Posted 5 years ago
IronLace
(930 items)
Nothing new here, but I'm reposting these Victorian era vases in a group shot in the wake of welzebub's recent post of a Welz M - crimp vase.
All are made from "Burmese" type glass, which contains uranium & glows under UV light.
Burmese was first made by Mount Washington in the USA, & then produced by Thomas Webb & Sons in England. It was a high end glass, made using expensive ingredients - uranium for the custard - yellow, & gold for the pink (it "strikes" on reheating).
The Mount Washington & Webb products have distictive & well - documented shapes.
So when I found the first of these mystery pieces, I was puzzled, as it didn't fit in with what I knew about Victorian Burmese production.
That first example was the small vase with the hexagonal top, which measures 11 cm tall.
Several years later, I found a pair of small vases with cupped tops, 10.5 cm tall, with the same swirled ribbing.
When I saw the fan vase (26 cm tall) with the unique, three - ball base, it was a revelation - it seemed that Welz made their own version of Burmese glass.
Then, I acquired the M - crimp vase last year (21.5 cm tall) & things became even more interesting, as M - crimps were made by a couple of makers, including Welz.
I've included some images of the bases to show their pontil marks.
The M - crimp vase has a rough one with a touch of pink, showing that the heat "struck" a little of it.
Same roughness & pink touches can be seen in the pair of swirl ribbed vases, however, the pontil on the hexgonal top vase has been polished out.
The three - ball vase also has an applied clear base (satin finished like the rest of the vase). It has a "plug" of custard coloured glass set into the clear.
I'm intrigued to think that there could very well be other examples of what I shall call "Welzian Burmese" out there to be found...
What a fabulous grouping. My observation thus far is that the Welz Burmese production has less of a yellow or strong custard color to it than either the Webb or the Mt Washington Burmese production do.
The ground color of your vases is consistent between examples, and also seemingly consistent with examples in my collection. They are paler and closer to a white than the other two companies.
Great selection. I love it!!
CONGRATULATIONS !!!! Fabulous grouping. All sourced in Oz ???
Many thanks, welzebub, thought you'd be interested in seeing these together. Yes, I too feel that the "yellow" is a little lighter in tone, which I rather like. I have numerous pieces of genuine Thomas Webb Burmese in my collection & can definitely see the difference between those & the Welz ones.
Thanks also, vetraio50!
The three smaller vases were found here - the hexagonal one in Mittagong, & the pair in Orange. Fan vase came from USA, & the M - crimp from UK.
For those that are not familiar with Webb Burmese, which is very well documented, here is an example of a shape that is by Webb, and also what I suspect to be a copy of that shape by Welz in the middle, and in their version of Burmese. The differences in the colors can be seen pretty clearly here. This is, to date, the only example I have come across that I believe to be Welz, that is not a satin finish on Burmese.
http://www.kralik-glass.com/cwimages/BurmeseComparison.jpg
That Welz shape appears to be a variant of these versions which have a higher rim above the neck than this example does. Size wise, the Burmese example is almost identical otherwise to the several example I own that are in the large array of the shape in different Welz decors.
http://www.kralik-glass.com/cwimages/Shape125.jpg
This is a ca 1880 ad for Thomas Webb Burmese, which also shows the same colors as the actual glass images in the link above.
http://www.kralik-glass.com/cwimages/ThomasWebbBurmese.jpg
Loved the ad...can see a few shapes there that are in my collection...
Edible...
:-)
If these had a flavour, I think it would be just like the Lindt chocolate balls in the pink packet - strawberries & cream...
Very nice Great Color and Shape
Thanks so much, Vynil33rpm!
Went around last night to look at a big American auction site archive, and search for Burmese glass. My sold volume lot was over 2000.
This was a big surprise for me, I found all kinds, with many renditions of this glass decor in color, color intensity, shapes, finish, and size.
The unexpected result was that these pale pieces such as posted here were consistently identified as Mount Washington. That does not mean it's true, but there were so many, especially small pieces like toothpick holders, that were ALL attributed to the same American company, it was a discovery, either Mount Washington was not as quality driven as I thought, or it was another producer nobody knew about.
The colors varied a lot for the same objects, so I am aware my link is much darker.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/48373152_two2-mt-washington-burmese-glass-items
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/48373152_two2-mt-washington-burmese-glass-items