Topic: Unusual example of Davidson's 1901 suite - How was it made?

[ChrisStewart]

Hi,
I picked up this unusual oval dish from Davidson's 1901 suite (Rd 360167) at the glass fair.  http://www.cloudglass.com/ebay/IMG_2574.jpg

What is unique with this piece - I've never seen another example like this - are the amber glass ribs. I was wondering how this was made. I'm guessing that the amber glass was added after the dish was removed from the mould. As well as the ribs there is a small amount of amber glass in the very centre forming a star shape.

This must have been an expensive dish when it was made as adding the amber glass would have required extra time for the glass makers. The moulding of the dish is very crisp and has the registered design number on it. This makes me believe it dates from around 1901 when the design was first introduced.

Has anyone else seen a Davidson dish like this?

Regards

chris

[Sid]

Chris:

This looks like an amber stain decoration created by painting the ribs with a silver nitrate solution and then firing it.  This technique was widely used in the USA in the 1880 and 1890s and again in the 1920s.  I don't recall seeing much glass from the UK decorated with this technique.

[ChrisStewart]

Hi Sid,

Thanks for the info. It has not been stained. The base has been ground flat after firing and you can see it is amber glass.

It's a mystery!

Chris

[krsilber]

What an interesting piece!  Is there any colorless glass interior to the amber parts?  My guess is they cut the amber pieces, put them in the mold, then put the colorless glass in over that.

[Bernard C]

... Has anyone else seen a Davidson dish like this? ...

Chris — No, but I've had a pair of quite similar Sowerby plates through my hands, one with blue ornamentation, and the other with green, made under Patent No. 2433 of 15 September 1871 for Ornamenting pressed glass with designs in glass of a different colour.   See Hajdamach pp 338–9 for the illustration from the patent application and a description of the process,

The patent was in J.G. Sowerby's name.   Judging by the huge number of items which have appeared on the market (my two plates), the process was not a success.   In 1901 it was thirty years since the patent was granted, and Cottle tells us that five years earlier J.G. Sowerby had retired from ill health to Symonds Yat in Herefordshire, so it was unlikely that Davidson's use of the process would have been even noticed by Sowerby's management, had the patent not already expired.   Apologies, I don't know how long patents granted to individuals in 1871 lasted.

I've been trying to find the photographs of my plates — no success yet, hence the delay.   I will post them when I find them.

One final note about my plates.   I informed T&W Museums, the V&A, and Broadfield House, but there was no interest whatsoever, despite my also pointing out that they were the earliest examples of marked Sowerby glass known.   Perhaps they might have shown more interest had a posh London auction house been selling them.   Nevertheless I am delighted that they are now prized items in two major private collections of Sowerby glass, one in N. America, and the other here in the UK. 

Bernard C. 

[Sid]

Chris:

Can you post a close up of the bottom?

Thanks

[Frank]

Patent abstract courtesy the Glass-Study. (Not yet added there but when I do I will add the figure here too.)

2433.   Sowerby, J. G.   Sept. 15.
Ornamenting. — The outer sur­faces of vases and other articles made of pressed glass are ornamented with designs in glass of a different colour to that forming the body of the article. The orna­ment is formed in a suitable mould B having a counter­balanced false bottom C and a plunger A; the plunger and mould have corresponding bevelled edges a, b, by which all surplus metal is cut off from the casting. Directly the ornament, is pressed the section of the mould containing it is fitted in the mould in which the article is to be pressed, this mould being constructed to receive it in the requisite position for ornamenting the article. The fused metal is then run into the mould and pressed to shape, during which operation the ornament becomes incorporated with the surface of the article. The ornament may be made in sections in one or several moulds.

[krsilber]

Aha!  The magic "metal" word!

That is one confusing illustration with that patent!

[Frank]

Image for patent abridgement - text repeated here Courtesy Glass-Study.com

1871-2433. Sowerby, J. G. Sept. 15. Ornamenting. — The outer surfaces of vases and other articles made of pressed glass are ornamented with designs in glass of a different colour to that forming the body of the article. The ornament is formed in a suitable mould B having a counter-balanced false bottom C and a plunger A; the plunger and mould have corresponding bevelled edges a, b, by which all surplus metal is cut off from the casting. Directly the ornament is pressed the section of the mould containing it is fitted in the mould in which the article is to be pressed, this mould being constructed to receive it in the requisite position for ornamenting the article. The fused metal is then run into the mould and pressed to shape, during which operation the ornament becomes incorporated with the surface of the article. The ornament may be made in sections in one or several moulds.

[Bernard C]

Frank — Very nice.   You might try an extra empty column in between;  it gives slightly improved spacing.

Oh, and thanks for the image.

Bernard C.    :hiclp: :hiclp: :hiclp: