Posted 13 years ago
Londonloet…
(47 items)
A small vase, 6 1/4" high, with English sterling silver collar (quite battered) marked AB & Co on cut top. Yellow and pink spots on opal glass, with brown swirls, iridescence over all. Nice art nouveau shape. Imagine my delight when it came home and I discovered the glow.
I thought it might be Kralik coloured spot decoration. Then it was suggested it might have a family connection to Poschinger - see the comments below. Now, I believe Bohemianglassandmore's suggestion is correct - Rindskopf. Thank you, BG&M! And Obscurities - who thinks Rindskopf too.
Any further thoughts on attribution gratefully received.
Update - Alfredo says it's Kralik!
Any more votes?
Thank you Bellin68! I'm very luck that hardly anyone in England seems to know or collect Kralik very much.
Thank you, ChuckieCzech, Czechman & Mac63. Loves much appreciated!
Hi ChuckiCzech, thanks for the link! At the risk of being controversial, I don't think we can go with Albert Baker. What you can't see from the pictures is a lack of a cartouche round the mark. There were a number of makers using AB & Co, and they are identified by script and the shield or cartouche round the mark. This mark has nothing round it, and doesn't match any of the makers on your page. Its a known maker, but I haven't found a name yet. It is assayed in Birmingham, as shown by the anchor mark, and sterling silver, shown by the lion passant. The date letter is a lower case e, so it's 1904 - but that only applies to Birmingham. Other assay offices used different date letters at that period. English hallmarks are a whole new puzzle to themselves.
Ah, you obviously haven't felt the frustration of trying to track down undocumented makers' marks!
Hmm. Maybe, maybe not, but London is just the tip of the iceberg anyway. This is a Birmingham piece and provincial silver makers are less well documented generally. The bigger , extant assay offices have good records of their date marks, although they are many and varied, but the records of provincial silversmiths are less good. Then remember it's not just London, Birmingham and Sheffield assay offices, but also Chester which is very small and no longer assays, and then even smaller and rarer and no longer assaying Exter, Newcastle, York (which itself has three distinct assay periods), Norwich, Barnstaple, Bristol, King's Lynn, Salisbury, Southampton. Then there's Scottish silver - again not just Edinburgh and Glasgow, try Tain, Arbroath, Stonehaven. And Irish silver - not just Belfast and Dublin, but think Cork, Limerick, Galway, Youghal. Oh yes and Wales - no official assay office (the north used Chester), but possible marks for Newport and Camarthen. But perhaps it's just London, Birmingham and Sheffield that makes it over the pond ; )
Thanks for the encouragement Scandi, much appreciated. I'll have a go at getting a good picture, but the mark is pretty hard to photograph.
And thank you for the love, Vetraio50!
Oh no, not you with the macro as well - you're as bad as Obscurities! He wanted macro details too. That's my husband's camera and he thinks I don't need any more encouragment. Actually, the real problem is that the mark itself is a bit rubbed and battered, with a lot of old tarnish. Even with a "huff" it's a challenge.
As per Scandi's suggestion, pic of the hallmark now added. It's amazing what you can do with an iPad ...
Scandi, it's the new iPad, but nothing more than the ordinary zoom function, no special apps. And thanks! I love the colours too, reminds me of old fashioned sweets - peardrops maybe!
Thank you, Ozmarty, for the love:)
I suspect this vase and your bronze mounted UV reactive vase are related! I've never seen this particular decor, but the decor is similar to Poschinger variant Helios.
Cogito, I was beginning to wonder too!
I had tentatively thought this was Kralik coloured spots because of the spots combined with draped swirls at http://www.kralik-glass.com described in the decor index as colored spots, and the reference to spots coming in different colours. There is also a hyacinth vase on that site (on the hyacinth page!) which has multicoloured pink blue and yellow spots, although the swirls are different. It was what made me think the helios might be Kralik, on the off-chance there might be a relationship ...
Now I just have a new mystery!
I would like to suggest Rindskopf as a possiblity - the combination of a silver top, uranium glass with pulled loops, and to a degree, the shape - these are Rindskopf markers for me. I'll take a look around and see if I can find more info.
Yes please, bohemianglassandmore! Wow - Rindskopf would be interesting. It would make sense with the link with England . . .
If I have the right person, I've seen Rindskopf with silver tops, and uranium, on your site. Now I look again, I see what you mean about the loops, too.
Do you think this brings Rindskopf back into the ring for the other, helios type piece as well? So far, I have it down as Poschinger as per Alfredo and Cogito.
Also, do any of your hallmarks match mine? I'm new to this and I've seen Rindskopf with London hallmarks, but I don't recall noticing other Birmingham marks - which is probably a sign of poor memory and lack of concentration. Thanks again for your help, LLL
Thank you MiKkoChristmas11
So, Rindskopf is now the working theory.
And I'd just got used to the idea it might be Rindskopf! Thank you Al - and that's quite a compliment.
It's only lived with me for 2 months, so I don't think it's ready for transatlantic travel just yet ... I love it too. But when it gets bored, I know where to send it!
kralik, the ribbons and confetti applications are consistent with kralik
Thank you Jericho - 2 for Kralik.
Thank you Scott, Bruce99, manddmoir, and LoetzDance!