Pilgrims Antiques Centre West Street Dorking. Coloured Glass.

Welcome again to the Pilgrims Antiques Centre blog.
I hope you have enjoyed some good things during the holiday weekend.
In south east England we have enjoyed a certain amount of slightly warmer weather - Spring is trying to make its presence felt!

A long weekend disrupts the routine of course. This is made even more strange for me because for various reasons I am missing 2 Mondays in the shop - that is my normal duty day.
I am making up for it by doing other days instead.
Last Thursday Bill and I enjoyed a day working with Jill.
Jill loves her glass - and has knowledge about all sorts.
I decided to make glass the theme for this week's posting.
I particularly love coloured glass. I love to see items of similar colours displayed together.

Carnival glass is moulded or pressed glass, always with a pattern and always with a shiny, metallic, "iridescent" surface shimmer.
The keys to its appeal were that it looked superficially like the very much finer and very much more expensive blown iridescent glass by Tiffany, Loetz and others and also that the cheerful bright finish caught the light even in dark corners of the home. Wikipedia.

20th century blue glass.


Pinks and mauves.

As a lover of the 1950s and 1960s glass that is often referred to as "end of day" glass, I assumed the multicoloured dish to date from that era.

But experts have assured me it is Victorian.

Glass makers have always wondered what to do with the molten glass at the end of the day and have created a wealth of interesting pieces.

Red glass - some very obviously dating from the 1950s and 1960s.

Collecting handkerchief vases is an area all of its own.

Paperweights can be found to suit all pockets and varying in quality.

They take up little room, so it is a collection that can be added to when a new treasure is found.

Green and blue glass from Terry and Emma.

Pinks from Jo.

The lamp shade is very stylish.

Blue glass from Jill

The deep blue is referred to as Bristol Blue.

Bristol Blue was first made in the 1700s and is still being made today.

A superb example of carnival glass.

I took a close up, with the price ticket, so that you could see the fine detail and also the name of the manufacturer and the very reasonable price.

The underside is a vivid blue.

Below is information about the Fenton glass company and the American carnival glass. It is taken from Wikipedia.

Carnival glass originated as a glass called “Iridill”, produced beginning in 1907 by the Fenton Art Glass company (founded in 1905). Iridill was inspired by the fine blown art glass of such makers as Tiffany and Steuben, but did not sell at the anticipated premium prices and was subsequently discounted. After these markdowns, Iridill pieces were used as carnival prizes.
Iridil became popular and very profitable for Fenton, which produced many different types of items in this finish, in over 150 patterns. Fenton maintained their position as the largest manufacturer and were one of very few makers to use a red coloured glass base for their carnival glass. After interest waned in the late 1920s, Fenton stopped producing carnival glass for many years. In more recent years, due to a resurgence in interest, Fenton re-started production of carnival glass until its closure in 2007.
Most US carnival glass was made before 1925, with production in clear decline after 1931.

Red glass from Jill.

Our other Gill is also a glass specialist.

Much of her glass is crystal. She has some examples of coloured glass.

Gill has the 2 vases for sale and Julie is selling the paperweight.

Monika has these items of red glass.

The tall heavy lamp base was, I believe, manufactured as a lamp base. It was never a vase that has been converted.

Jonathan has some beautiful cranberry glass - much more than this.

Some historians believe that the first cranberry glass was made in Roman times.

Cranberry glass (or Gold Ruby glass as it is known in Europe) is a red glass made by adding gold chloride to molten glass. Tin, in the form of stannic chloride, is sometimes added in tiny amounts as a reducing agent. The glass is used primarily in expensive decorations.
Cranberry glass is made in craft production rather than in large quantities, due to the high cost of the gold and the delicate mixing process required. Wikipedia.

And now I have learned something new! I didn't realise that cranberry glass was made by adding gold.

There is a tale that a nobleman once threw a gold coin into some molten glass and thus cranberry glass was invented.

Actually, technically it couldn't have happened like that, because the gold has to be treated first.

Coloured glass has an appeal to very many people; a display of coloured glass, from any era looks fantastic.

The glass stock in Pilgrims changes often.

I was lucky enough to find examples of the sort of glass I love the best over the Easter weekend, which is now in Pilgrims.

Bill took some pictures of me with it - opting to use the modern approach with the picture on the tilt.

Call in to Pilgrims and see all the glass we have on offer - a treat for the eyes.

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