17 Saturday Mar 2018
Posted in Unknown Pressed
I do not collect milk glass deliberately. While I think milk glass is pretty, especially the more ornate pressed patterns, it’s just not ‘my thing’.
I picked this piece up somewhere – don’t really remember where and have not been able to identify it. I have posted it on a Facebook glass ID site to no avail.
It is a heavy piece – weighs over a pound on its own – with lots of details. If anyone knows its provenance, I would be grateful for information.
20 Sunday Dec 2015
Posted in Unknown Pressed
I picked this piece up awhile back. I assumed, because of its size, (the vessel stands almost 8 inches without the stopper) that it was a decanter.
I posted it, looking for an ID, and was advised that it might have served as a cologne/tonic container for a barbershop, back in the day.
It obviously had gilt on it as there are still remnants around the leaves. I like the way that the stopper is also decorated.
I am guessing that this is late nineteenth, early twentieth century, but would love to be corrected.
25 Sunday Oct 2015
Posted in Unknown Pressed
Some weeks ago I visited Harvest Antiques which carries an interesting assortment of glass and china. Much to my surprise they had a fair number of pieces of custard glass. You don’t see that in this neck of the woods very often.
According to the book I reference below:
“Custard glass derives its name from the creamy yellow-white color in which most pieces can be found.” …”This lovely colored glass was introduced around 1895 in the United States and originally it was called “ivory” by most manufacturers. The color often varies from an opaque off white (almost a milk glass), to a rich yellow-green opaque. the density of the glass also varies, from thick and solid to light and transluscent quality.”
I was intrigued by this little piece. It obviously was painted at one time. It is marked with the uppercase “S” in a diamond and I figured that it would be easy to identify with the mark. In fact, it has not proven to be the case. I posted it on a couple sites and one response provided these links:
http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/ChicagoGlassMfg.pdf
https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/southernglass.pdf
Unfortunately the articles only mention bottles and jars.
I was inspired to acquire the Encyclopedia of Victorian Colored Pattern Glass Book 4: Custard glass from A to Z by William Heacock. This particular piece isn’t shown, but there are a number of pieces that I have seen in the past and wondered about their provenance. In fact I know that I saw a few pieces at Harvest Antiques. I just may have to visit again.
In the interim this pretty little piece remains a mystery.