman

had uncovered with his bulldozer. There were beaker bases from

11/2 ins to 3 ins. diameter, a section of a small serpent stem with
blue embellishment and two intact relatively short, lion mask

stems, with bowl bases and fragments of folded feet still

attached. Characterised by Robert Charleston as: “… a cliché, of
fawn de Venise glass”, it is impossible to know whether these
lion knop stems were English or imported. A substantial

fragment of a thin-walled cobalt blue, handled bowl was another
interesting feature of this group, with various other rather

anonymous sherds, mostly from bottles. A surprising feature was

to find only a single example of the cigar shaped stems which

are so ubiquitous and numerous in the London C.16/17th. finds.

The Grosvenor Museum itself
displays only one C.18th.

Glass, a good baluster goblet-

(right), 7 ins. high, with early
wheel engraving of the three

wheatsheaves of the Chester

Arms set into a baroque car-
touche; this was acquired as

lot: 134 from Christie’s sale of

17 Jan. 1978. Another pleasing
late C.18th. drink related arte-

fact is a very large Chinese

Porcelain punchbowl, some 27

ins. diameter, inscribed: “Pros-

perity to the County of Chesh-

ire” “Success to the plough and

sail” and decorated with the

Cholmondeley arms. This cel-
ebrates an election success in

1797 by the Cholmondeleys of

Vale Royal, the Jacobite Tory
branch of the family, in contradistinction to their distant,

Whiggish, cousins, the Earls of Cholmondeley.

Our next port of call was a Jacobite house in the Welsh marches
with the intriguing name of Berse Drelincourt, which had

supported an annexed church orphanage and school for girls.
Some authorities say that it was also used as a safe house and

school for the young offspring of exiled Jacobite nobility;
indeed, one writer asserts that two bastard offspring, followed by

a grandson, of Prince Charles Edward Stuart were accommo-
dated there at different times. We had a most cordial welcome,
and it transpired that the owner had a substantial group of

press-moulded Glass and a wonderfully comprehensive and
extensive group of knife rests, many wholly or mainly of Glass. I
have always expected knife rests to come in pairs, but apparently

the French had sets of 5, 10 or 12, to accommodate their still
continuing use of a single knife throughout the meal.

Finally we moved on to Broadfield House Glass Museum, for a
repeat by Charles Hajdamach of his lecture on “Mrs. Graydon-
Stannus”, which he first gave to the Dublin seminar of The Glass

Society of Ireland in March last year. Charles paid tribute to
Robert J. Charleston’s file, which had yielded much information

and many illustrations. A serendipitous acquisition by Broad-
field House of M.S.Dudley-Westropp’s own copy of one Mrs.

Graydon-Stannus’ booklets was heavily annotated with mar-

ginalia such as ‘rot’, and some of RJC’s cuttings and photo-
graphs were endorsed in similar fashion. Slides of some of Mrs.

G-S’ more outrageous confections kept us amused, but left us all

wondering how many of her less outré, productions still remain

as cherished items in collections. Even her Gray-Stan Art Glass
seems to have followed the inspiration of Monart Glass, rather

than leading the way. On the long drive home I was ruminating

that at least the archaeological finds, of which I seem to have
written so frequently over the past year, are free from the wiles

of the forger; but then a little voice from the back of my mind
whispered “Piltdown Man”.

One of Mrs. G-S’ less contentious commissions was that given
her by Ned Lutyens, for the Glass for Queen Mary’s Dolls

House now at Windsor castle. Charles shewed us four photo-

graphs from RJC’s archive, of items she had made for the house;

one photograph was of four facet cut candlesticks, not much
over 1 ins. high, balanced on the back of Mrs. G-S’ hand. Dolls

House Glass is a rather arcane field, and we have at least one

member with a substantial collection which includes three tiny

opaque twist Glasses. Another member, Philip Jackson, wrote to

me some time ago about the Glass in a Dolls House in

Sherbourne museum, where there is an airtwist drinking Glass
less than 1 inch high. One assumes that usually these tiny

Glasses are lamp-worked, but presumably a twist stem (which I

assume to be of three piece, `stuck-shank’, form) would have to
be made by conventional Glasshouse techniques and pulled out

to a very fine diameter. There are also a number of references to
`Toy Glass’ which seems to be intermediate in size between

Dolls House and normal Glass. The report on the Tunsgate,

Guildford finds (G.C. Nos: 58 & 75) lists a small mould blown

lattimo beaker about 1 1/2 ins. high, c.1700, and quotes Hugh

Tait: “… minute versions of these cups were were made for big
dolls houses, so fashionable at that time in the Low Countries.”

The Winterthur book:
‘Glass in Early America’

(reviewed in

G.C. News No. 77) illustrates two early C.I9th. toy stoppered
decanters 3 – 3
1
/2 ins. in overall height, and also three wine

Glasses of about 2V2 ins. height, quoting a Boston Merchant,
Horace Collamore, requisitioning from his English agent in

1816: “a few dozen Toy Decanters, pitchers, tumblers, Wines
for Children. They must be quite small and come low charged.”

Perhaps a member with real knowledge of this subject may one

day give us a paper on the matter.

Lattimo plates from the Grand Tour
Mention in the last GC News of the number of lattimo plates
produced for Grand Tour visitors prompted Peter Lole to dig in

his archives for a 1997 National Art Collection Fund
Review

which lists the three sets known to have been made for Horace
Walpole, and his friends, John Chute and Henry Fiennes

Clinton, Earl of Lincoln. According to a biography of Walpole
by Timothy Mowl, all three were in Venice in 1741 (at the time

that the White Glasshouse in Southwark was at the peak of its

white glass production). Timothy Wilson writing for the
Review,

tells us that according to circumstantial evidence each commis-

sioned a set of plates, the scenes being from engravings by

Antonio Visentini after paintings by Canaletto. Sixteen of the

Chute plates remain at his house, The Vyne, near Basingstoke

(National Trust). Walpole’s 24 plates were sold in 1842 and are
now widely dispersed, while the Earl of Lincoln became Duke

of Newcastle and his set, apparently nine plates, was kept at the
family seat, Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire, and sold when it

was demolished in 1937. The
Review
relates to one of these

plates, with a view of SS Giovanni E Paolo, Venice, attributed

to the Miotti Glasshouse, acquired for a modest £12,500. It is
now in the Ashmolean Museum and was presented to the

University of Oxford by the NACF in memory of Robert
Charleston (1916-1994) – “one of the great scholars of the
century” – who published the “definitive” study of this group of

glass in
The Journal of Glass Studies,
I (1959) pp. 63-82 as the

result of a “brilliant piece of detective work”.

Dim and Bri

e’99

‘I
say, Bri, can you hear what those two Roman

funerary urns are talking about?

Well! I think they are discussing whose ashes they
would most like to be buried with.

Oh! thats all right, then. I thought for a
moment they

were talking about us!

* Picture derived from
Verreries Antiques du Musee de

Picardie,
see Book Reviews, page 9.

1999

Page 5

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

Re:- In from the Cold –
discussion point by Henry Fox

From Mr. Geoff Timberlake,

(Mr Timberlake is also South-East organiser for the Glass Association)
As a relatively new Glass Circle member with a modest

collection spanning the 18th to 20th centuries, I applaud Henry’s

provocative article in GC News No. 76. During my short time

with The Glass Circle I have attended many of the lectures, most

being both informative and entertaining. Some, however have

been either highly technical or academic with, let’s be honest,
limited relevance to the collections and interests of most

members.

Henry has correctly identified the growing trend in glass

collecting, where collectors, due to economic reasons as well as

an enlightened appreciation of the skills, beauty and good design
of the glass produced from the Victorian times to current, are

turning in increasing numbers to examples of those eras. This

was noted at the last Glass Fair organised by Patricia Hier, where

those dealers in pressed or 20th century glass were mobbed by

clients, while the 18th century dealers were having a quiet time,

some to the point of utter boredom!

Although this is the age of communication and many collectors
and academics are busy researching various facets of the glass
industry there is still too little being done about current factories

and studios.
This research is vital – information needs to be gathered and

stored now, while it is still readily available and the personnel
concerned are alive and able to share their knowledge; after all,
in just over one year from now, 20th century glass will be from

the last century and already much information about it has been

lost. To illustrate this point, Nazeing Glass Works, Essex, which

I am currently researching, are still in business, but they do not

have records going back too many years. Trying to find reliable

information about their products made during the 1930s is

difficult, but knowledge of their founder’s activities in South-

wark during the 1920s seems lost for ever. Conversely, however,

there has been much research carried out and information

published about the Vauxhall glass houses of the 17th and 18th

centuries from which Nazeing trace their roots.

So yes, the Glass Circle should be at the front of knowledge of

all aspects of glass and encourage and support lectures that
reflect the change in emphasis of glass collecting. This is really

essential for the Circle, if it is to survive – for I feel that there are

not many new members joining with collections and interests of

16th, 17th or even 18th century glass. If that trend continues,

then in two decades or so from now the Glass Circle will be

another dead and forgotten statistic of the glass world.
Yours sincerely,

or
Insulate Against the Cold Peter Lole• replies

In his obituary of that stalwart of The Glass Circle, Mr. George

Millar, David Watts recalled how Mr. Millar had initially been

rejected by the Circle because his primary interest was Victorian

Pressed Glass; David went on to say: “However, this rule – if

such it was – soon lapsed ….” Two issues later, Henry Fox, in his

article ‘In from the Cold’ (GC News 76), returned to this aspect,

asking: ” … should The Glass Circle respond more positively to

this trend …. ?”.

Indeed there was such a rule; after our first decade Col.

E.E.B.Mackintosh issued, as Paper No: 78 of The Circle of

Glass Collectors, a review of our history to that time. The

concept of The Circle was, he wrote, that: “It should be limited

to old English Glass of the Collectors period 1550-1800.”

Doubtless a thorough perusal of our minute books would reveal

when the relaxation commenced, but even by the time of our

Silver Jubilee, Robert Charleston could write in the introduction

to the Exhibition Catalogue: “…. the focus on the ‘classic’ period

of English Glass has become somewhat less burning, …. foreign

glass (at one time a term of opprobrium), and even the once

despised Victorian glass, have become legitimate fields ….”. The
Exhibition itself included Glass from about 500 BC to the 1960s,

although it included nothing so vulgar (to them) as pressed

Glass, which had to wait until our Golden Jubilee Exhibition for

a token chewing.

But where do we stand today? We have certainly abandoned the

rigid stance of our founders, although the sentiment lingers on.
But in terms of the transactions of The Circle, manifest in our

three forms of expression: The Journal, Papers Read & The
Newsletter, one might question if in our written material we had
not already gone too far from our original brief! Our last two

Journals devoted one third of their space to ‘Classic’ Glass, 43%

to post 1820 Glass and the balance was technical. Also, 60% of

the Papers read at meetings over the past three years were

concerned with ‘Classic’ Glass, with 20% considering post 1820

Glass, whilst with Newsletters of the same period (GC News 66 –

77) just over 40% touched on ‘Classic’ Glass, with almost the

same proportion devoted to post 1820 Glass.

When The Circle was formed, apart from the two Livery

Companies of the City of London, the only other Glass Society
was The Society of Glass Technology; today there are over a

dozen Glass Societies in the U.K. The most important alternative

to The Circle is The Glass Association which “deals primarily

with the history of Glass in the nineteenth and twentieth

centuries”; many of us are members of both Societies, regarding

them as complementary. But when I am at a Circle meeting my

ears prick up with a frisson of interest whenever I hear two
members discussing their latest acquisitions; I confess that when

at an Association meeting, overhearing a conversation along the
lines of “when Bloggit and Pressit’s moulds were acquired by

Skwoshit and Run, did they actually remove the full stop from

the diamond mark?”, I cannot feel the same stimulation. The

Circle cannot be all things to all men, and I believe that we

should continue to regard Classic Glass as our chief interest.

David pulled the ball out of the ruck, and Henry ran with it and
may have scored a try, but I most sincerely hope that we do not

achieve a conversion.

Editorial comment:-

Your
Committee is concious of the need to produce a balanced

programme of lectures but this is not always easy year after year

and you do not have to be a collector of early glass to be

interested in it. My personal view, partly made in my previous

Editorial, is that an understanding of early glass is a prerequesite

to the full appreciation of later glass. The numerous 19th and

20th century historical copies of early glass are now becoming
collectable in their own right thus spanning the two views.

GLASS ENGRAVERS:

George Armstead *

James Byrne *

Thomas Frankland *
New-street-square

(Glass Engraver & Cutter)

79, Little-Britain (Glass Engraver)
59, Redcross-st. Crippleg.

(Glass Cutter & Engraver)

GLASS CUTTERS:
Hancock & Shepherd

Christopher Hannell

John Harris
Harrison and Beardmore

Hodson and Blakeway *

Joseph Hunt

Peter Kolp

Charles Leader

George Lee

George Lovell

Edward Lowe
John Mark

Neale & Bailey

Henry Rider

Henry Ryder
James Simpson

John West

Wilkinson
Young Lake and Son
George Young
Cockspur-street (Cut-glass warehouse)

85, Dorset-str. Salisbury-sq.

Chamber-str. Goodman-str.

125, Houndsditch
71, Strand (Cut-glass manufactory)

34, Noble-street

Yeates-co. Butcher-row

17, Lothbury
48, St. Martin’s-le-grand

53, Red Lime-st. Bloomsbury

15,
Crooked-lane

Finch-lane, Cornhill
8, St. Paul’s-church-yard (Staffordshire

warehousemen & Cut-glass manufacturers.)
231, High Holbom (Cut-glass manufacturer)
23, Holborn (Cut-glass manufactory)

20, Portman-street

40, Old Bond-street

16,
Goldsmiths’ row, Shoe-la.

54, Watling-street
St. Catherines

A trade which was strongly represented in London, but which
was most unusual in the Provinces was that of GLASS

GRINDER. There is only one provincial Grinder recorded:

James Turner, Newcastle-on-Tyne (Glass-grinder and

spectacle-maker)

but there are two other craftsmen whose trade seems to be
related:

John Kendred, Darlington
(Inventor of a machine for grinding optic-lenses which works by water)

Joseph Pearson, Birmingham

(Spectacle-maker, glass-stainer, quicker, gilder and lapidary)

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

Page 6

1999

LONDON GLASS CUTTERS & ENGRAVERS c.1793
by Peter Lole

My article in GC. 75 of last June gave an analysis of Provincial

Glass Cutters and Engravers drawn from entries in THE
UNIVERSAL BRITISH DIRECTORY 1793-1795. This note

considers the position in LONDON, covered by Volumes I & II

of the set, the first volumes to be issued. The notes and
explanation about this Directory are given in the earlier article.

The most suprising feature was that clearly London in the early
1790s was still by far the most important domestic Glass centre
in the country. It had more than twice as many cutters as the rest

of England put together, and half the Glass Engravers listed in

the whole of England. It had almost a third (19 out of a total of
66) of the Glasshouses and Glass Manufacturers listed, but forty

years later the proportion of Excise Duty paid in London had
dropped to only 2% of the total English sum of £680,000. (See:

C.R.Hajdamach: British Glass 1800-1914 Pp 413-415) But this

note is really directed to Cutting and Engraving, and I shall

return to Glass Making in a future issue.

As in the first instalment, the correct treatment of those listed as

GLASSMAN, often in association with pottery, is something of
a puzzle. There are twelve of them in London, of whom at least

four are well known names who probably decorated Glass on

their own premises:

William Bacchus
Jonathon Collett

Thomas Johnson

William Kendall
George Yard, Upper Thames-st.

(Glass & China-man)
10, Cockspur-street (Glass-man)

195, Holborn (Potter and glassman)
15, St. James’s-street (Glass-man)

In the following list any already recorded by Robert Charleston

as Engravers (See GC 75 ) are marked * . The designation in the

Directory is exactly as the heading below, except where noted

otherwise.

Whilst one’s initial impression is that a Glass Grinder is

involved in bevelling glass, such as mirror plates, it is clear from

the above listings that it is more probably a lens making activity.

There are a great many Looking Glass Makers in the Directories,
but one takes these to be essentially a branch of Cabinet Making.

London boasts no less than seven Glass Grinders, plus William

Gould given above as a cutter.

Joseph Aldwinkle
Charles Allison

Hector Barnes

Thomas Bennett
Christopher Bird

John Birkley
Samuel Brooks

Edward Brown

William Burgess

Andrew Cobb

Peter Cobb
Samuel Collings *

Jacob Cope
Croucher and Martin
John Davis

Adam Dennis
William Dutton
Thomas Fenton

Anthony Gevener

Henry Goddin
Thomas Goodchild

Joseph Goodchild

William Gould

John Henry Grossman
Haedy & Son
72, Mark-lane

20, Garlick-hill
30, Pudding-lane

48, Gaiter-lane

47, Markwell-st. Wood-st.
17, Ratcliffe Highway

110, Strand

12, Billiter-square
4, Little Friday-street

26, Goswell-street

Angel-st. Martin’s-le-g.
Earl-st. Seven Dials (Lapidary & GI. Cutr.)

111, Upper Thames-st.
23, Queen-street, Cheapsi.

Hart-street, Crutched-friars

Clement’s-Lane, Lombard-st.
Drapers-co. Princes-str.

13, Birchin-lane
340, Oxford-street (Cut-glass manufactory)

9, Sherborne-lane
252, Tooley-street

2, Tooley-street

78, Gracechurch-street
(Glass Cutter & Grinder)

Well-street, Rosemary-la.
287, Strand (Cut-glass manufactory)
GLASS GRINDERS:

Christopher Child

Playhouse-yard, Water-la.

Thomas English

Great Earl-str. Seven dials

John Gray

29, Steward-str. Spitalfields

Nicholas Hancox

Castle-street Long Acre

John Harden

Silver-street, Clerkenwell

Thomas Knight

Old Compton-street, Soho

William Schofield

White-lion-st. Seven Dials (Glass-grinder &c.)

and another specialist not found in the Provinces is:
Thomas Peacock 2, Chatham-pl. Blackfr. (Ground-glass manufactory)

INTEGER IROUSE

The energy-saving Integer House at the Watford Building
Research Station, featured in the last issue of GC News, has

since been chosen for inclusion in the Millennium Dome.
Members may also have seen its construction featured in the
BBC 2 series Dream House. Further information can be obtained

from the BBC by writing to Dream House, PO Box 1001,
Manchester, M60 3JB. or on the Web at www.bbc.co.uk/tw

(note, no final full stop in the Web address). Integer is the name
of the builders, also available on www.integerproject.co.uk

1999

Page 7

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

(1lNSS ClippiNfs 69 fiENry 62x

Thirty Years On
I am indebted to a West country member for a cutting from

Independent on Sunday (19.10.98). I had not realised that

Dartington Glass, a project set up in the late 1960s, somewhat in
the manner of the Arts & Crafts movement, in a lovely part of

Devon to help provide work for the local inhabitants, celebrated

its 30th birthday in 1998. Dartington kindly loaned early

experimental pieces to the
“Strange and Rare”

exhibition to

celebrate the Circle’s Golden Jubilee in 1987. Although a craft
industry, Dartington has survived because of its ability to

innovate, use modern technology, and maintain standards of

design in tune with customer demand. From its almost rustic
beginnings it is now a well established name. The Dartington

Trust has ceased to own the business since the 1994 management

buy-out, but the name and ideals established in those early days
continue to be respected today. Personally, I always liked their
heavy and beautifully designed tankards with their applied

moulded topical discs which were brought out in annual
numbered editions. Certainly a collectable for future generations.

As a postcript, Dartington have now opened a new hot glass

studio and shop as a redevelopment of the Fishmarket Quay in

The Barbican, Plymouth old town.

Press
–
moulded Glass on TV

I
found it pleasing that BBC Antiques Road Show (10.1.99)

introduced its visit to Gateshead with a selection of locally made

glass, in particular a number of Sowerby nursery rhyme pieces
which are becoming more sought after by the day but equally

more difficult to find. Just before Christmas a dealer telephoned

to say that they had just acquired from a deceased estate a very
rare and much sort after example, and would be asking £750 for

it!

The disposal of the Cyril Manley and other important

collections over the last decade and a half have each triggered
interest in Victorian pressed glass with the nursery rhyme pieces,

modelled after Walter Crane illustrations, making most of the
running. Viewing the show, I was, however, disappointed not to

see any examples from the 18th century of Beilby workshop

enamelling on drinking glasses, or any examples of the elegant
tall light baluster glasses of the same period which used to be

called “Newcastles” up to some twenty years ago.
Uranium Glass at Sizewell

Guardian readers will have seen the
Space
supplement for Nov.

27 1998, with an article on Uranium glass by independent

correspondent, Sarah Wise and some nice photos by Luke

Kirwan, including some of pieces belonging to uranium glass

collector, Barrie Williams. This relates to the Sizewell Nuclear

Power Visitor Centre (Tel. 01728 642 139) on the Suffolk coast

which is said to contain a display cabinet of post 1830 uranium

containing objects, including glass. If anyone has been there or
is thinking of making a visit a report on the Centre for GC News

would be appreciated.

Flood Disaster for Cambridge, Ohio, Glass Museum

Cambridge Glass produced a wide variety of table and decora-

tive wares in clear, coloured, opaque and shaded glass for 50

years before closing in 1958. Last year was notable for heavy
rains and extensive flooding almost worldwide. Three days of

thunderstorms and hail in late June brought floods to West

Virginia and Ohio in America. On Sunday 28th water invaded

the National Cambridge Collectors Inc. Museum to a depth of
5Y2 feet. As the water rose 25 volunteers worked frantically to
move critical pieces of glassware to higher shelves. As a result

fewer than 100 pieces are thought to have been damaged

although some floated off to various parts of the building! By

Thursday the water had dropped enough for cleaning-up to

begin and valuable specimens, jumbled crazily together on the

shelves, to be rescued. Based on previous flood experience at

Corning, saturated valuable catalogues and other papers have
been stored deep-frozed in plastic bags until they can be treated.

Club members were deeply grateful that, unlike disasters
elsewhere, all their members survived the flooding unharmed.

Needless to say, the Museum is closed for the season and
thoughts are turning to new premises on higher ground.

More details of the disaster are given on http://www.cambridge-

glass.org the Club Website. Financial help can be sent to
Cambridge Collectors Inc. Building Fund, P.O. Box 413,

Cambridge, Ohio 43725, USA. with cheques made payable to

NCC, Inc.
More Clippings on pages 11 and 12.

Purple Lalique, concluded from page 3.

was carried out in France so it might be argued that an awareness
of the effect and its application might be possible there although

not in England. However, the natural tendency of a glassmaker

in colouring glass would be to add the colouring agent to the

batch and this is well known for the use of manganese for

centuries past back to the Romans. It is highly unlikely that a

glassmaker of such repute would depart from such a long-
established practice. The prosecution also came up with the

clinching argument that for a mascot that was to be illuminated

from underneath it was illogical to colour it dark purple as this

would destroy the illuminating effect particularly sought. The

judge also felt that “The dark purple/black colour does indeed

destroy the sense of grace, movement and speed in some of these

pieces.” The report adds “that it was not suggested that Mr.

Waller did not believe the mascots to
be

genuine . . . he had not

been negligent . . . However, by giving his personal assurance to

Mr Ojjeh that the mascots were authentic, Mr Waller had been in
breach of contract.” The Telegraph also reported that Mr Waller,

a Lalique expert, afterwards said that when he first saw “the

stuff” he believed it to be right. He is taking advice on whether
to appeal against the awarded damages of £845,749 and costs of

150,000.

The conclusion in this legal case, then, turns on a matter of logic

and opinion rather than a matter of science. However, there is

another consideration, that of opportunity. Our member, Peter
Dreiser told me that some 30 years ago a colleague treated two

of his glasses in a hospital sterilising machine; one came out lilac

and the
other
a greyish colour. Certainly, there are any number

of old X-ray machines around, world wide, that could be used in
GLASS PURPLING SERVICE ‘•

_

For:
Clear or Light Amethyst Antique Class

&
Bottlei

Must date 1880-1915 8
–

contain “Maganese Oxide”.

Ship or Mail all Boxes & Payments 1i
MJM Pack and Slip

.505B Atlantic Ave.

Interlachen, FL 32148

(904) 684-1248 • Fax. (904) 684-190
All Boxes to be Received hyApril 29, 1991
Approx. return ship date May 6 1996.

Please call for information before,thipmet

this way. Again, a strong rumour has been circulating that the

scam originated with an Australian fruit farmer who discovered

(or re-discovered) the effect by using the radiation equipment for
sterilising his fruit. However, this is not fact and Mr. Spears

successfully tracked down an American advertisement (shown
above) offering to turn your glass purple without even taking it

out of its wrapping.

I am told that the London auction houses, following the lead of

Bonhams, will not now accept purple Lalique for auction. You
might wonder if your own Lalique is at risk in any way? I

certainly would not display it on a sunlit windowsill. I have been

experimenting by standing my most radioactive example of
uranium glass (containing more than 3% Uranium) on a

‘Coquille’ pattern clear glass Lalique plate in the expectation that

it might cause a purple shadow. So far, after more than a year,

there is no discernable effect. Finally, beware of
any

unusual

18th century English glass coloured purple or a manifestly lilac

colour more than the pale tint often seen when decolourising by
manganese has been improperly carried out.

D.C.W.

Skink& Information; $2s, per

Box,
Approx.
size 16 x 13 x 13.

30 lbs:per box max weight. 85:
14

Test box, Max. Weight 2 lbs.

Service does not require boxes to be

opened. Boxes MUST be securely

aped. Shipping-Han dlIng-Irsurance
NOT INCLUDED.

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

Page 8

1999

Around the Fairs
with Henry Fox

The Autumn NEC Fair “Antiques for Everyone” was certainly

supported by fewer dealers this time round. I found only three
glass dealers specialising in 18th century drinking glasses,

although there was quite an amount of later glassware to be seen

on a variety of stands. Art Nouveau and Art Deco were well

represented. A well known northern dealer had his usual range
of rare and interesting stock of early glasses, but even his stand

seemed to me to be smaller than before. Another dealer had a

good representative selection of airtwist and opaque twist stems;
whilst the remaining specialist had an example of a glass from

the recently sold
Standish Collection
which had a chipped

folded foot – more of academic interest although a damaged

folded foot is rarely seen, This dealer also had a rummer with
lemon squeezer foot, the bowl engraved with a “Yarmouth style”

coach. On this stand there was also a good pair of cut and
engraved mallet shaped decanters accompanied by II matching

engraved facet stemmed wine glasses; suites or large parts

thereof from the 18th century are not often encountered these

days. Otherwise, there was much to be seen and admired
throughout the fair, including some of those beaded bags that I

saw at Earls Court, but a different dealer this time. (This reminds

me that the Broadfield House Glass Museum exhibition “Beads
of the World” finishes 11 April – see last issue for fuller details.)

This fair was easy to get round and there were numerous seating

areas, sadly filling in for missing stand holders. Are there now

too many fairs, or is this an example of the trade feeling the
pinch in the present economic climate? Or could it even be that
with more and more dealers advertising their stock on the

Internet, more collectors are preferring to surf, view and buy

from the comfort of their own homes? Certainly the Internet

allows immediate world-wide access to what’s on offer, and,
with its rapidly growing usage, it must inevitably take a

significant slice of the collectibles and antiques market,

including glass. In contrast, the organisers boasted that attend-

ance figures had risen by 5000 over the previous similar fair,
and good business was reported by the stand holders. So perhaps

it is true that the British talk themselves into doom and gloom!

The beginning of December saw me visiting the
20th Century

Fair at Olympia.
This small intimate fair specialises largely in

the Art Nouveau and Art Deco products ranging from jewellery

(including the beautiful work of Rend Lalique) to Teddy Bears,

book illustrators (such as originals by Arthur Rackham, whose

brother, Bernard, wrote a book on stained glass during his long

stay at the V & A, and also, I believe, visited John Bacon, in the
1920’s to view his 18th century glass collection) and furniture,

including a fine example of an inlaid table and matching chairs

by Bugatti. As expected, glass was well represented with lamps,
plaques, vases, bowls, wine and spirit glasses, etc., by familiar

names – Lalique, Galle, Daum, Whitefriars, Walsh Walsh,

Stevens & Williams, Monart, Tiffany and Loetz, although not

Jobling or, for that matter, Davidson. Anyone interested in the
variety of glass produced in the first half of this century would

not have been disappointed with that on display. I particularly

admired a huge glinting blue Monart bowl, said to be the largest

piece they produced. Nearby, in contrast, was a small bowl by
Whitefriars cut with Powell’s Roman pattern; on this stand, too,

was a good size Keith Murray design Cactus vase. Also among
the Art Nouveau period glass were some small Tiffany Favrile

spirit tumblers. Another dealer had a pair of attractive German
stained glass window panels, as well a variety of impressive

continental art glass pieces. Not far away I admired several Galle

and Daum vases, including a small Galle one with crocus
design, together with a pair of decorative hanging light bowls by

Verre Francais. I also liked a couple of pieces of
pile de verre

by Argy-Rousseau. Paperweights were represented by one stand,

which showed a good selection of this art form by Whitefriars,
Ysart and Perthshire, but I was taken particularly with the

modern ones currently produced by American craftsmen. Talk-
ing to the dealer I was interested to learn that these were all
made by the individual glassmaker in his own small studio

within the home perimeter. These signed American paper-

weights show great technique and imagination, and can be truly
described as beautiful. I very much coveted an example with a

crane in flight, also another with a bouquet of superb life-like
flowers. I mentioned to several dealers that this new fair

presented a learning curve for both exhibitors and visitors; if

history is anything to go by, then the decorative arts of the 20th

century must be getting nearer to that point when they become
more greatly appreciated by the general public, but I hope this

fair does not get too big or overcrowded in the future. Certainly I

enjoyed my visit – my only disappointment was not being able to

cart off the many things which I liked. I did, however, purchase

a copy of the informative and well illustrated 1985 Corning

exhibition catalogue
Frederick Carder: Portrait of a Glassmaker

for a termer! This certainly made up for the lack of catalogue to

accompany this fair; even a list of exhibitors, I was informed,

had been withdrawn due to errors!

One of the first fairs of 1999 was held at Westpoint
Exhibition

Centre, Exeter.
This is a good-size general fair (claims up to

500 stands) concentrating on wide range of collectibles, largely

late Victorian through to just Post WW2. I found only one stand

with examples of 18th century drinking glasses – all reasonably

priced, but there were certainly no rarities to excite the serious

collector. Among the later glass I saw an attractive complete

glass dressing table set by Stuart, including matching low
candlesticks, overall decorated with blue enamelled butterflies.

This find was eagerly snapped up by a couple whilst I was
viewing it. Other items quickly acquired were a small brown

coloured Whitefriars Baxter-period glass duck; a vase by Walsh
Walsh; an unusual clear greeny-blue pressed glass vase deco-
rated with swans linked with chains. Examples of this last item

are usually seen in opaque glass, often in malachite colourings,
and although unmarked have been attributed by some to
Sowerby. I saw a good Sowerby toast rack in flint, a few pieces

by Davidson, as well as some examples of glass by Lalique. It
pays to get early to this type of fair. This organiser arranges fairs

at Westpoint and the Matford Centre, Marsh Barton, Exeter,
regularly throughout the year. Whilst in Exeter a quick visit to

the two small antique centres on the refurbished quayside should
not be missed. I found a copy of
The Glass Collector – A Guide

to Old Glass
by Maciver Percival. This interesting little book

has thirty pages of illustrations at the back and numerous line

drawings in text, as well as extracts from auctioneers’ catalogues

with realised prices which make fascinating reading e.g. “…wine

glass, engraved with portrait of Charles II and three royal crowns

in the Boscobel Oak Tree, on spiral stem.
Sotheby,

Feb. 8,

1911”, sold for £15 1 Os Od ($75.33). I thought this early book (a

second edition) on drinking glasses etc. well worth £7 – it was
almost out of sight at the back of a locked case.

Millennium Glass Award

Broadfield House Glass Museum has been awarded £24,000 by
the Arts Council Millennium Fund to match a £60,000 commit-
ment by Dudley MBC. This will fund six community Arts

projects collectively entitled
Glass Roots

that will take place

throughout the year 2000. Each glass work will be relate to a
local environment and the area’s glass history. The works will be
unveiled at two monthly intervals throughout 2000, creating

repeated opportunities for the Borough to commit itself to

unremitting celebration. A further six works will be commis-

sioned from top UK glass artists to go on display at Broadfield

House – nails in glass coffins, perhaps!

Engraving Workshop 7 – 9 April 1999

Our member, Katherine Coleman
is running a bargain 3

–

day

beginners engraving workshop at Stoke on Trent Arts College for
the Contemporary Glass Society. The cost, which includes CGS

Associate Membership, is £140 (accomodation extra).
Ring Catherine on 01242 513 019 for further information.

Death of Don Spillman

We have just learned with great sorrow of the sudden death of

Don Spillman, beloved husband of Jane Shadel Spillman who

entertained us only last year at their home in Corning. The
Spillmans have been great supporters of The Circle over many

years and we hope to see Jane in London in November.
D.C. W

1999

Page 9

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

New Books
and
Publications Received

Verreries Antiques du Make de Picardie.
This 130-page, soft-back , 22.9 x 30cm, volume, text in French,

is a truly delightful catalogue of the exquisite collection of
Roman glass in the Picardie Museum in Amiens. The earliest

pieces, sand core, date from the 6-5th century B.C. and the series
continues through blown glass to the end of the Roman era. All

the numerous pictures, are full colour, supplemented with b/w
diagrams to illustrate the remarkable diversity of a particular
vessel type. In addition the book contains essays on the use of

the articles produced, their possible centres of production and

mode of manufacture. This last is accompanied by a series of
colour pictures of a French glassmaker illustrating the manufac-

ture of jugs and bottles (c.f.
5000 Years of Glass).

It, perhaps,

should have been explained that the long blowing iron and
glassmaker’s chair were not invented until the 17th century,

making their achievements even more impressive. Nevertheless,

with a good bibliography, this is a delightful contribution to the

subject which all interested in Roman glass will enjoy.
Price FF185 to the Tresor Publique, Musee de Picardie, 48 Rue

de la Republique, 80000 Amiens, France.

Bulletin of the Asociation Francaise pour Archeologie
du Verre.
This occasional 48-page newsletter (the previous issue was in

1996) includes 13 reports of recent archaeological discoveries
presented at their meetings in 1997 and 1998, a bibliography of
related publications (from 1995) and a list of AFAV members,

the Glass Circle being included as a corresponding member in

my name as newsletter editor.

The first two papers present information on the 1st century, late
Roman glasshouse at Avenches where numerous glass fragments

from the blowing iron indicate a diameter of 8 – 12 mm. A

marble hexagonal base of a mould .was also found, the walls

being presumably of wood or clay. Also, fragments of vessels

within which a film of liquid lead (couche de plomb) had been
deposited, perhaps for making small convex mirrors. The third

paper illustrates 3 moulded intaglios (intaille) of female heads of

the 1st or 2nd century AD.

Excavations in Beyrouth, reported by Daniel Foy, revealed many

thousands of glass fragments of drinking glasses, flagons and

lamps, all middle-eastern imports dating from the 6th century to

the 9th-10th cent. or later. Particularly abundant were lamps with
a tubular foot. Another long, illustrated paper (9 pages) by Maria

Teresa Penna analyses the medieval tableware, mainly drinking

glasses, found in north central France. In support of previous
publications, she found homogeneous forms at different sites;

some of which are illustrated Similar papers relate to other areas

and the discovery of an 18th century furnace site are outlined.

An ethnological paper by Noel Barbe provides statistical data,
based on wages records, of the families employed at
La Rochere

glasshouse from the early 20th century; some 31% of patronyms
continue to the present day. About 65% of glass blowers sons

became glass blowers at the factory while wives and daughters

were involved in packing and shop sales (50%), decoration

(16.6% )and in the glass works (33.3%). These trends reflect

both familial associations with the factory and its environmental

location as a major employer.

Guy-Jean Michel traces the restoration of the glass factory of
Le

Morillon
(established in 1523) after the end of the 30-years war,

in 1636, during which the early glass industry of the Vosge area,

in the forests of Darney and Selles, was totally destroyed. This

occurred some 30 years befor the foundation of the, still extant,
factory at La Rochere and involved the families of de-Roux,

Massey and, later, Henzey. A major problem to be overcome

was the reclamation of land abandoned in the war, to make it fit
for farming, the other vital aspect of the verrier’s livelihood.

Some of the old concessions to the gentilshommes verrier were
lost and problems arose over the wood supply. A deposition of

1743 outlines the massive amount of wood (1080 cords = 2952.2

cu. metres) required to run the glasshouse for 6 months in the
year. During the other 6 months the furnace was rebuilt and the

stocks of glass-making materials restored. At first
verre en table

(broad, window glass) was made but this was later abandoned in
favour of bottles. The factory site remains.

The Bulletin concludes with a (too brief) paper on the develop-
ment of the windows in Franche-Comte after 1636 (called here

the 10-years war!) and the emergence of the large (24 pane) sash
window (a la francaise) as illustrated by the Grand Seminaire de
Besancon built around the last years of the 17th century, being

replaced by the casement at the end of the 18th century. Broad

window glass was made in the Black Forest and the Bishopric of

Bale in the north-east of the province, particularly at Bief d’Etoz

and Miellin founded in 1697 and 1730.

Amsterdams Historisch Museum: Museum Willet-

Holthuysen
Listed by Heneage in GC News 77 at £35

This superb hard back volume, pp. 384, 285 x 238 mm with 16

pages colour and endless b/w illustrations, some larger than life,

on quality art paper is truly a treasury of European glass from

the 16th -20th centuries, from Heemskirk to Heineken, Mooley-
ser to Dreiser. Of the 482 objects, or sets, in the collection, some
10% of the later glass might fall withing the range of the

average collector and perhaps resolve some unexplained mys-

tery pieces. Its great strength, however, is the early diamond

point and wheel engraving, much of it on glass described as

English, English or Netherlands or just European. Members who

took advantage of our member, F.G.A.M Smit’s free offers of

his books on Dutch engraved glass will find him usefully
cross-referenced on a number of occasions. The text is in Dutch
and while the basic information is not difficult to understand the

longer expositions frustrate. One feels, while recognising Hol-

land’s National spirit, that the glass world would have been

better served by such a fine work had it been in English.

The book begins with five essays, of which there are shortish
English summaries, on the History of the Museum, Amsterdam
glasshouses, some Occasional Glasses in the Urban Culture,

Jacob Sang, and Amsterdam shops specialising in glass, particu-
larly Glashuis Muller. Because of Amsterdam’s past trade links

with London I had hoped that the account of its glasshouses

would shed some light on the origins of the light balusters

(Newcastles) that form such a prominent part of the collection.
But no such luck as none seems to have made lead glass. In spite

of the claim of ‘Netherlands’ for these distinctive glasses their

origin remains as entrenched in England as it ever has been.
Other than a few in Denmark and, perhaps Val St. Lambert, the

existence of any Continental site that could have made the finer

specimens has yet to be discovered. It should be added here that

one failure of the catalogue is to distinguish between lead and

non-lead glasses (one glass is interestingly described as English
chalk-glass!). However, the pictures are so good that the

difference is usually clear to the tutored eye. I rate this book, at

about one third of the price one would pay for a V&A or BM
equivalent (without the Heneage 10% members’ discount) as

one of the great glass book achievements of the year that will

inform and delight all lovers of old glass.

Remaindered books and cheap reprints
The national chain of County Bookshops is always good for a

browse, occasionally yielding a bargain for glass collectors. Two

recent acquisitions, both with contributions by Circle members,

are here worth reporting. The first,
Understanding Antiques,

in

the Miller’s series, includes a comprehensive review of glass by
specialist dealer, Wing Commander Ron Thomas. As well as

reviewing glass worldwide the section on early English glass is
particularly good for the beginner, packing much well-illustrated

information into a small space, plus useful tips for the collector.

In addition, short sections on Art Nouveau and Art Deco glass

are contributed by Eric Knowles, and post WW II by Alexander

Payne. This 1997, 278 page hardback reprint of the original

1989 edition is offered for a bargain £7.99 against the marked

concluded on page 12

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

Page 10

1999

Around the Auctions
(all prices – ex buyers premium. Photos courtesy of the Auctioneers.)

If one were looking for something different in the way of glass

that would be a decorative talking point – if not a show stopper –

then I feel the following two items which turned up in the
Autumn sales of 1998 would meet that criteria. The first item is a

19th century Cranberry glass and gilt metal perpetual table

fountain (right) about 20 inches high, which was sold for £700 at

Wotton Auction Rooms, Wotton-under-Edge, Glos.
The

frame was marked J. Defies & Sons of Houndsditch, London. It
had a clear glass upper bowl. I think the two lower Cranberry

coloured bowls revolve to create fountain and recycle the water.
Does any member have any information to add to, or to correct,

this statement? The second item of interest is a Phonogragh

“Pathe: Le Gaulois” 1900 – 1903 with an extremely rare original
glass horn (far right), which was sold by
Breker-Auction Team

Man, 50971 Köln Germany,
for (premium inc.) DM9013

(=£3168). Despite its age this phonograph plays well, and is in

good unrestored original condition.

November saw the sale at
Christie’s King Street

of the Plesch

Collection of Chinese glass which contained many rare and

academically important pieces. Viewing some of the them I
could readily understand why Prof. and Mrs Plesch were

“hooked” by such fascinating examples of the glassmakers art,
and enticed away from early English glass. Sale highlights were

a rare caramel-brown beaker vase, Gu Yongzheng (1723-35) or

earlier £6000; a fine large deep purple glass globular bottle vase,

Qianlong Four-character mark within a square and of the period

(1736-95) £7000; and a rare cold-painted turquoise glass
rectangular jardiniere, Qianlong as before, £12000.

1998 concluded with a good all-glass one day sale at
Sotheby’s.

Their December sale brought out record prices for heavy
balusters as well as the 15th century Venetian goblets mentioned

on the cover. The room was
packed and there was an im-

pressive bank of telephones

for those anonymous bid-
ders. A small lead crystal

tazza attributed to the Duke
of Buckingham’s Glasshouse

(right), but perhaps Hawley
Bishopp or even much later (like the gadrooned opaque twist, far

right), fetched £1495 while the light weight, exactly right

Anglo-Venetian cristallo speci-
men (left) did not sell! Among

the heavy balusters a mushroom
knop fetched £2600; another,

with wide angular knop, £2800

(right); while a slightly later

goblet of not quite such substan-

tial form with angular knop

fetched £2200.

The wine glass formerly belong-
Asa

ing to John Bacon (left) with the extremely

rare, if not unique combination of double ogee

bowl on cylinder knop over ba-

sal knop, £8000; another cylin-
der knopped glass of more tradi-

tional form with domed and
folded foot, £5500; toastmas-

ter’s glass on inverted baluster

stem £1100; another on short
diamond shouldered octagonal

pedestal stem, £750; a typical
mead glass (right) £1300 (has

any member any evidence that this style of glass was specifically

used for drinking mead, or otherwise shed any light how this

term came into usage for these glasses?); composite wine glass

with stem composed of airtwist ball knop over plain triple
angular knop above an opaque twist section with shoulder knop

and small basal knop, £1500; ratafia with narrow basal fluted
bowl set on opaque twist stem, £1000; airtwist cordial with

conical foot, £850; Jacobite portrait glass, Latin motto
“Auden-
tior Ibo”

(I shall go with greater daring) on a centre knopped air

twist stem, £2800; a rare canary opaque twist stem glass, £8000

(but anyone disappointed in not getting a canary colour twist for

Christmas only had to cross the road to find an example in
Mallett’s window); an ‘unrecorded’ fine rare colour twist, its

stem composed of a central vertical white opaque thread with

translucent emerald green core within a corkscrew spiral of three

opaque white threads enclosing translucent cobalt blue and red
£9000; an opaque white twist stem, the bowl with Beilby white

enamelled decoration of ruined arches and shubbery, £2800;
another rarer white opaque twist Beilby, this time a goblet, the
bowl decorated with florid mirror monogram above leaf sprays,

the reverse with honeysuckle spray and grasses, and the sides
with insects, but with replacement turned wood disc foot, £3200.

In contrast, a Beilby white decorated ale glass with hop and

barley motif but the stem with annealing crack and foot-chip,

and minor chips to enamel decoration, £750; opaque twist stem
wine glass with fruiting vine gilt decoration on bowl and gilt

rim, £1800; a similarly gilt decorated goblet but on different

opaque white twist stem, £1400; another gilt decorated fruiting

vine goblet on a further different opaque twist

twist stem, but with minor foot rim chips,
£1900. Among other early English glass were

a rare and large knopped stem candlestick

(right) on high domed and folded foot c.1730

for £2400 and a small candlestick c. 1750, the

stem composed of collars flanking a cushion

knop over a short waisted section set on wide

conical solid foot, £400. For its simplicity I

particularly liked a shaft and globe decanter

with kick-in base which was diamond point

engraved
Wm Slcelhorn 10th June 1747 ;

it

went for £850. A pleasing rare double “B”
handled jelly (right) on a plain stem fetched

£1000. Highlights of the later English glass
were a pair of c. 1830 engraved coaching

decanters attributed to Thomas Hawkes & Co.,

of Dudley at £3800, while a Stourbridge vase

c. 1890 engraved by Geo. Woodall brought
£1400. Of the selection of good paperweights

the top price was a bid of £17000 for a mid
19th century rare Baccarat white carpet ground
patterned millefiori paperweight. Of the conti-

nental glass I very much admired a pair of tall
Bohemian overlay bottle vases and covers

(right) thought to be possibly by Neuwelt or
Adolfhutte bei Winterberg, c. 1860. The vases

were in two sections which enabled the owner
to change the height and form without detract-
ing from their attractiveness. No doubt the

obvious quality of workmanship plus the
novelty of this design helped the hammer to

fall on these interesting vases for £30,000.

Also in December, among the glass lots at

Woolley & Wallis, Salisbury
was a pair of

heavy late Regency decanters with mushroom

stoppers and step cut octagonal necks and
cylindrical diamond cut bodies which fetched

a final bid of £3000.
Again, in December
Phillips Bond Street

(Works of Art Sale)

had a fine 16th century Flemish stained glass roundel showing >

1999

Page 11

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

Around the Auctions
concluded

a humble foodless kitchen scene with wretched looking man
trying to light a small fire (above). This is taken from the

Prodigal Son-type story
The Life of Sorgheloos

and fetched

£16,000.

The new year started well. In January Dreweatt Neatte,
Newbury, Ceramic & Glass Sale had a single owner collection
vose=aissw. of drinking glasses included with other period
glass. There were no heavy balusters or glasses of

exceptional rarity, but the range was T–
interesting and attractive and in-

cluded examples that many a collec-

tor would be pleased to own. Some
highlights were a fine ale, the bowl
gilded with hops and barley on white

opaque twist double series stem (left)

£1950; two cordials with small
bucket bowls, one on a good “mer-
cury” stem (top right) the other on a

plain stem with long tear and domed

foot (right) fetched £680 and £900
respectively; a wine c.1730 with bell

bowl on a plain centre-knopped stem

and domed foot £580, a ratafia, the

tall narrow bowl with basal fluting on

a slender white opaque twist stem

£1100; a red/white/blue colour twist

stem glass with footrim chips £1400.

I particularly liked the gin glass (left),

of c. 1730, with unusual stem forma-

tion £1100 and a two handled jelly

which made £480.

GLASS CIRCLE MATTERS

New Members
The Circle is pleased to welcome:

Ms. Jane Dorner

Mrs. M.F.L. King

Mr. G.E. Taylor

GLASS CIRCLE MEETING DATES, 1999
All meetings to be

Tuesday
16th March

1999

held at the:-

Tuesday
13th April

1999

Artworkers Guild,

Tuesday
11th May

1999

6, Queen’s Square,

Tuesday
15th June

1999

London, WC1.

REMEMBER
–
Let the Hon. Sec. know you are coming,

particularly if you are bringing a guest.

GC News No 79. Deadline Mid-May for publication in June
.

Treatment for Crizzling

Re the crizzling of the V&A glasses discovered recently, our

member from Hampshire, Tom Williams has sent in a clipping

about the progress of the Imperial College London chemists in
treating crizzling. The condition arises because of excess alkali
in the glass which causes the glass to crack up as the ambient

temperature rises and falls (particularly in museum cabinets)
producing cycles of hydration and dehydration. Past museum

efforts have been directed at humidity-controlled cabinets; if the

crizzled glass is totally dried out it also promotes disintegration.

Simon Hogg has experimented with treating the glass surface

with a silane, one of a range of anhydrous silicon-containing

fluids that coat glass about one molecule thick and keeps out the

water. Silane-treated glass, Hogg reports, made glass prone to

crizzling last 10 times longer ( in an unspecified test).

The use of silanes to waterproof glass is fairly well known. I
used it effectively for many years to stop certain biological

fluids sticking to the glass in biochemical manipulations. These

compounds are not expensive and are obtainable from DIY
stores for proofing damp walls etc. Whether these would work
with glass is a matter for experiment. So if any member has a

crizzled piece that they are prepared to test, let us know how you

get on. I suspect that, ideally, the crizzled piece, after being
carefully degreased with, a non-aqueous cleaning fluid should be

pre-humidified to about 60% before silane treatment.
D.C.W.

Mysterious Medical Connections

Tom Williams is an ex-army doctor, one of a number of our

medical members interested in glass. Medical links with glass

are numerous. Two of the collections in the Sotheby’s Dec. ’98
sale were formed by doctors. Our founder, John Mansel Bacon,

is a direct descendent of John Bacon R.A. (1740-1799) who

crafted the memorial to Thomas Guy in Guy’s Hospital Chapel

and statues above the Hospital entrance. A prize-winning
roundel by Bacon, purchased by the architect, Sir William

Chambers (1726-1796), now adorns the walls of the Royal

Society of Medicine in London. Additionally, a replica which

formerly adorned a wall of the original Foundling Hospital, may
now be seen at the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children in

London. Is this just a random series of facts or a mystery worthy

of Mulder and Scully of X-Files? Any comments?

H.F.

Tiffany’s
own Tablelamp

It is only a few years ago that I reported in GC News that Tiffany
Lamps were forecast to one day pass the million dollar mark, but

who would have thought that in such a short time that would

become the million pound mark? Well, last year there were two

examples that did just that. The old year went out all lit up at
Phillips New York when in December the above Tiffany

Peacock centrepiece lamp incorporating six blue Favrile glass

bowls was sold for $1.7m (£1.05m) plus premium. This
interesting piece was once the property of Louis Comfort Tiffany

himself, and is at the moment the second most expensive Tiffany

lamp sold at auction.

H.F.

GLASS CIRCLE NEWS No. 78

Page 12

1999

New Books and Publications received continued
price of £17.99. A revised 1997/98 edition is also available at

full price but I couldn’t find any significant differences in the

glass section. This book does not give prices.

The second volume,
The Antiques Handbook,
Abbeydale

Press, is a compact (16.3 x 21 cm) full colour edition of the

Bookmart Ltd, 1991
Encyclopaedia of Antiques.

Here, Simon

Cottle contributes on glass with 16 pages illustrating types
worldwide. This is ‘general awareness’ reading and, unlike Ron

Thomas, Simon does not delve so far into the more technical

aspects desired by some collectors. However, at £4.99 for 256
pages this has to be a bargain. Incidentally, ask County

Bookshops for a card entitling the holder to a further 10% off

the marked prices during the year or, as I achieved, 20% during

the Christmas period – a very attractive discount.

Collecting the 1950s
by Madeleine Marsh

Millers Antiques Guides £15.99

Just what glass was produced in Britain in the brave post-war
era? The answer, if this guide is to be believed, is not very much

– no wonder people collected milk bottles! Of its 144 pages only

half a dozen are devoted to glass and very little of that – mainly

decorated tumblers – is British. Part of the problem at that time

was, of course, the luxury tax that put the price of quality glass

out of reach of the average household. Manufacturers had to
resort to tricks like labelling vases as for “Celery” to avoid its

punitive influence. Our traditional cut and press-moulded glass

of this period, in spite of its excellence, comes nowhere. In other
aspects this book is a nicely illustrated trip down memory lane.

But if you really want to learn about British glass of this period

the sources to turn to are the Pottery and Glass Trades Gazette
and the related annual Year Books, some of which are held at

Broadfield House.

Design Sourcebook Mosaics by Martin Cheek

New Holland Publishers. £14.99
This is an inspirational volume for the do-it-yourselfer, its 128

full colour pages illustrating a diversity of high class creations
using both glass and ceramic tesserae. Mosaics, like beads, are

the latest craze, in its most refined sense, to sweep the craft
world. Glass, as pre-formed tesserae, as sheets of art glass, beads
and buttons, is now available in a huge range of colours and

shades that makes possible the design of small mosaics with
delicate and subtle shading to be used as wall decoration or
incorporated into tableware and furniture – a sort of create your

own Tiffany! Further, the few tools and materials required are

relatively cheap and the constructional (as opposed to artistic)

skill necessary is minimal. This volume, only one of several

found on the “Craft” shelves at Dillons bookshop, is devoted to

impressing the reader with the range of delightful painterly

effects possible, many being by the author. It does not, however,
list sources of materials or describe how it is done and for this

one of several simpler beginners’ books is necessary, although

once you get the hang of it, anything that can be stuck into tile

cement literally can be pressed into service.

Cristallerie Val St. Lambert Catalogue 1913
V.S.L. press-moulded glass is not uncommon in Britain. This

thick paperback, 208×291 mm, reproduces the 1913 catalogue
with 101 b/w plates of mainly tableware and chandeliers plus a

16 plate 1924 supplement. In addition, a further 146 pages list

the size and price of each object illustrated, in
cristal

or

demicrista4
or occasionally in colour. The paper is rather poor

quality and the price high at £33 (Heneage, see GC News No.77)

but pressed glass buffs may well find this catalogue an essential

addition to their library. Numerous pieces one might arbitrarily

assume to be Victorian are clearly much later. The Belgian

publishers also list a 1904/5 V.S.L. catalogue of 2000 pieces of

glass, but, sorry, no details yet available.

Guild of Glass Engravers Winter 1998/9 Newsletter
Includes accounts of the November ’98 Guild Exhibition, The

Contemporary Glass Society Conference in Sunderland and a
mentally convoluted article on one-sided glass (c.f. one sided
paper rings!) but revealing impeccable laboratory glass blowing.
National American Glass

Club Bulletin
No. 182. Spring/Summer 1998

This issue contains part 1 of a 3-part

major article on
Western Imports and

the Nature of Later Indian Glassware

by Stephen Markel, Curator of South

and Southeast Asian Art in the Los

Angeles County Museum of Art.
Export of European glass to India

dates back to the first decade of the
17th century when an English East
India Company representative recom-

mended sending a large mirror to Mughal emperor, Jahangir

(1605-27). By 1615, so much European glass was being sent to
India that trade factors complained of a glut. Glass was sent by
many European countries and included drinking glasses, wine

and water bottles, spectacles, telescopes, chandeliers and a wide
variety of other items. This led to stylistic cross influences and

glassware expressly designed for this market, of which huqqa
bases and rosewater sprinklers are the most obvious. Subtle

stylistic differences between Indian, Turkish and Iranian taste

were not lost on European craftsmen; Jerome Johnson, the

London cutter, distinguished between Turkish and Indian ewers.

Venetian glass, of course, played an important role in such

exports. One of the earliest Venetians to visit India was Cesare

de Fredrici, c. 1565. He records buying four chests of glasses in
Venice to take as merchandise stock. Much documentary

evidence is presented, including that of an English merchant

William Hawkins who resided at the Mughal court in 1609-11.

European glass in India is represented in numerous paintings,

examples of which are shown in the article. The finest surviving
Venetian glass is an enamel decorated flower vase (above) dated

around 1670-1700. The
date is determined by com-

parison with the invaluable
drawings of similar pieces

ordered by John Greene
from Allesio Morelli.

Fountain from India

Our picture hardly does jus-

tice to this six foot high
glass fountain manufactured
by F & C Osler of Birming-

ham. The main bowl is a

tour de force of the glass-
cutters art requiring great

strength and skill to deco-

rate.

Osler, who made the crystal

fountain for the Great Exhi-

bition of 1851, made a few
of these fountains, mainly

for export to India. This
particular fountain was

made in c. 1880 and imme-

diately installed in the Mit-

ter residence in Calcutta
where it remained until re-

cently.

The fountain, has been care-

fully restored by Mallett
and stands on a modern

marble base.
It is offered for sale at

£75,000, cheap by compari-

son with the Tiffany lamp

on page 11.

and finally .. . Forty
years

on

This year is the 40th birthday of Sir Alistair Pilkington’s
invention of float glass. To celebrate, three new texture patterns

have been created for Pilkington by the current BBC ‘Homefront
Young Designer of theYear’, Oliver 1
–

loath to add to the existing

18 patterns. They are Oak, Charcoal Sticks and Digital.