The Glass Cone_No.102 Spring 2013

The Glass Cone

ISSUE NO.102

SPRING 2013

Contents

Whitefriars `Fakes’ – part 2

4 Who Made That Glass? Thomas Walton – part 1
7 Contemporary Artists at the Cambridge
Glass Fair

9 Jane Webster, Forgotten Engraver?
12 Cockerels on Glass – an Overview

15 From Monsters to Minis

16 Book Review

17 Centuries of Glass – Fieldings Auction

19 Last Year at Art in Action – Waterperry Gardens

20 Members pages

21 What’s on

Chairman’s message

The Glass Cone

THE MAGAZINE OF THE GLASS ASSOCIATION
Issue No: 102- Spring 2013

Editorial Board
Editorial Co-ordinator
(The Glass Cone):

Gaby Marcon [email protected]
Charles Hajdamach, Mark Hill, Brian Clarke,
Yvonne Cocking, Bob Wilcock

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Glass Cone
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Glass Cone
are those

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cover a range of interests, ideas and opinions, which

are not necessarily their own. The decision of the

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Published by The Glass Association

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Registered as a Charity No.326602

Website: www.glassassociation.org.uk

Life President:
Charles Hajdamach

[email protected]

Chairman:
Dr Brian Clarke:

[email protected]

Hon. Secretary:
Judith Gower

[email protected]

Membership Secretary
Pauline Wimpory,150 Braemar Road, Sutton Coldfield,

West Midlands, B73 6LZ

[email protected]

Committee
Paul Bishop (Vice-Chairman); Jackie Fairburn;

Christina Glover; Alan Gower; Judith Gower; Mark Hill;

Jordana Learmonth; Gaby Marcon; Kari Moodie;

Rebecca Wallis; Maurice Wimpory (Treasurer)

Membership and subscriptions
Individual: £25. Joint: £35. Student with NUS card: £15.

Institutions: UK £45. Overseas £35. Overseas

Institutions £55. life: £350. Subscriptions due on
1 August (if joining May-July, subscriptions valid until

31 July, the following year)

Cover illustrations
Front:1930s
Thomas Webb & Sons cameo Fleur

vase, clear spread foot with mottled decoration

below flaring body cased in purple over clear

and cut with tulips below plain purple border.

Back:
‘Breaking Light’Waveform by Graham

Muir at _Art in Action 2012’ – see page 19.
AS some of you may know, just over three

months ago, I had an accident which put

me out of any activities to do with glass

and the Glass Association. My thanks go to
the many friends and members who have

helped me go through this challenging time
and kept me involved and up to date. I wish
to thank in particular Paul Bishop, our vice-
chairman, who has taken on the steering

in my absence, and all the committee

members who work hard at keeping the

association growing.
In the meantime, we are continuing our

conversation with The Glass Circle and are

exploring the many synergies so as to find

the best way forward for both organisations.
In this issue we are delighted to have the

first of a series of scholarly articles by Sally
Haden. This initial article is on Thomas

Walton, one of a glassmaker family from the
latter part of the 18th century, and his travels

to Japan. I am very much looking forward to

the whole series. Wolfie Rayner’s second
piece on Whitefriar’s fakes is exemplary, in

that few writers can bring to light such an
in-depth knowledge of modern glass. Peter

Adamson, is taking us back to his 2009
exhibition on

large baluster glasses, this

time, with reference to his special collection
of baluster glasses with small bowls. Nigel

Benson is leading us on his voyage of
discovery of a little known engraver, Jane

Webster, as well as wetting our appetite for
the forthcoming Art in Action show. Alan

Gower’s review of the Centuries of Glass
auction at Fieldings, with pieces on sale
from the 18th century to modern times,

reveals him as a good writer with an eye for
detail. Our specialist collector of ‘cockerel’

glass, Bill Millar is delighting us once again
with his last piece on cockerel glasses,

finally revealing why he has been collecting

them.
We are busy organising our trip to

Austria/Hungary with a great deal of help
of from Gaby and Attila. I hope many of

you will you join the trip as well as attending

our next AGM at the Ruskin Arts Centre,

Stourbridge.
I am very happy to be back, and will

endeavour to continue serving the aims and
objectives of the association and the

possible merger with The Glass Circle.
Brian Clarke

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

Whitefriars ‘Fakes’

PART 2

Wolfie Rayner

Whitefriars moulds

WHEN the Whitefriars glass factory closed
the moulds were mostly lost and at the time

were deemed to be just unimportant scrap

metal as the textured range of vases had
gone totally out of fashion. The assets of

Whitefriars were sold off to various glass
firms etc and with these went the moulds.
I and other members of the collectors’ site

http://www.whitefriars.com/ have been lucky
enough to purchase several of the moulds
over the years — Onion 9758
(fig.1),

Nuts

& Bolts 9668
(fig.2),

Nipple 9828
(fig.3),

Hobnailed 9684
(fig.4) —
as well other

moulds that were used for decanters,
stoppers and lamp bases etc. and the 9818

Finger vase
(fig.5)
mould is known to be

in a private collection. All of the moulds
purchased are now safely housed in the

Harrow Museum and Heritage Centre.

Small Drunken Bricklayer

THE Whitefriars Small Drunken Bricklayer
vase (9673) was catalogued from 1967 to

1974 and was only produced in cased soda

colours. The standard factory colours are
Willow, Cinnamon, Indigo, Pewter, Meadow
Green, Aubergine, Lilac, Sage, Kingfisher
and Tangerine.
The small Drunken Bricklayer, being the

most popular of the Whitefriars textured

range, has been faked in four specific types

and I have loosely described them as

follows:
—
In the Original Mould

—
Portuguese (arrived with the fake Onion

and Hooped)

—
Horncastle Glass Studios

—
The Latest Batch (non-textured)
1. Original Mould

THE Whitefriars small Drunken Bricklayer

mould is owned by glassblower Jonathan

Andersson (Dean Farm Studios). His father
used to work at Whitefriars so I presume this

how he came to purchase the mould after
the factory closed. This mould is known to
have been used over the years to produce
vases, I am not sure of the exact dates but

certainly starting after 2000 and ending

about 2007. Clearly JA had the mould a
good deal longer than this but I have not

heard of any unusual vases coming up
before this period. After requests from
collectors JA started signing the underside

of the 2nd brick to show that these were not

Whitefriars and he also steered clear of
using colours similar to Whitefriars. Although
some made from JA’s original mould are

signed, most are not. It is to be noted that

these are not Whitefriars originals but are
certainly worth the same or more than
genuine examples. It is also known that

some Flint (clear) examples were made

using this mould, using the mould the right

way up and upside down, which in the latter
case produced a vase with the middle brick

stepping out the wrong way.
There are several known examples from

this mould, some in cased opaque colours

(fig.6),
some cased colours

(fig.
7) and some

signed cased colours
(fig.8).
I think these

were probably made in several different
batches between 2004 and

2007 with the type in
fig.8

being made towards the latter

part of this date range.
On the Whitefriars.com forum

in Dec 2007, JA stated The

perfect ones are signed JA

and the date, the less perfect
D and the date. All in all I
created 13 pieces’. These 13
pieces refer to the signed

ones around 2006-07, not

ones made earlier.
An interesting fact about

the Small Drunken Bricklayer

mould is that when it was

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

wearing out, the nipples on the

inside of the mould (produced

with blobs of weld) which meant?

the dots on the centre brick were
getting slowly worn away with

continual usage at Whitefriars.

As far as I can tell, all late 1974

Whitefriars Drunken Bricklayers

in Lilac and Sage and all that
were made in the mould after

Whitefriars have weak dot

patterns, especially to the

bottom left corner. In these
cases the dots look like slight

impressions with five or six pinhead-sized
dots. These can be seen in
fig.7
and
fig.8:

the bottom left corners have no dot

impressions.

On the Whitefriars forum in Oct 2006,

JA stated ‘I’ve deconstructed the brick

mould and made a wooden version much
like the original. I’ve also restored the bark

mould which I’ve recast’. Whether he

deconstructed it to help make the wooden

mould then reconstructed it we are not sure
but others were made in the mould after this
date. He certainly made a wooden mould

which he tried to sell on eBay then removed

it; whether this was used for fakes we don’t
know and we also never saw any evidence

of the Bark that had been ‘recast’.
JA also stated on the Whitefriars.com forum

that he has other Whitefriars moulds. He
offered to show us evidence of these but he

never did so we don’t know what they are.

We know he bought a tea chest full of them
that ‘needed a forklift’ to put into his vehicle.

2. Portuguese

THE name I gave to the first batch made in
non-Whitefriars moulds to flood the market
is ‘Portuguese’ although I am not by any

means certain that is where they were

made. This name came about as I once
asked a seller who had loads of this type at
Kempton antiques fair where they came

from and that was his answer.
The ‘Portuguese’ type started production

in early 2007 with the Small Drunken

Bricklayer appearing in Feb. 2007 and fake

Hooped and Onion vases turning up over a
year later by the same manufacturer. These
As I’ve already explained, all

the Whitefriars bricklayers were

blown into the same iron mould

so the dot patterns are always

identical. On these fakes they

have tried to replicate the dot
pattern as can be seen in the

photo
(fig.10).

The Base
THESE fakes have a moulded
pontil rather than the usual

Whitefriars polished pontil

(fig.11).

3. Horncastle

THE Horncastle types are still being made
by Nick Inman of Horncastle Glass Studio

(http://www.horncastleglass.com).
He makes replacement and reproduction

glass for the antique trade, specialising in

cranberry epergnes and centrepieces which

it must be said are of excellent quality and
which I have seen on many an antique

stand. He also produces various very

accurate Victorian replicas of vases, bowls

and oil lamps in cranberry and uses uranium
dioxide to produce Vaseline-type glass.
He started producing fake Small Drunken

Bricklayers in early 2010. They come in lime

green, dark green, light blue, dark blue,
purple, orange and cranberry
(fig.12),

opalescent Vaseline and opalescent
cranberry-tinted
(fig.13).

were produced in Gold, Purple, Ruby, Green

and Blue
(fig.9)

and possibly in Flint. The

colours Gold, Ruby and Blue are nothing

like Whitefriars catalogued colours but

the Purple and Green are very similar to

the Whitefriars colours Lilac and Meadow

Green.

Appearance
THESE are by far the best fakes being
mostly in good proportion and having a nice
textured feel to them.
They quite often have very thick uneven

layer of casing at the bottom. The top brick is

too straight-sided and the centre brick has a

noticeable angled bottom left corner.

The Dots
ONE of the most obvious giveaways is the

layout of the dot pattern in the middle brick.
The Dots

THE overall appearance and the dot pattern
of the Horncastle type have always puzzled

me as they pretty much exactly replicate the
Portuguese type. The dot pattern is exactly

the same apart from that one dot is missing
which I have marked with an arrow
(fig.10).

Although the Horncastle type is similar to

the Portuguese, the production technique

is different with not only the missing dot
but also with a snapped pontil and the

tops being hand-finished in the manner of

Whitefriars.

I can only conclude from this that he

purchased a Portuguese vase (as a

Whitefriars example would cost £200) and
had an exact mould made from it but one

of the dots was missing. On reflection, I’m

rather glad he didn’t do this with a genuine

Portuguese

Whitefriars

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

Whitefriars vase! I have mailed Nick Inman

asking for information about his mould but

I have had no reply.

The Base
THE base of the Horncastle type is
unfinished with snapped off pontil
(fig.14).

4. Latest Batch

THE ‘Latest batch’ appeared in April 2010.

I have very little information on these and
have no idea who made them or where they

came from. These fakes came in orange,

purple, blue, grey, brown and green.

Appearance
OF all the fakes these are undoubtedly the
worst. The glass has no texture and is

lightweight. There is a seam that runs
across the top left corner of the middle brick

and also the middle brick is too rectangular.

These have a very regular ‘automated’ look
about them as if they have been churned
out by a machine rather than blown by

hand.

The Dots
THE makers of these have made no attempt
to replicate the dot layout accurately. The
dots are very round and quite deep, likely

made out of pieces of bar inserted into the

mould. This has led to some of the dots
getting stuck when the vase was being

removed and has inverted them. I have

marked this with an arrow
(fig. /0).

The Base
THE base has a moulded dished
appearance
(fig.16).

Large Drunken Bricklayer

THE Whitefriars Large Drunken Bricklayer
vase (9673) was catalogued from 1967 to

1972 and was only produced in cased soda
colours. The standard factory colours were

Willow, Cinnamon, Indigo, Pewter, Meadow

Green, Aubergine, Kingfisher and Tangerine.
Fakes of these appeared in October 2010

and I have only ever seen them in blue.

Appearance
I can say with a good deal of certainty that
these Large Drunken Bricklayers originated

from the same place as the ‘Latest’

Small Drunken Bricklayers. The production
techniques are similar with no texture,

unsightly seams and a machine-made feel
to them
(fig.17).

The Dots
THEY have also made no attempt to

replicate the dot layout accurately. The

Whitefriars original has a distinct plain strip
on the left side of centre brick and the dots

are far smaller
(fig.18).

The Base
THESE have a very pronounced ‘bird bath’
type base. This is not a production

technique that was ever used at Whitefriars

and is a very obvious giveaway
(fig.19).

Further thoughts

I would imagine that most people would
think that I’m anti-fake Whitefriars but in fact

I’m not. There is a hard core of Whitefriars
collectors who are very strongly against

anything that resembles Whitefriars being

produced. This even includes ex-workers

making Whitefriars-type glassware and
reproducing items they made at Whitefriars.

I absolutely do not fall into this category.
Jonathan Andersson was receiving hate

mail when he was selling his fakes on eBay
and this sort of behaviour is unacceptable.
In the history of glassmaking, companies

have always copied each other’s designs
and I don’t see a lot of difference here.

Whitefriars certainly copied Roman,

Venetian, German and Scandinavian styles
after all! I do of course dislike the thought of

any new collector unwittingly paying a large
sum for a fake and hopefully my discussion
will help in this matter.
I also have no issues about the genuine

Whitefriars moulds being used after

Whitefriars, but I would like to see all these
clearly marked as Jonathan Andersson did.

Again I have no problem with ex-Whitefriars
workers producing similar items and in fact

I collect some of them.
I would like to thank Julian Knowles,

David Fuller and Peter McCarthy for their

help with photos and the loan of vases and
special thanks to Patrick Hogan for his

continued help in assisting me with research

and photos.
If you have any information of the

whereabouts of any Whitefriars moulds or

any fake-related information, please contact

me at [email protected]

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

Who Made

That
Glass?

Identifying Victorian glass makers and manufacturers:
Thomas Walton (1833-1897)

PART ONE: 1800-1874

Sally Haden

Introduction

IN the life of Thomas Walton, glass
manufacturer of Lancashire, few days
could have been more fascinating for

him than 7 September 1874, the day

he disembarked from the P&O steam-
ship
Orissa
in Yokohama, Japan.

Records do not provide exact details
but the story may be imaginatively

reconstructed using other historical
information.
It is likely that the two Japanese

businessmen for whom Thomas

had crossed the globe to work,

Miyonosuke Murai and Masatsune

Niwa, had come to meet him from the
ship. After formal greetings were
complete they would have taken him

a short step over to Yokohama station
where he was invited to admire the

country’s first railway line, opened only two

years earlier, and to enjoy a ride up to the site of
the glassworks.
He already knew that the factory was to be another

first in Japan, where he had been engaged to help
start up western-style glassmaking in a country which

had not seen it before. But knowing something and
being encountered with the reality are two different

things. When the train stopped for them at

Shinagawa, just short of Tokyo and they
disembarked, perhaps he felt both excitement and

trepidation. Standing with his Japanese employers
beside the track and gazing at the glassworks still

under construction, Thomas may have wondered at

himself for coming. The challenges ahead were in fact

to be so formidable that, had he foreknowledge of
Fig.1:An example of the kind

of glass the Walton family
roust have been familiar
with while working in

Lancashire from c.1843

onwards: three free-blown,

cut decanters traced to the

1846 Percival and Yates

catalogue.
With thanks to

Peter Beebe

Fig.2 (left): TheWaltons
made pressed as well as

free-blown and cut glass

when they came in to

Lancashire and so knew

glass similar to these
MolineauxWebb sugars

identified from catalogues.
The two on the left are late

1840s to early 1850s, the

third being c.1860.

Fig.3 (right): Another type

of glass which the Waltons
may have manufactured

in Lancashire. Uranium

pressed glass creamer

identified as Molineaux

Webb, c.1850.

With thanks for figs 2+3 to Neil
Harris at https: / /sites.google.

com/site/molwebbhistory
Finding Thomas Walton

MY interest in Thomas and his family was born when

I began researching my great grandfather James
Speed, a glassmaker, about whom my family had
always related
he went to Japan to lam ’em”.
Enticed

by the baldness and the romance of this piece of

information, I made some investigations. A fortunate

early introduction to Japanese glass historian Akiko
Osumi revealed that Speed was one of four British
glassmakers who assisted, advised and instructed at

the Shinagawa glassworks near Tokyo. The four worked

there in an overlapping sequence between 1874 and
1883 — Thomas Walton being first on the scene.
As Japanese archives offered very little information

on the men, I took it upon myself to uncover their

British backgrounds and found that of the four, the

most difficult but also the most rewarding was

Thomas. Locating him with the help of census
records was tough enough because his name is so
common in England, but then the fun began. His

father, also a glass manufacturer, had the same name
and there were three uncles, five brothers and several
cousins all in the same industry.

With glasshouses in about nine different locations

while Queen Victoria was on the throne, the Walton

family offers a fascinating snapshot of the 19th-

century flint-glass industry. Their movements up and
them, he may not have wanted to

proceed another step.
This two-part article offers an

outline of Thomas Walton’s story.
Part One describes his roots in the
British flint glass industry and

the skills he took to Japan. Part

Two in the next issue of the
Glass

Cone
covers his four years in

Japan, his successes and failures
there, and what became of him

and his family upon returning

home. Subsequent articles will
cover the lives of the three other

British glassmakers involved in
the same project, and the role
of the Shinagawa glassworks in

the development of Japan’s glass
industry.

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

J. & T. WALTON,

GLASS MANUFACTURERS,
AND

DEALERS IN CHINA AND EARTHENWARE,

10 UNION STREET AND 172 ARGYLE STREET,

BEGS respectfully to intimate to their Friends and the Public, that

they can always be supplied with any quantity of the above Goods on
the shortest notice, either in City or Country.
J. & T. intend to make it their study to have always a select Stock of

the BEST CUT GLASS and CHINA; also, beautiful CHANDELIERS,

of the newest and finest designs; LOBBY LAMPS, BRACKETS,

GAS MOONS, FRENCH and THISTLE SHADES, CHINA, LAVA,

and BOHEMIAN ORNAMENTS, &c.

Parties fitting up large Establishments, and requiring any of the

above Articles, will find J. & T.’s Establishment most advantageous to

purchasers.

PS.—J. &
T. being Manufacturers, they can supply Shippers and

others to their own Patterns on the shortest notice.

Goods Packed free of extra charge for City or Country.

GLASGOW, June, 1855.

Fig.4: Tom Snr sent two of his sons, Thomas and John George,
to set up this warehouse in Glasgow in 1854.

Advertisement reproduced from Glasgow’s Post Office
Directory, 1855-56.

down Britain reflect the fluctuations in

prominence of different regions,
especially the rise of north-west

glassmaking over that of the north-

east. Having reached Bolton in
Lancashire by the 1850s, they were

drawn into Manchester’s glass

manufacturing heyday. From Ancoats
they moved steadily westwards,
through Hulme, into Salford and finally
out to Newton-le-Willows, twenty

miles from Manchester, where their

West Lancashire Flint Glass Works
was in operation for more than a
quarter of a century until about 1902.
But perhaps of even more interest is

how the knowledge which Thomas

Walton acquired from his family was
taken so far across the seas to be
introduced into a very foreign country.

Roots

THOMAS Walton’s ancestors were

Stourbridge people going back well
into the 18th century. Early 19th-

century records show a family with six

children living close to the Heath glassworks

on the south side of Stourbridge town, four

of them becoming glassmakers. The eldest
was John, b.1800. His family always

remained in Stourbridge where he and his
sons were employed in glass, mostly at

the Heath.
In contrast, his three brothers spent most

of their lives much further north and were

manufacturers. Thomas’s father, b.1802

(also known as Thomas, so referred to as

Tom Snr
below for clarity), together with

Thomas’s uncle Richard, b.1804, migrated
to Liverpool in the early 1820s. While Tom
Snr soon moved on from there to
Gateshead, Richard returned to the

Stourbridge area, rejoining his brother in the
north later. Samuel, born c.1812, stayed at
the Heath until about 1852 when he moved

to Lancashire to work alongside Richard.

Even though no personal accounts of

their lives have surfaced, it has been
possible to interpret the Waltons through a

close study of public records. Tom Snr’s
branch of the family in particular left many

traces because he had a great number of
children and grandchildren, glasshouses,

addresses and bankruptcies. His sons and

nephews in turn were very busy, moving

between their fathers’ business interests

across Britain. From thousands of records –

mainly births, marriages and deaths,
censuses, directories and
London Gazette

notices – has come a most interesting

picture.
Thomas Walton who went to Japan

emerged from the analysis as an energetic,
perhaps restless man, similar to his father

beside whom he learned his trade. Like Tom

Snr, he did interesting things and took risks;
he travelled far in search of work and was
unafraid to pick himself up again after

disaster.

Continual migration

FOLLOWING his time in Liverpool, Thomas’s

father settled for a while in Gateshead, Co.
Durham where, as described in my previous

article
(Glass Cone
100) he may have worked

for Joseph Price.
,
There his wife gave birth

to five healthy sons – Thomas being the
second, born 1833. He became bankrupt in

1838 around the time of a downturn in both
north-east glassmaking and the national
economy. There ensued about eight years
of migration in search of employment and

manufacturing opportunities. From about
1843 to 1845 he was in Ancoats,

Manchester where he probably

worked for either Percival Yates or

Molineaux Webb.
Figs 1, 2 and
3 show

examples of what he could have made

there, or seen in development. By

1846 he was manufacturing in
Glasgow, possibly with James Couper,
moving back to Co. Durham a year

later. He and James Couper junior set
up at the Haverton Hill glassworks

near Billingham.
2

As discussed in my earlier article

about Joseph Price, there was a
tendency amongst glassmakers in the

north-east to remain convinced about
their region’s glassmaking long after its
strength began to wane.’ Tom Snr’s

next few years show his determination
to establish his family there, come
what may. The flint glassworks at
Haverton Hill was successful for about

eight years and formed a strong hub of

family activity. His brother Richard
became a partner for a while, replacing
Couper, and most of his sons were

old enough to work with him beside the

furnace.
But upon going bankrupt in the late

1850s – rather than forsake the region or
downsize – he invested a few miles to the

north in the Wear Flint Glass Works on

Trimdon Street, Sunderland where the
da77Iing Londonderry service was made in

the 1820s. Leach estimated this factory was
twice the size of Haverton Hill.
3

A most unfortunate sudden crisis in the

economy in 1858 upset Tom Snr’s plans

and sent him to Debtor’s Gaol, causing the
works to be sold to Angus & Greener

(whose later great success may have
been most irksome for the family). In the

meantime Thomas and his elder brother
had been sent by their father to establish a
warehouse in Glasgow. It must have been

an outlet for their father’s glass, but probably

also for a new family glasshouse that was
being established at that time.

Lancashire

IN 1852, possibly having doubts about

north-east glass, Richard Walton left his

brother in Co. Durham to set up at the

Albion Flint Glass Works in Bolton,

Lancashire, and their youngest brother
Samuel came up from Stourbridge to be his
manager’
,
Although this was generally a

very good time for flint glass, with the repeal
of the Glass Tax and a middle-class market

on the rise, the success of this business

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

DANIEL YATES

Albion Flint Glass Works,
BOLTON, LANCASHIRE!

All kinds of CUT
1t
PRESS

Gas Globes, Cut and Plain; Paraffin Globes and ChanncYs;
Lanspy

Chituneys, and Press Goods of all descriptions for the Indian and

Australian Markets.

Merchants’ Orders for Export Good, executed with despatch. Publicans, Innkeepers,
4e.

supplied at wholesale prices.

Fig.6: Punch and Judy pressed-glass figures produced at John
Derbyshire’s Regent Road flint glassworks in the early 1870s.

It is quite possible that Thomas Walton worked at one of theDerbyshire
glassworks in Hulme immediately prior to his time in Japan.

With thanks to Peter Bone
Fig.5: Advertisement in

1865 for the glasshouse

in Bolton operated by
the Walton family

1851-73. At this point
Daniel Yates, Richard

Walton’s son-in-law,

had control of the
factory.

From Slater’s Directory of

Lancashire, 1865, and
reprinted from the

Glass Association Journal,

Vol.3, 1990

may have been due largely to Richard’s skill
and experience. In 1840 he had signed a

five-year employment contract with Thomas

Webb in Wordsley, Stourbridge where he
must have learned much.
Another positive factor was its location.

Bolton’s new rail links to nearby Manchester

and Liverpool facilitated the transport of

Walton goods to home and foreign markets.
Manchester products were respected
around the globe for their quality and the city

had first class financial and commercial

facilities that Richard could take advantage
of. Added to all that, flint glass manufacture
was becoming an important Manchester

industry, offering a ready pool of knowledge

and skill.
Fig.5
illustrates the scope of this glass-

house. Although it passed through different

Walton hands, the Albion glassworks stayed
in the family for over twenty years. Thomas

and his brothers often worked there, no
doubt picking up much from their

successful uncle. However, in the early
1870s Richard’s son Samuel was struggling

to keep it going because of foreign
competition. Having sold it to Percival

Vickers in 1873, Samuel opened
up a furnace in Newton-le-Willows

just to the west of Manchester.
Meanwhile, with the 1859 loss of

the Trimdon Street factory in

Sunderland as a chance for his

sons, Tom Snr finally turned his
back on the north-east. After a

short further period of manu-

facturing in Sunderland (apparently
with the Turnbull family, estab-

lishing the Cornhill glassworks) he

tried one last time to set up his
sons, this time in the north-west. It

was short-lived. The bankruptcy

notice dated January 1863 gives
little detail, but other data shows it
was in Ancoats, Manchester and

involved all his sons.
Hulme and the Derbyshire brothers

HOWEVER, across the other side of the

city, a new centre of Walton manufacturing

had recently opened up. Samuel, who had
come up from Stourbridge to work for his
brother at Bolton, acquired a glasshouse

on Medlock Street, Hulme about 1860.

This followed his short partnership in
Ancoats with Burtles Tate. Like his brother
Richard, and unlike Tom Snr, Samuel

managed to keep his glasshouse open for

several years.
Medlock Street’s cone was a com-

paratively old one, dating back to the
1830s. It had been the only one in Hulme
until the Derbyshire brothers opened their

City Road factory about 1858. In fact,
research shows that James and his
brothers did their apprenticeships at

Medlock Street under the works’ previous
owner William Robinson.
5
Further, it shows

that, until the conclusion of the Walton

family’s business there in about 1876, the

Derbyshires and the Waltons were very
close neighbours.
Tom Snr and three of his sons, including

Thomas, moved into the district in the mid-
1860s, but although Walton family links

were always good, it is by no means certain

that they all worked for Samuel. Birth

certificates, directories and other data

indicate that, at least until Thomas Walton
went to Japan in 1874, both he and one

younger brother were were living much

closer to the Derbyshires’ factories on

the southern end of Hulme than to their
uncle’s factory on the northern end. In fact,

in 1871 Thomas was living almost next
door to the Derbyshires’ newly-constructed
Bridgewater glassworks in Trentham Street.
So did Thomas Walton work for the

Derbyshires?
Glass businesses sometimes competed

fiercely but also they could co-operate.
6
It is

not too much to imagine that even while the

Walton family in Hulme supported their
relative Samuel in Medlock Street, at least
some of them worked with the dynamic,

forward-looking Derbyshires. This idea is
supported by the fact that later on some

Waltons moved into Salford in the early to
mid-1870s, and one was a partner at
Regent Road for a while.
7

Compared with Medlock Street the

furnaces and general production methods
at the Derbyshire’s City Road, Trentham
Street and Regent Road factories must
have been more interesting for the younger

Waltons. Is it possible that Thomas, who
was taken on in Japan not only as a general

manufacturer but also to oversee the
establishment of the country’s first western-
style glass furnaces, learned the latest

methods and technology at one of the

Derbyshire factories? And could this have
been how he came to the notice of the

Japanese who were looking for a suitable

man, because the Derbyshires had an
upcoming name in Manchester?

The Japanese adventure

UNFORTUNATELY, exact details

of Thomas Walton’s recruitment

for Japan are not yet known. But
it is likely to have involved an

engineer named T.J. Waters who

was involved in the development

of the Shinagawa glassworks.
8

When he returned to England for

a while in 1873, still in the employ
of the Japanese, one of Waters’

tasks was probably to make

enquiries within the glass industry
for a suitable man. In order to
establish their first modern glass

factory, the Japanese appear to
have wanted an independent

THE GLASS CONE
NO.102 SPRING 2013

Contemporary glass with a twist; Georgian Glassmakers David Hill (pictured)

and Mark Taylor in the atrium.

glassmaker, not tied to a big company,

somebody happy to work for high wages

for a short contract and then return home.

He needed to be skilled in furnace

construction, general management and flint
glassmaking.
A study of Thomas’s background, in which

he grew up beside his father and his uncles
in the establishment of one glassworks

after another, shows he was amply qualified.

His recent years in Manchester’s vibrant,
expanding flint glass environment must

have acquainted him with all the latest

practices and materials. These factors

together gave him the required knowledge

and confidence, together with a pool of

British resources and family contacts that he
would be able to draw upon from Japan.
The day of departure dawned. It was a

summer day in 1874 when Thomas waved
goodbye to his family and friends, perhaps
wondering what changes would take place

at home before he saw them again. His

father and his uncle Samuel were growing
old, his uncle Richard had died the previous
autumn and the Bolton works had been

sold. Two of his brothers had already
departed for Scotland. However, Lancashire’s

glassmaking was still on the rise, Medlock

Street was still in business and the Newton-
le-Willows venture held some promise for

the future. He would have taken very tender
leave of his wife and five young children,

although they expected to travel out to join

him soon.
But leaving England and passing into

the heat of the Mediterranean, through the

newly-opened Suez Canal and beyond,

Thomas Walton junior of Manchester, glass
manufacturer, may have been thinking more
about the challenges ahead than about
what lay behind. He was surely looking

forward to his great work, helping to set up
a brand new glassworks in very novel,
demanding circumstances, and probably

spoke about it optimistically to his fellow

passengers. How could he or anyone have

predicted the great personal tragedy that
was to befall him within a few months, or

how he was to overcome it.
Part 2 to follow in Cone 103

Author’s note: I have provided only a minimum of
references because of space limitations. I should
be pleased to hear from anyone who would like

details or who can offer further information, at
[email protected] or www.hadenheritage.co.uk

ENDNOTES

1.
‘Who made that glass? Joseph Price of Gateshead’

in
Glass Cone

100, Autumn 2012

2.
Alan Leach discusses the Haverton Hill glassworks in

Glass Cone
21, Spring 1989

3.
Alan Leach,
Glass Cone
21, Spring 1989

4.
See Peter Helm’s article about this factory in
Glass

Association Journal,
Vol.3, 1990

5.
The 1841 and 1851 censuses show George, James

and Benjamin Derbyshire working as glassmakers,

living almost in the shadow of Robinson’s glass cone.
At this time all other Manchester glasshouses were in

Ancoats some distance away.

6.
See Barbara Yates, ‘The Glassware of Percival

Vickers & Co. Ltd.’,
Glass Association Journal,
1987,

p.29, for her opinion that many Manchester manu-

facturers had good working relations with each other.
7.
A ‘Richard Walton’ (probably the son of Samuel who

had owned the Medlock Street works) was a partner
with Edwin Henry Downs at Regent Road Flint Glass

Works until September 1877.
London Gazette
7

September 1877
8.
I am grateful to Dr Meg Vivers of Australia for her

research into Waters.
Her book is due for publication

this year. Vivers, Meg. An Irish Engineer: ‘The

Extraordinary Achievements of Thomas J. Waters and

Family in Early Meiji Japan and Beyond’, CopyRight

Publishing, Brisbane, 2013.

Contemporary Artists

at the Cambridge Glass Fair
Bob Wilcock

HE
Cambridge Glass Fair is settling

into its new home at Linton Village

College, following the devastating

arson attack at Chilford Hall in the summer
of 2012. Chilford Hall was special, and we

missed the carpet of snowdrops this

February, but the glass on offer is just as
good and varied. At Chilford Hall the large

main room was linked to a ‘contemporary

hall’ by a delightful panelled restaurant. The

college is itself in part of contemporary
design, and there are more rooms to

explore.
Contemporary glass can now be found

on many of the dealers’ stalls in the main

rooms, the Old Hall and the East and West

Atriums. One piece that caught our eye here
was a stunning large orchid bloom by Laura

Hart on the Arhus Glass stand (see
www.hartglass.com). We hope to have an

article on Laura and her work in a

forthcoming issue of the
Glass Cone.

Another one is a piece made using the

same side-punty technique used by Justin

Culina from New Zealand. The maker of the
piece had been inspired by the article in

Glass Cone
98, and apparently was not the

only one. It has to be said that the piece
showed that the technique is not as easy as

Justin’s effortless demonstration suggested.
In the contemporary rooms two artists,
new to us, caught our eye. We admired the

fine slumped and fused glass of Sandra

Callowhill for its smooth flowing lines and

movement of colour. A telecommunications
professional, Sandra also has a degree in

3D Design (Glass). www.sandracallowhill.com.

THE GLASS
CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

The Kiss’ from Justin’s ‘celebration’ range

(engraved on a tumbler).

A sinuous piece from Sandra Callowhill’s

Freedom’ range.
photo Simon BruntneII

Opposite Sandra was the eye-

catching stand of Justin Lawson, JL

Engraving. After A Levels, Justin
intended to pursue a career in graphic
design and his design skills are clear

to see on his web pages
www.jlengraving.com.
However, life has taken him down a

different path as he revelled in the chance

to flex his creative skills when he
discovered the art of glass engraving.

This has all happened in the last eighteen
months or so and he is entirely self-
taught. He uses a diamond-point drill.

There is an understandable lack of

finesse in some of his ‘student’ pieces,
but he has moved forward at an

impressive pace. His more recent pieces
show an admirable control and
command of technique.
A particular challenge occured when

he was commissioned to engrave two
dogs: one black, one light tan. This

would be a test for any engraver, but the

result speaks for itself.
The dogs are engraved on a flat panel

but Justin is willing to tackle vases,
Sandra Callowhill on her stand

goblets and bowls in all types of glass:

Darlington and Waterford Crystal and
glass from LSA, Villeroy and Boch, as

well as other makers. He finds that each

offers up different pros and cons but

relishes being able to engrave onto many
different surfaces and textures; it is part

of the joy of hand engraving.

Justin is prepared to tackle most

subjects and his ranges include wildlife,
`life’ (portraits), and ‘celebration’. For the

latter, he is planning to form a separate
company solely catering for weddings

and anniversaries. He has had quite a
demand from couples asking for their

wedding portraits to be hand engraved

onto vases and bowls and he is proud to

offer what he believes to be the only

hand-engraved wedding portrait service
in the UK. He loves capturing forever in
glass the happiest day of someone’s life.
He has just had his own happy day,

and shortly he is to be graded by the

Guild of Glass Engravers. He is a
dynamic young man with a clear talent.

We shall watch his progress with

interest. www.jlengraving.co.uk

An engaving on a flat panel of a black and a tan dog

Justin Lawson with some of his engraved pieces.

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

Jane Webster,

Forgotten Engraver?

A
couple of years ago I was lucky

enough to discover a small group of
drawings for presentation pieces, all

signed by Jane Webster, a name I knew

and associated with quality glass engraving.

Having secured them, there began a search

for information about her.
Her initials are ‘E.J.’, although she is usually

referred to, and signs herself as, ‘Jane’

Webster. Realising from the letterheads that

Jane Webster had qualified from the Royal

College of Art, I contacted them to find that
the only record for a Webster had the wrong

first name, but the correct ‘J’ initial, so a tiny
piece of questionable information was put in

place and, fortunately, later confirmed.
Having gone through a number of books,

various references to her work were found

including a small biography contained in

International Modern Glass
by Geoffrey

Beard. Then a reference was found on the
internet, in connection to an exhibition
‘Images on Glass’ held at Asprey’s by John

Smith (current Chairman of the Glass Circle).

Another closed door — no copies available
at Asprey’s, surprisingly, not even one kept

for their records.
I contacted a previous chair of the Guild of

Glass Engravers, Katharine Coleman, who
gave me three email addresses of people

who could possibly help. One of them,

James Denison-Pender, gave the small
amount of information he could recall via

email and then very kindly sent me a copy
of the exhibition catalogue which included
work by himself, Jane Webster and Simon

Whistler. If you are lucky enough to find a
copy, the photographs of all the work are

a real treat. There is a one page summation

of Jane’s work and a number of illustrations,
but, as I was beginning to suspect, very little

factual information about her, such as birth
date (still withheld by the delightfully coy

lady), when she started working, and so on.
I discussed my quest with others, who

recalled meeting her, and even where she
lived at the time, back in the late 80s, but

much was hazy, although a few years ago
she was an active member of the Glass

Circle, regularly attending meetings at the
Art Worker’s Guild.
Nigel Benson

All in all I was beginning to think this was a

lady who valued her privacy. Then a stroke
of luck, an article in a
Pottery and Glass

magazine found while researching some-
thing else. This gave some details which,
combined with other information, should

be shared in order to begin to put Jane
Webster in her rightful place within the
history of this great glass discipline.
Jane, or E.J., Webster was considered to

be one of the foremost glass engravers in

the UK in 1958. She was born in the mid
1930s in Tanganyika, went to school in

England and then studied sculpture at

Southern College of Art, Portsmouth
entering the course in 1948. She stayed for

four years, achieving the National Diploma in

both Stone Carving and Sculpture. Her tutor

had worked with Eric Gill.
It has been suggested in an earlier

publication that Jane Webster felt that there

weren’t many openings for a female

sculptor so she began looking at glass

tableware and ornaments. However, she

has explained that it was more that her
interests lay in small scale work and a

particular curiosity in intaglio cut glass which

led her to glass engraving, something that

utilised
the
qualities of three-dimensional

design and of figure modelling.
She left the Southern College of Art in

1951 and went onto the Stourbridge School
of Art where she gained First Class Honours

at Special Level in the National Diploma of

Design in 1953, having taken a two-year
course in Glass Design and Decoration.
Following her success at Stourbridge she

gained a place at The Royal College of Art

after a three-year advance course on Glass

Design and Decoration, specialising in
copper-wheel engraving. Once on the course

at the RCA, she was awarded the Alexandra
Princess of Wales Scholarship. Her final

award was achieving a diploma, DesRCA.,

in 1956, and later became a Fellow of The

Guild of Glass Engravers.
This intensive educational process was

followed by practising as a freelance designer
and engraver. Occasionally her engraving was
executed on production pieces supplied by

James Powell & Sons (Whitefriars), particularly

if time or cost dictated their use. However,
she preferred to design her own blanks, also

occasionally made by Whitefriars.
Jane Webster had a fascination for deep-

cut copper-wheel engraving which creates a

rich effect and attracts more light the deeper
it becomes. Yet much of her work was in
shallow relief using the intaglio technique.
Her subjects in the main were figures and

animals however she particularly enjoyed
engraving flowers, as proved by a small

lyrical vase ‘Meadow Flowers’
(shown left).

She continued the long classical tradition
associated with wheel-engraved glass.

However, later on, as with images recently

found from the 70s, she started designing

her own forms for presentations that had
been commissioned — sometimes these were

in conjunction with wood or metal. These
pieces were cut from ground -and-polished

optical plate into asymmetric pieces with
skew-facetted bevel edges that were echoed

using a sandblasted inner frame around the

subject of the piece on the front face, with

the engraving being on the back face.
In the notes that Jane Webster supplied

she said:
‘Most of my work using this medium was

on half or three quarter inch plate that

was bent into a shallow curve in a kiln,

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

On the right are excerpts are taken from

the handwritten explanations to the
reverse of each image.

then mounted on marble,

rosewood, blocks of optical
glass, or on bronze. Here my

sculpture training came into its

own and I was able to make the
plaster-of-Paris patterns to be

used by the bronze casters.

The engraved subject was
designed to be viewed looking

into the concave face of the
glass, with the engraving on

the back, or convex surface.

The light holding affect of this
arrangement is greatly
enhanced. The decorative
sandblasted frame is on the
concave face, and thus

appears to float in front of
the subject.

Regarding my design
philosophy, I endeavour to use

harmony and balance in my
work. There is enough ugliness

and brutality in the world
without adding to it. Also I like

to employ subtlety in the

transition between one form

and another.’

Jane Webster also commented

that she had:

the advantage of being trained

as a sculptor when the
curriculum in some schools

included draughtsmanship,

anatomy and other ‘old

fashioned’ skills, for which

I continue to be grateful.’

The drawings found would have
been made for the individual

client prior to approving the piece.

Subjects for those discovered
include ‘Branwen’, ‘Europa and the

Bull’ and ‘Siegmund and Sieglinde’
which are all illustrated in various
glass publications along with
‘Hephaistos’ and ‘Saint Kentigern

and the Ring’ that are so far

publicly unrecorded.

Each panel of writing explains the
subject matter, who commissioned

the piece and who was the
designer.
Branwen

(left): from Branwen

Daughter of Llyr, the second
branch of the Welsh folk epic, the
Mabinogion. Branwen, Daughter

of Llyr, was the sister of

Bendigeidfran King of Wales,

and was given in marriage to

Matholwch King of Ireland.

However, she was treated badly
in Ireland and was bitterly
unhappy. While she was

imprisoned in a tower she

resolved to train a starling, who

had befriended her to speak.

When the bird had learned to talk,
she launched him off across the

sea to fly to Wales. The little bird

landed on Bendigeidfran’s

shoulder and implored him to

rescue Branwen, whereupon

Bendigeidfran mobilised his army

and defeated the Irish… .

Designed and made for Pilkington
Brothers to present to HRH the

Princess Anne on the occasion of

her visit to Chance-Pilkington,

St. Asaph.

Signed and dated 1972

Hephaistos
(left): God of Fire and

especially the smithy fire, and god

of craftsmen. He is credited with

making Achilles’ armour,

Agamemnon’s sceptre, and many
other wonderful and sometimes

magical things.

He is represented as having
a club foot, for in early

communities, a lame man with an

otherwise strong physique would

naturally become a smith, being

handicapped for farming, fighting
or hunting. Consequently his

movements would be somewhat
ungainly . . „

Designed and made for Pilkington
Brothers as a presentation gift for

Smith & Smith of New Zealand to

mark the latter’s centenary.

Signed and dated 1975.

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

Siegmund and Sieglinde

(right):

The scene from Wagner’s Ring in

which Siegmund, after having been
pursued through the forest for days by

his enemies, manages to elude them,

and stumbles into a but built around

a tree, and collapses unconscious.

There he is found by Sieglinde when
she returns. She revives him and they

fall in love, unaware that they are twin

children of the great god Wotan, who

were separated at birth. The result of
their union was Siegfried the hero of

the Ring cycle, the only man who was
able to draw the magic sword from

the tree where it had been placed
by Wotan… .
Designed and made in glass
and bronze as a 10th Wedding

Anniversary gift.

Signed and dated 1976.

Saint Kentigern and the Ring
(below

left): The Queen of Scotland possessed
a ring of great value which she is given by
the King; however, she lost it when on a
journey and was terrified to tell the King .
. . . She prayed to God to restore the

ring, and Saint Kentigern became one

of her knights who she then consulted
for help. He prayed, went to the River

Clud and told a fisherman to caste his
net and give him the first salmon caught.

Receiving the salmon, Kentigern thrust
his hand into the fish’s mouth and pulled

out the Queen’s ring . . . .
Designed and made for United Glass Ltd

to present to Distillers Company Limited
on the occasion of the latter’s centenary.

Signed and dated 1976

Europa
and
the
Bull
(below right):

The beautiful daughter of Agenor, King of

Tyre, and sister of Cadmus who founded

Thebes. It was not long before Zeus
spotted her bathing in the sea, so he

turned himself into a magnificent white
bull, and swam ashore. She was so

enchanted that he was able to entice

her to climb on his back whereupon he
plunged into the sea and swam with

her to Crete, where he raped her’.
There is no commissioning detail.

Signed and dated 1978.
Unfortunately, no museum or gallery

can currently be recommended to

see Jane Webster’s work. To have

managed to find these images by
her hand was a bit of a coup and

I believe adds to our understanding
and appreciation of both her work

and how it was achieved.

AUTHOR’S NOTES:
Sincere and grateful thanks are given to

Jane Webster for generously giving of

her time to make corrections and supply

notes to the author in April 2013.

Thanks also to James Denison-Pender for
both his help and generosity and to Katharine
Coleman.

NOTE: Should anyone know of, or find out,

the whereabouts of any of Jane Webster’s
work held in museums, or public collections,

please could they contact the author

[email protected]. Thank you.

REFERENCES:
G. Beard,
International Modern Glass,
Barrie & Jenkins,

London 1976

G.M. Heddle,
Manual on Etching and Engraving Glass’,

Alec Taranti, London 1961

J.P. Smith,
Images on Glass,
Asprey, London 1990

The Transparent Art’,
Pottery and Glass.
Vol.)000/1,

October 1958

Catalogue for the The Guild of Glass Engravers Jubilee

Exhibition, 1977

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013
11

Cockerels on Glass an Overview

Bill Millar

fig 3: Reverse glass
painting based on

Henry Aiken

paintings c.1830.

F you thought you had seen the last

of cockerels, sorry to disappoint

you. This article provides an

overview of four of the five categories

of glass which employ cockerels.

These are armorials, cockfighting,
cocktails and decorative motifs. For

logistical reasons I have not yet tried

to collect the 5th category: stained
glass windows.

Armorials

ARMORIAL glass was first engraved
in 17th-century Central Europe for

royalty and wealthy aristocrats. The
titled heads of Europe favoured exotic
creatures such as double-headed

eagles in their arms but no domestic

fowl. British titled families were more

realistic and several have cockerels

in their arms. In British heraldry, the
cockerel is the emblem of vigilance,

virility, and bravery and several families

happily claim it as part of their arms.

It is usually depicted as a ‘Dunghill

Cock’ armed with cock-fighting spurs.
Given the natural desire for titled

families to use their arms to decorate

tableware etc, it is quite normal to

find the occasional item of glass
with a family badge of an engraved

cockerel. Etched armorial glass was,

from the late 19th century, more
commonly produced for regimental

or institutional glassware. Public

authorities, educational establish-

ments and commercial organisations
increasingly applied their crests

and logos to glassware and today

you will find Tottenham Hotspur

Football Club and Courage Brewery
glassware with cockerels. Enamelled

armorial glassware can also be

found but as yet there is no sign of
a Beilby cockerel.
The decanter at
fig.1
from the 1840s

carries an engraved cockerel but there

is no way of knowing which family
commissioned it. The glass intaglio

at
fig.2

would have been made as

a seal for either a signet ring or a
stamp. The motto ‘Gratis’ is written in

reverse and would have been

readable only when used on sealing
wax. The cockerel badge, which is

tiny, delivered a bit of a surprise when

I enlarged the photo to several times
actual size for this article. Instead of
the expected heraldic cockerel it has

a cockerel and hen (I hope) in what

is clearly a non-heraldic position. The
visual depiction may accord with

the second of the three attributes

mentioned above but I question what
event could have led any family to

adopt this as their badge.

Cockfighting

THE Romans brought cockfighting
to Britain and long after they left it

remained extremely popular with all
classes of society, including kings

and aristocrats, and glasses
engraved with cockfight scenes from

the 18th and early 19th centuries
can occasionally be found. However,

after William Wilberforce helped

abolish slavery in the early 19th

century, he turned his attention to

cockfighting. This created a fierce

reaction from supporters of the
‘sport’ and demand soared for

cockfighting items such as paintings,
prints and engraved glasses. The

cockerels are always shown as

trimmed game cocks with spurs. The
reverse glass painting at
fig.3
is

based on a set of four paintings by

Henry Aiken, and was probably

produced around 1830. The large

19th-century glass at
fig.4
has four

scenes around the bowl, while the

tumbler at
fig.5

shows a single scene

with two game cocks at the outset

of their bout. Other tumblers in the
set show scenes up to ‘the death’.

Reproduction, engraved goblets
were also produced in the second
quarter of the 20th century. The

example at
fig.6

is marked ‘Brierley’.

At least two other sets of large

reproduction goblets with engraved

motifs were also made during this
period. All three sets have unpolished

pontils.

fig.1 (left):

Early Victorian cut

armorial decanter
with engraved

cockerel.

fig.2 (above):

Glass intaglio with

motto alongside

stamp for scale.

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

THE

GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

fig.4 (left):

Large 19th-century

glass with four
cockfight scenes

engraved around

the bowl.

fig.5 (near right):

19th-century

tumbler engraved

with opening stage

of a cockfight.

fig.6 (far right):

Brierley

20th-century

reproduction

goblet.

Cocktails

COCKTAIL glasses were made from

the turn of the 19th/20th centuries.

The earliest documented example
I have found of a cockerel cocktail
glass was American made by the

Honesdale Glass Company and
decorated by its sister company

Dorflinger in 1914. The next was
designed by Stevens & Williams in

1919. Huge numbers were produced
in USA, Britain and Czechoslovakia

up to WWII. You have already been
subjected to enough cocktail glasses

in the last three issues of
The Glass

Cone
so
fig.
7 shows two less

commonly seen items. The mixer

glass is of superb quality with hand-
painted cockerels and is just right

for budding 007s who prefer their
cocktails stirred not shaken. These

are much less common than cocktail
shakers. The optic moulded, cocktail

stick holder with a somewhat worn

transfer-printed decoration is the only
one I have seen, with or without a
cockerel. Lampwork cocktail sticks
were produced in many countries

and are still produced today.

Decorative Motif

FROM the 19th century, cockerels
were occasionally used as a
decorative motif. They may also

include hens and chicks so this
category has been extended

accordingly (See how the scope of

a collection slips when you don’t pay

attention). French makers probably

had greatest claim to it as a symbol
of France and makers like Legras

and Lalique produced decanters and
glasses of fine quality. Lalique also

produced magnificent car mascots

and paperweights in the shape of

a cockerel or cockerel’s head.

Enamelled art nouveaux pieces were
also produced by European glass-

makers. Mary Gregory cockerels

can be found but whether these
are American or more likely Eastern

European is debatable. British
glassmakers also produced a few

items and I have seen, and covet, a
cockerel glass engraved by William

Fritsche. From the middle of the 20th
century there was a virtual explosion

in the use of the motif, particularly in

the USA, possibly driven by townies

trying to forge a nostalgic link to

country living.
In illustrating this category I must

start with an egg — what else? The

hand-made, milk glass egg at
fig.8

was almost certainly made in USA.

American hens were given glass
eggs to fool them into laying whilst
British hens were given pottery eggs!

One US vendor described theirs as

a sock-darning egg. Excellent, a
practical, multi-functional object –

please wash properly when changing

to alternate function. The ‘egg’ is of
very fine, light glass; if you look

carefully you will see the shadow of

the rear rim of the egg cup through it.

fig.7 (below):

Cocktail mixer

glass and cocktail
stick holder.

fig.8 (below centre):

American glass

egg and French
pressed-glass egg

cup.

fig.9 (below right):

Milk-glass egg

storage chicken.

The egg cup at

fig. 8
is an

inexpensive, pressed glass example
of recent manufacture from France.

Pressed glass, egg storage chickens

were first produced over 100 years

ago but that at
fig.9
is relatively

new. In recent years US glassmakers

have produced hundreds of collec-
tors’ versions of chicken egg cups

and hen storage dishes. The same

makers, aided and abetted by
Murano, Swarovski and other

continental glassmakers, also offered
hundreds of glass chicken models

for collectors. The small, crystal
cockerel at
fig.10 is

just one example.

The ingenuity of glassmakers to

produce variants is unlimited; paper-
weights, bookends, lamps, sun-
catchers, lampwork models and

Christmas decorations (three French

hens) are just a few examples.
Less commonly found is the

enamelled Hoffman (butterfly in lower

left corner) chick in
fig.10.
Produced

in the 1920s/30s it might have been
used as a salt dish, possibly even to
accompany a boiled egg. The range
of cockerel-decorated tableware

and kitchenware produced during

the second half of the 20th century is
virtually unlimited and is represented

by the pressed and frosted cock-

erel knife rest in
fig.10.
The cockerel

bottle, and head from a larger bottle,

at
fig.11
is filled with peppers and is

of recent manufacture. There is no

maker’s mark on these bottles, but
similar bottles were made in Italy and

Mexico.
Back to cockerels, the claret jug

at
fig.13
with engraved cockerel is

likely to be British. The inclusion of
engraved ferns suggests a date in the
1860s or later. Almost 100 years later

c.1960, Alexander Hardie Williamson
designed the ‘Weathercock’ Slim Jim

tumbler at
fig.14

for Ravenhead.

The splendid decanter at
fig.12
is

probably French from the early 20th
century. The decorated areas have
been deep acid-etched to leave the
detail in relief then hand-enamelled.

Paperweight makers such as
Baccarat have produced weights

with cockerel canes. Unlike these

high quality items, the spill vase at

fig.15
whilst inexpensive would

doubtless once have been

someone’s pride and joy.
You’ve now seen the cockerel in

various guises; an emblem of nobility,

a memento of a barbaric sport
and a light-hearted image for cocktail

drinkers. Finally, you have seen

cockerels, hens and chicks (born and

unborn), used for purely decorative
fig.10 (top):

Crystal model

cockerel; Hoffman
salt; pressed,
frosted cockerel

knife rest.

fig.11 (above left):

Ornamental bottle
with top from

larger bottle.

fig.12 (above

right): Decanter,

probably French

early 20th century
with enamelled

decoration.

fig.13 (left):
Engraved claret

jug.

fig.14 (near right):

Alexander Hardie
Williamson

‘Weathercock’

Slim Jim.

fig.15 (far right):

Hand enamelled

spill vase.
purposes. Some of the latter category

are useful, some of superb quality and
others entirely without either taste,
quality or utility. Why have I bothered

to collect them? They are essential to

illustrate the story of how the cockerel

has been used and abused on glass.
If you have any comments or

questions I will be only too happy to

hear from you. [email protected]

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

OR those who viewed my goblet exhibition at the Cambridge

Glass Fair in 2009 which was subsequently reviewed by Brian

Clarke in
Glass Cone

89, you will recall that it focused mainly

on goblets of large proportions, up to 40cm tall and with capacities

up to 2 litres. In this short article I would like to introduce you to
some glasses at the other end of the spectrum. I will avoid at the

moment a discussion as to whether these should be described as

miniatures, salesmen’s samples or children’s glasses and just refer
to them as small. Most forms of glass produced in the 18th century
can be found in very small sizes.
I have only shown a very small selection of the little things that are

sometimes available to collect and for those with limited shelf space,

these make a very nice ‘small display’.

From Monsters to Minis

Peter Adamson

Fig.1 (right) shows a group of early
baluster glasses all of which can be

found in regular and goblet sized
versions.

From left to right:

–
The superb baluster glass has a

bell bowl with solid base, cushion
knop over an inverted baluster and

basal knop on a folded conical foot,

10.5cm tall. c.1720125.

–
The smallest of the group at 9.8cm

and circa 1710/20 is a delightful

little glass: ex AC. Hubbard Jr
Collection and previously in the

Seton Veitch Collection; plate 14 in

the Hubbard Collection shows three

glasses of this form, the tallest

being 37cm.

–
Slightly taller at 10.7cm is another

typical early baluster form having

a round funnel bowl with half knop

below over an inverted baluster and

basal knop sitting on a folded

conical foot. c.1710115.

–
Probably the latest of the group

due to the slightly more complex

stem and also lighter construction is another round funnel bowl over

a triple annular knop with inverted

acorn knop, all on a folded conical
foot, standing 10.5cm and c.1725130.

Fig.3 (below) shows four patch

stands /miniature salvers; these
lovely little glass items are available

in a great variety of different forms

so I have chosen these four to show
a variety of stems:

From left to right:

–
A four-bobbin stem (they can be

found with 2, 4, 6 and 8 bobbins

and probably even more but as yet
I have not come across one),

standing only 5.5cm tall with a

shallow cup bowl, all on a domed
and folded foot. c.1750160.
Fig.2 (below) shows a group of

small sweetmeat-style glasses.
These, if indeed used at the table,

would have required some very

skilful preparations below stairs to
create the tiny tasty morsels required
to occupy such small bowls.

From left to right:

–
7cm tall and very well made

havinga wide rib moulded bucket

bowl with aflared rim, a short
plain stem with basal knop on a

cogwheel-moulded domed foot.

c.1740150.

–
At 5.7cm this tiny glass has a

flared cup bowl over a short plain

stem with basal knop on a folded
conical foot. c.1740/50.

–
The tallest glass at 8.5cm, has a

spirally-moulded double ogee bowl
with wide everted rim on an incised

twist stem with collar at the top, all

on a domed spirally moulded foot.

c.1755160.

–
Probably the latest glass, c.1760170

and 7.5 cm tall, havinga diamond

moulded double-ogee bowl with

everted rim over a ribbed inverted

baluster and basal knopped stem

on a radially grooved conical foot.

–
5cm tall with a wide, shallow cup

bowl/plate on a solid plain stem

and a domed and folded foot.

c.1750.

–
At 3cm tall this is the smallest

and in a form that is regularly

found in much larger examples,

having a galleried plate over a

two-bobbin stem on a folded

conical foot.1770.

–
5cm tall with a shallow cup bowl,

having an inverted baluster knop

with cushion knop above, all on a

folded foot. c.1750160.

fig.4 (left) shows a very interesting glass:

a single series opaque twist with an

opalescent stem, interesting both for its

height which is only 8.5cm and for the

stem colour.

I have seen many of these stem types over

the years in normal size wine glasses and
a tall cordial so, as Barrington Haynes

comments, if these are accidental then a

happy accident it was. This one though is the

smallest happy accident I have come across

so far. (Any more out there?)

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

MAGIC

In the

MOUNTAINS
Kelsey Murphy,

Robert Bomkamp,

and the West Virginia

Cameo Glass Revolution

fig.5 (right) illustrates a group of interesting

table items most likely from towards the

end of the 18th century into the early

19th century:

From left to right:
—
The tallest jugat6.5cm has a blown

rib-moulded body with folded rim and

applied handle.

—
The smallest at only 5cm; again this is

blown body with ribbing and an applied

handle.

—
A delightful little tankard or possibly gin

cup, having what may be stylised juniper
berries engraved around the rim. Standing
5.5cm tall, it has an applied strap handle

and applied conical footand is probably
the earliest of the group, belonging I believe

to the middle of the 18th century.

—
Avery charming amethyst blown decanter

which, including its hollow blown stopper,

stands 8cm tall.

This group above all asks the question:
Are they salesmen’s samples or children’s toys?

The sample idea for the little jugs seems
plausible as these would have been far easier

to transport in bulk and would be a case of

you can have this style in whatever size or

capacity you like’. The same could possibly

be said for the decanter: again, easy to
transport as an example of what can be

available but in normal sizes, or were they just
for children to play with or have in what would

have to have been pretty fancy dolls’ houses?
Further discussion and ideas are welcome.
Finally we have fig.6, just for fun.

All collecting should be fun at times and here are
some fun pieces. Note that one of the little potties

appears to have received a ‘deposit’, and also note the
candlestick only 4cm tall with single series opaque
twist stem, blue sconce with folded rim and a blue

folded foot: this tiny lamp-worked stick I would think is

very likely for a dolls’ house. Although mostly out of
date with the rest of the items above, this group shows

that the area of collecting little things can be fascinating.

Magic in the Mountains:

Kelsey Murphy, Robert Bomkamp

and the West Virginia Cameo Glass

Revolution.

by Donna Meredith
Wild Women Writers, 2012, 246 pages

ISBN 978-0982901571. Price: £9.85

THIS book tells the story of Kelsey Murphy, her life
and her journey to become one of America’s

foremost cameo glass artists. It takes us through
her childhood, which involved moving around a

lot as her father started one brick factory after

another. Details of her personal life, including her

two marriages, a major accident and financial

problems, are interspersed with the story of her

involvement with glass.

Kelsey worked in the creative field and began

her career with glass by etching glass with sand,
initially on flat glass then onto three-dimensional

objects such as eggs. She invented her own

methods as she had never heard of others
working in the field or their techniques. Her first

business was Glass Expectations which involved
decorating large pieces of bevelled glass. It was

at this time she met Robert ‘Bob’ Bomkamp, who

became her partner in glass and life. A large order

came for etched mirrors which had no artistic

merit but paid the bills. However, they were for

someone connected with the Mafia. When she

asked for more money per mirror things got nasty

and eventually a consignment of 7,000 mirrors
BOOK REVIEW

was not paid for and Glass Expectations had to
be liquidated.
Three years after starting Glass Expectations,

Kelsey had a chance meeting with the CEO of

Pilgrim Glass and their new general manager. The

collaboration between Kelsey and Pilgrim Glass

enabled her to try new things including producing

cameo glass. She eventually carved six layers

of cameo and then, just before the company
ceased production, the glass blowers produced

twelve-layer blanks. Most of the cameo pieces

were only three or four layers.
Kelsey designed a vase in 1994 that was

6ft 2in. tall which was called ‘Run for the Roses’.

The Pilgrim’s team believes it is the largest piece
ever created.
Her fame grew and she designed an eagle

which was presented to President Clinton, now in

the Clinton Library, Little Rock, Arkansas. She

was also asked to present an ornament for their

Christmas tree. The ornament was used on the

front of the White House Christmas book and was
shown on American television by Hilary Clinton.

Kelsey also collaborated with Fenton Glass

until they closed. They then moved their studio

to their farm, Heaven, and called it ‘Made in

Heaven’.

She visited England and Broadfield House

Glass Museum with Christopher Woodall Perry,

the great-grandson of the renowned cameo artist
George Woodall. While here she met with

engravers such as Helen Millard, Richard Golding

and Jonathan Harris.

The book describes the glass but unfortunately

the pictures are in black and white; the only colour

photos are on the cover which means it is

impossible to get an idea of the beauty of her
work.

It also contains a description of glassmaking,

the terms used and a very brief history of glass

along with a small selection artists who work with

cameo glass.
This book is more of a story about Kelsey

Murphy than a reference book about her work.

Nevertheless, it makes an interesting reading.

Further information and colour photographs can

be found at http://studiosofheaven.com/about.html
— Judith Gower

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

Centuries of Glass

Fieldings Auction. 23 March 2013
Alan Gower

T
HIS time last year we were all enjoying an

early summer with temperatures around

20
°
C. On the morning of
this
auction, one

week before Easter, snow was driving horizontally

outside the auction room with the thermometer

hovering around zero.
At 9.30am inside the sale room around 30

hearty souls had braved the weather and some
stayed most of the day just to bag the one piece

that had caught their eye. Other more canny
bidders or perhaps with deeper pockets kept the

telephones busy and there were plenty of reserve

bids as well.
On offer were over 700 lots well displayed on

long tables down both sides of the auction room.

Quite an impressive sight and too tempting not to
pick up and enjoy, if not covet, for a few moments

but with the best pieces safe inside tall glass

display cabinets. The auction itself was divided

into seven sections: 18th-century and Georgian

wine glasses, 19th-century Bohemian and

continental glassware, 19th-century pressed glass-
ware and British glass, 19th- and 20th-century

paperweights and 20th-century Continental and
British glass. By the end of the auction few lots

had failed to sell and the vast majority made the

sale estimates, albeit often nearer the lower end

but showing that glass collecting is still in

reasonably good health, despite the vagaries of

the world economy.

With such a large number of lots and some that

were just that, groups of pieces, especially the

press-moulded glass, I could not hope to do

the sale justice, however I will pick out a few

pieces from each section to try to give you a
flavour. The auction started at 10am with a small

selection of some 30 18th-century wine glasses,

with the first few realising around £100 each.

Lot 6, described as a late 18th-century deep-green

tumbler glass gilded in the manner of James Giles
with small floral sprigs, was a surprise. With a

valuation of £200-£300 the bidding eventually
stopped at £900. Clearly, two determined bidders

but only one winner. Lot 18, a Jacobite firing glass

c.1740, with flared bowl and engraved head and

shoulder, possibly a portrait of Bonny Prince

Charlie, topped this section with a sale price of

£3,250. Several air twist and spiral twist stem

cordial and wine glasses fetched around
£600-£800, which I believe is fairly typical.

The second section comprised around 60 lots

of 19th-century Bohemian and continental glass-

ware. Sale prices were surprisingly modest with

many pieces going for under £100 and about ten
lots were not sold. A few pieces however stood

out, the first a magnificent epergne, Lot 58, over

60cm tat with a central flute in the form of a flag

iris, two lower flag iris trumpets with opalescent

amethyst leaves and set on a footed and petal-

edged bowl. This piece sold for £1,200 against a
sale estimate of £600-£800. Other pieces of note
were a pair of 35cm-tall Bohemian vases, lot 89,

said to be in the manner of Moser or Neuwelt, of

footed shouldered ovoid form with waisted collar
neck and petal-edged rim, cased in opal over

deep green and cut with stylised swags and slice-

cut panels with hand-enamelled floral garlands,

which sold for £1,300 against the sale estimate of

£300-£500. At the lower price end, lot 42 nearly

came home with me, a round Bohemian tumbler

cased in green over white and clear with repeat

star and diamond flash cut design, a snip at £42.
Lots 31-33 were three table lustres but in the

event only one sold and that at £45, well below
sale estimates of £80-£150.
The third section was around 50 lots of 19th-

century pressed glassware. A pair of John

Derbyshire recumbent hounds in a uranium tint,
Lot 102, made £390 and would have looked
good in our collection at home. As well as these

there were pieces by all the usual makers: Burtles

and Tate, Sowerby, Molineaux Webb, Henry

Greener, George Davidson and W.H. Heppell.

Sale prices were mostly in the £30-£120 region

and while most pieces sold at the lower end of

sale estimates, only one lot, which was of mixed

pieces, failed to sell. Several of the lots were

groups of pieces and certainly there seemed to

be some bargains if someone was starting out

collecting. Unusual items included Lot 111, said

to be a rare Sowerby cheese dish in flint which

went for £90. The most expensive piece was

Lot 99, a large Sowerby biscuit box in pale blue

and gathering apples pattern.

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

Lot6

The fourth section of around 200 lots was

19th-century British glass and again there were

bargains to be had as most pieces sold at the

lower end of sale estimates. The best prices were
realised by some cameo pieces such as Lot 214,

a Thomas Webb and Sons vase with collar and

neck in opal over blue and cut with a flowering
dog rose bough and butterfly between banded
borders which went for £1,300 and Lot 283, a

Stevens and Williams footed and tapered vase
with roll-collar neck cased in opal over a ruby
ground and cut with a flowering dicentra

(Bleeding Heart) which went for £1,350. The
range and diversity of glassware in this section
was quite vast, going from Stourbridge crystal

wine glasses and claret jugs to Thomas Webb

bronze and crackle finish vases, such as Lot 196
for £340, several imposing frill-rim bowl epergnes,

John Walsh Walsh opaline brocade posy bowl,

(Lot 153 for £95) to a Stevens & Williams Matsu-

no-ke vase, Lot 345, which fetched £320.
Paperweights provided an interesting interlude

with around 35 weights, mostly 20th century

and in the £40-£150 price range. The top price
of £340 was realised
by Lot 352, a 1930s

Monart paperweight

with latticino and

millefiori canes in a

radial and cartwheel

arrangement in tonal
orange, ochre and
green over a jade

green background. As
well as this there were

weights from Perthshire,

John Deacons, Okra and
Caithness.
The sixth section was

20th-century Continental glass

with around 170 lots mostly in

the price range of £50-£150 but
with a few pieces up to £600-£700.

Pieces of note pricewise were Lot 392,
a wine glass said to be in the manner of

Theresienthal which fetched £220 against a sale
estimate of £80-£120; Lot 415, a 1930s Rene

Lalique dish in the Fleurons-2 pattern, which

reached £380 against an estimate of £200-£300

and Lot 420, an oval blown-glass sculptural

form in shades of orange, yellow and green and
signed Philip Myers 1988, which was estimated

at £1,500-£2,000 but in the event only went

for £1,350.
The seventh and final section was 20th-century

British glass with around 170 lots. Star exhibits

included Lot 608 by David Reekie titled ‘Uncertain

Situation III’ which sold for £3,000 against an
estimate of £3,000-£5,000. Lot 611, a personal

favourite by Peter Layton, described as an Ariel V

freeform sculptural vase about 30cm tall and of
compressed ovoid form with a pulled and drawn

rim cased clear crystal over a tonal ochre

whiplash lines over a blue ground ,which sold

for £440 against an estimate of £300-£500.

Checking online after the auction this seemed
like a real bargain. Lot 697, a second Peter

Layton V form vase in the Ariel pattern, also

achieved £440 against a sale estimate of
£500-£800. (Both of these glassmakers
featured in

Glass Cone
100). Being my particular

interest at present, there were some gorgeous
pieces in this final section on 20th-century British

glass but I just managed to keep my hands in

my pockets.

The auction was
finished by 3.30pm;
the pace didn’t

slacken all day –

careful rotation of

the different Fieldings

auctioneers and their

friendly repartee helped

to keep the audience

focussed on the important

business of buying. For

me this was my first glass

auction; it was a most

enjoyable day but next time

I think I will focus a bit more

on making a few bids and not

…./
be so caught up in the theatre

of the bidding going on all around

me. My thanks in particular go to

Will Farmer, Director of Fieldings

Auctioneers, for providing the photo-

graphs that accompany this short article.

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

Last Year at Art in Action

Waterperry Gardens

Nigel Benson

T
HIS venue has been featured

on the pages of the
Glass

Cone
in the past, but is fully

worthy of a second visit. Although this

article refers to ‘Art in Action 2012’,

I hope it serves to whet your appetite

for the next one taking place from
18 to 21 July 2013. Even though a

whole range of crafts is on show with

lectures and demonstrations all day

long, there is plenty for the contem-
porary glass enthusiast to see, from

blown to engraved through to fused

and slumped glass, including some of
the best glassmakers in the country

both showing and demonstrating

how their wares are made.
Ed and Margaret Burke’s separate

display was close to the entrance, but

the majority of the glass exhibits were

centred in two marquees, one split

into two, half showing the exhibitors

wares for sale the rest with continuous
demonstrations including those by

Anne Wilson, Heather Gillespie and

Nancy Sutcliffe. The second marquee
was for hot-glass demonstrations.
We stopped to watch Ed and

Margaret Burke making a colour-twist

stemmed glass with such a good
commentary by Ed that one felt it
would be an easy thing to follow him

and make another without help. Far

more a compliment on how easy

Ed and Margaret made it look and

sound. Watching glass being made is

something that never ceases to

fascinate the viewer as it gives a
greater knowledge and under-

standing of the art form.

A large open-sided tent was given
over to glass-blowing demonstrations

by Anthony Wassell, Ben Walters,

Sarah Wiberley, Scott Benefield,
Graham Muir, Layne Rowe, Liam

Reeves, Tim Boswell and the Bandits,
and new faces at roughly hourly

intervals. Liam Reeves was next onto

the rostrum so we took our places
and waited for what turned out to be

a
tour de force
of glassmaking. Liam’s

interest lies in antique glass and its

technicalities. He showed us how he
made a tall-stemmed goblet in the

Venetian style which used both speed
and skill walking a fine line between

success and failure
(fig.1).
Part of

the demonstration included a reverse
pontil used whilst attaching the bowl

to the stem. Having greatly enjoyed

Liam Reeves work and commentary
we moved onto the Glass Tent where

Heather Gillespie was at work using a

copper wheel to create her sparkling

light catching work. Not far away was

Nancy Sutcliffe also working, but on
a small block piece, however in

contrast to Heather, she was using a

hand held micro-motor with a stone
burr which she alternates with a

diamond burr for detail. It was very

interesting to be able to compare the

two techniques and see the differing

results achieved by both artists.
Returning to the other

half of this marquee we

admired and handled
items for sale amongst
which I noticed a group of

complexly decorated vases
by Layne Rowe from his
‘Woven’ series
(fig.2a + 2b);

the latter being in the
competition tent. There
were also pieces by Liam

Reeves, including examples
of his Venetian goblet, but

also some very contrasting

modern looking organic
vase forms including ‘Warp

Vessel XIV’
(fig.3)
that

underlined his technical

ability and diversity.

Not having seen the

monumental Waveform

sculptures in toning colours,

with cut decoration by

Graham Muir before, I was

enthralled, and wished I
could afford to take one

home with me – especially when we

saw the piece he chose for the
competition!
(see back cover)

There were also examples of work

from all the artists giving demon-
strations along with pieces by Rachel

o’Dell from her ‘Metamorphosis’
series; Italian cane techniques

employed by Scott Benefield in his
‘snood’ pieces; and work from

Rachel Elliott using screen printing
and kiln-fired enamel.

Phil Atrill’s display of
attenuated vases was

both colourful and

interesting and I was

left wondering how

difficult they must be to
transport. However, he

assured me, they were

more resilient than

they looked.
Going through to

the various enclosures
was an opportunity

not only to look at

wares, but also have

a chat with the various

makers about their

pieces, what inspires

them and, as a sole

trader myself, discuss
business. Many com-

ments were very
uplifting with artists

diversifying and extend-

ing their creations to

encompass more than just a

decorative item, notably those

working with fused glass. Some had
broadened out into utility wares such

as lighting whilst also embracing
large architectural pieces for public,

private and corporate commissions

e.g. work by Lara Alridge and

Siobhan Jones. There was also the

more bizarre, but interesting idea of
‘Ashes in Art’ promoted by Siobhan

who suggested that one could

‘capture the essence of a passed love

one’ entrapped in glass – surely a

complex subject which I leave for the

individual reader to consider.

In the competition tent we saw

much that would’ve been nice to
take home. Apart from the notable

monumental sculpture in toning
colours by Graham Muir mentioned

above, Margaret Burke’s tall blue
vase ‘Under the Sea’
(fig.4)

caught

my eye for its whimsical mood and

pleasing tall form.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable,

if tiring day but totally worthwhile.

Pleasant surroundings, well sign-

posted and a great pleasure to see all

the wonderful exhibits – and I didn’t

even touch on the other disciplines

that caught my eye, including

marvellous examples of modern
handmade furniture. If you take your
wallet, be prepared to make a

purchase or three as it’s very difficult

not to succumb! www.artinaction.org.uk

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

MEMBERS

David Whitehouse
SENIOR Scholar at

The Corning Museum

of Glass and its former

Executive

Director,

David died in February,

aged 71, after a brief

battle with cancer. In
an illustrious career, he

had a profound impact
on his two main

interests — archaeology

and glass.

David Whitehouse

was born on 15 October 1941 and spent his early

years in the village of Wildmoor near Bromsgrove

in Worcestershire. Educated at Catshill First

School and King Edward’s School in Birmingham,

he went on to read Archaeology and Anthro-
pology at St John’s College, Cambridge, staying

on to take a Ph.D. From 1963 to 1965 he was

Rome Scholar in Medieval Studies at the British
School in Rome. Between 1966 and 1973 he
held the post of Wainwright Fellow in Near

Eastern Archaeology at the University of Oxford,
and it was during this time that he directed the

excavations at the ancient port city of Siraf in Iran

on the north shore of the Persian Gulf. During six
seasons of excavations, his wide-ranging and far-

sighted approach, which investigated not only the

architecture and millions of objects but also
paying attention to the economy, geomorphology,

water supply and land use of the town,

established him as a major archaeologist. After a

year as Director of the British Institute of Afghan
Studies in Kabul, David was appointed as

Director of the British School at Rome. In his ten

years in the post, he led many important
excavations including those at the classical
Roman structure, the Schola Praeconum at the

foot of the Palatine Hill.
In 1984 he left Rome to become the Chief

Curator of the Corning Museum of Glass in

Corning, New York State. His talents saw him
rising quickly through the ranks; after three years

he moved up as Deputy Director of Collections, in

1988 he was appointed Deputy Director of the

Museum becoming Director in 1992 and then
finally as its Executive Director and Curator of

Ancient and Islamic Glass in 1999. When 70
years old he relinquished that post and was

appointed Senior Scholar at the Museum to
concentrate on writing and research.

During his tenure as Executive Director he

oversaw a major expansion and renovation of the

museum’s premises, adding 218,000 square feet
of public space and spacious new quarters for

the Rakow Research Library. He also established

The Studio in 1996, a state-of-the-art glass-

making school that trains future generations of

glassmakers, provides a creative resource for
the area, and allows thousands of Museum
visitors to sample the pleasure of making their

own glass. Under his direction, some 20,000
items were added to the collections, almost
doubling the Museum’s holdings, while he actively

collected not only books for the Rakow Library
but also manuscripts and archives from artists
and glass companies around the world. His

energetic work in these areas firmly established

the Corning Museum of Glass as the global leader

in the field of glass collecting, education and
glassmaking.

One of the foremost scholars of Ancient and

Islamic glass in the world, David published more
than 500 scholarly papers and books, including

three volumes on Roman Glass in the Corning

Museum of Glass. He served as an advisor to
various academic journals and edited the Corning

Museum’s annual
Journal of Glass Studies
from

1988 to 2011. One of his passionate interests

was Roman cameo glass and in 1990 he co-

authored with Bill Gudenrath, the chief glass artist

at The Studio, several ground-breaking articles on

the manufacture and ancient repair of the famous

Roman cameo, the Portland Vase in the British
Museum. In his last book,
Glass: A Short History,

published last year, he covered the development

of the craft from its early origins to its

development as an artistic medium with the

international Studio Glass Movement.

The Corning Museum of Glass has always held

major exhibitions some of which David also

curated including exhibitions on modern glass

inspired by ancient Rome, the Harvard glass

flowers by the father and son team of the

Blaschke’s, and glass from the Sultan Empire. In

1987 he co-curated the groundbreaking ‘Glass of

the Caesars’ exhibition with the British Museum

and the Romisch-Germanisches Museum in

Cologne, thereby introducing ancient Roman

glass to thousands of visitors for the first time.
As well as being a highly respected scholar,

David was a skilled storyteller and educator, able

to quickly engage audiences in his lectures and
delighting visitors when he gave public tours of

the Museum. British audiences experienced

something of his charisma when he attended and

lectured at the International Festival of Glass

in Stourbridge in August of 2012. He was

instrumental in organising a live television link
between Stourbridge and Corning where Bill

Gudenrath spoke about and showed John

Northwood’s recreation of the Portland Vase in
1876, while the American audience could see the

2012 copy of the Vase by Ten Colledge at the

Ruskin Glass Centre. It was during this visit that

he went back to his former home village after a

gap of some 50 years.

On a previous visit to Britain a year or so earlier,

David made one of his greatest glass discoveries.

In London at a viewing of an auction of Turkish

military helmets and various Indian bits and
pieces, David spotted a glass object described as

an 18th-century Indian spittoon. In fact it was an

unknown form of glass by George Ravenscroft,

the man credited with the invention of lead glass
in London in the 1670s. Trying not to show his

excitement at his discovery, David was able to

purchase the spittoon and it now sits proudly
among the masterpieces at the Museum and is

featured in a short video with David explaining the
event.

The mission of the Corning Museum of Glass

has always been to tell the world about glass.

David took that mission to new levels with a
charm and sense of humour and fun which belied
his great intellectual and academic status. He

leaves an astonishing legacy which the executive

of the Museum are committed to continue and

build upon.
David is survived by his second wife and their

three children, and by the three children from his

first marriage.

David Bryn Whitehouse
Born October 15 1941 Died February 17 2013.

— Charles Hajdamach

Geoff Timberlake 1939
–
2012

IT was with great sadness that I learnt of Geoff

Timberlake’s passing. He was a kind, self-effacing

man who gave of his time and research
generously. He was Secretary to the Glass

Association from 2001 to 2004.

Born in Chesham in 1939, Geoff had an elder

brother and a half sister. He followed his father’s

interest by joining the Little Chalfont Rifle Club

when a teenager, becoming a talented pistol and

rifle shot, winning medals and cups over the

years.
Whilst at school he joined the Air Training

Corps possibly discovering his lifelong interest in
earthy, rousing music, having become a member
of their pipe band.

He was accepted into the RAF as an

apprentice Air Frame Fitter and passed out in

1957, serving in Aden, Kenya and Brahmin, and

returning to a posting at RAF Hannington, where

he joined the Motor Club. It was through this

interest that he eventually met Davina as they
were both members of the Mid Bucks Club. They

married in 1965.

During the early part of their marriage Geoff’s

work took him travelling around West Germany,

which finished when he left after twelve years

service. He became a Technical Author for

Handley Page, followed by a spell writing about

forklift trucks, sorting machines and thence to

Kent Meters.
Coming full circle he was once again writing

about his beloved aeroplanes for British

Aerospace eventually taking early retirement
when the company transferred to the USA.

Geoff was an enthusiastic joiner where his

hobbies were concerned being secretary to the

Luton Rifle and Pistol Club in the 1980s.
In around 1970, the family discovered their love

of camping and joined the Camping and Caravan

Club. During that time he was on many

committees and edited two group magazines –

they won the Burham Trophy for the best group

magazine — all down to Geoff.
He was the national chairman of the Trailer Tent

Group for two years and represented them on the

National Committee for 19 years. In 2003 he was
awarded the Certificate of Honour for his service

to the Club.
Davina always said that Geoff seemed to

‘collect’ Committees and this was true of the

Glass Association — becoming an active member
and finally joining the committee and being

elected as the secretary. He quietly got on with

the job with good suggestions that helped the GA

move forward, including being the webmaster for
their first website.

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

MEMBERS

Having left the committee for his other interests

Geoff and Davina visited many different countries
on organised ‘glass tours’. The last of these was

to Bavaria last year, even though by then, he

knew he had cancer.
I met Geoff when he decided to research the

Nazeing Glass Company and put a short request
for anyone else interested in the company in the

GA Newsletter.
I was one of maybe two people

who replied, having a collection of the company’s

art glass that was in those days quite small. Geoff
went on to spend many happy hours researching

in the British Library, at the National Archives in

Kew, and at various libraries in South London.

He was in time to interview a number of people
and noted down all he learnt, eventually

culminating in the self publication of a book 75

years of diverse Glass-making to the World: A

celebration of Nazeing Glass Works, 1928-2003,

and exploration of their Victorian origins.
It is a

credit to him that he managed to get past all the
brick walls that had previously prevented others

from progressing that research.
Naturally during the course of his research he

met Stephen Pollock-Hill, the Chairman of

Nazeing Glass Works. Once the book was
published Stephen asked Geoff to become the

company’s archivist, later allowing Geoff access

to a cupboard full of ledgers that came to light

Glass Association Events

Vienna & Budapest
28 August – 3 September

THE trip to Austria/Hungary will start on

Thursday 29/8 in Vienna (arrival late

afternoon/evening on Wednesday 28/8) and will

end on Mon 2/9 in Budapest (departure either
on Monday evening or Tuesday morning). The

full programme will be posted on the website as
soon as it is finalised. [email protected]

Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge
19 October 2013

This year our AGM and study day will be held in

the renovated Ruskin Glass Centre, which

includes a newly established Webb Corbett
visitor centre. Put the date in the diary as it will

be an exciting and interesting day.

[email protected]

A day with the ‘Georgian Glassmakers’
23 November 2013

THIS is the third workshop we will be holding in

Quarley. The day will centre on practical
demonstrations of Georgian glassmaking

techniques, such as making air and opaque

twist stems and will provide opportunities to
discuss evidence for how this vessel glass was

made. [email protected]

Other events

Highlights of my time at the museum:
Roger Dodsworth 6 June 2013

6.30pm, Broadfield House Glass Museum

Paperweights weekend

15-16 June 2013
Saturday at Himley Hotel, Sunday at Broadfield
during a clearout prior to Stephen starting his

Museum of British Domestic Glass within the
firm’s office complex.
Both Geoff and Davina collaborated and

supported in the presentation of the exhibition

that we held at Lowewood Museum, Broxbourne

in 2003. He launched his book – on the history of
the company and the glass made by Nazeing and

its predecessor companies that began with

Charles Kempton in Vauxhall, London – on the

first day of the exhibition in July that year.
Like so many before him who give their time to

research and produce that information in book

form, although proud of his work, Geoff never

trumpeted his achievement. Yet without Geoff’s

work on Nazeing and the Kemptons, the glass
world would be the poorer, so collectors and

dealers who now use information that has been

disseminated from his book owe him a debt.
Our deep condolescences go to Davina, Alan

and Fiona and of course our thanks to Geoff for

his contribution to the world of glass. – Nigel Benson

Well done CGS and IFOG!

THE Contemporary Glass Society (CGS), together
with the International Festival of Glass (IFOG), will

receive just under £80,000 from the Arts Council
of England which will enable both organisations to

carry out vital research into developing audiences,

WHAT’S ON

House Glass Museum. Including Ysart,

celebrating creativity of the eponymous family.

10th Anniversary Bead Fair
25 August 2013

Bonded Warehouse, Stourbridge DY8 4LU,

www.stourbridgebeadfair.co.uk

North Lands International Master Classes

and Conference including an exhibition of

new works from the North Lands

Creation Glass Collection of

Contemporary Glass

September 2013 to October 2013

[email protected] or Lorna MacMillan on

01593 721229

Engraved glass from North East England:
1800-1860 12-19 October 2013

DELOMOSNE & Son Ltd will be holding, at their
premises in North Wraxall, a selling exhibition

titled ENGRAVED GLASS FROM NORTH EAST

ENGLAND 1800-1860. This is the unrivaled

collection of the late Ian Robertson of Alnwick.

It includes many rarities, finely-engraved examples
and a few glasses signed by the engraver. The

exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated
catalogue which may be ordered in advance.

For details please visit www.delomosne.co.uk.

Exploring the fusion of art and technique

12 and 13 October 2013
National Glass Centre

A timely debate on the art and technique is the
theme of a national conference organised by the

Contemporary Glass Society (CGS) next October at
the NGC. In contemporary glass, art and technique
come together to enchant and challenge us.

But is there tension between the two, or are they
membership and new benefits for members. It will

also help CGS move forward and become much

more self-sufficient for funding. The plan is about
ensuring that the CGS and the IFOG can continue

to help the thriving community of glassmakers

and lovers, and to promote artistic excellence in
contemporary glass.

More good news for National Glass Centre

THE National Glass Centre (NGC) has been given
a significant boost to its ambitious redevelopment
programme after being awarded £100,000 from

the Sir James Knott Trust, a North-East based
charity, supporting community projects in Tyne

and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham.

The donation will allow the centre to generate

additional arts activities in Sunderland and North

East England in collaboration with its partner

gallery, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art

and will contribute towards the ambitious

transformation currently taking place at the NGC.

When the Centre re-opens in the summer visitors

will see a completely refurbished venue. The

remodelled galleries and displays will present a

range of exhibitions, including a private collection

loaned by the National Museums of Scotland,

a new gallery telling a compelling story of the
history of glass in Sunderland and improved and

modernised educational facilities.

perfect partners? Great line of speakers together

with 20 glass artists will present and talk about

their work in quick-fire succession. There will

also be seminars on architectural glass and

presenting work to galleries, plus demonstrations

of printing on glass, flameworking, hot glass and

water jet cutting. Booking www.cgs.org.uk

Christmas
Festival

30 November
–

1
December 2013

Broadfield House Glass Museum

Just Desserts

29 June 2013 – 23 February 2014
Broadfield House Glass Museum

Changes in fashion in all things sweet, and

accompanying glassware

Events and Exhibitions at Red
House

Glass Cone

Contrasts: The Lace Guild:
1 June – 27 July 2013
OMG – Oh My Glass:

7 September – 20 October 2013
Made at the Cone:

26 October -1 December 2013

All I Want For Christmas:
7 December – 5 January 2014

www.dudley.gov.uk/see-and-do/museums/red-house-

glass-cone/

Forthcoming
Auctions – 2013

Thursday 6 June:
Bonhams – European

Ceramics and Glass

Forthcoming Fairs
–
2013

Sunday 22 Sept:
Cambridge Fair, Linton Village

Sunday 10 Nov:
Birmingham National Fair

THE GLASS CONE NO.102 SPRING 2013

The Glass Cone

THE MAGAZINE OF THE GLASS ASSOCIATION
www.glassassociation.org.uk

PROMOTING THE UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATION OF GLASS

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The Glass Cone_No.102 Spring 2013

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