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The vaseline opalescent version has also been known to have an engraved pattern on the bowl, but this one is without engraving. Because of the Engraving and the excellent craftsmanship, Cyril Manley stated with his absolute authority that it was made by Thomas Webb, and shows an engraved version in his book, DECORATIVE VICTORIAN GLASS. However, John Walsh Walsh ALSO was a well-known company that made more cut glass than anything else and was also known to have made colored glass, including vaseline glass. They also made numerous pieces with the 'twisty stem' feature. I later spotted this amethyst and clear version on ebay and also bought it. They are identical except that the leafy foot on the amethyst version has 5 petals and the vaseline opalescent has 6 petals. The tops are identical in design, shape and size. Both are 4" tall, 5" in diameter on top rim. The amethyst version weighs in at 10.1 oz., the vaseline version at 8.6 oz.
Both are believed to have been made about 1900 (give or take 5 years). This is when John Walsh Walsh was making most of his colored glass.
if you look at them closely, you will see that there are 12 rounded high points on each top rim. those 12 high points directly match 12 raised ridges on the inside of the bowl. Both have the same features and the same number of rounded high points. both tops are the exact same diameter. I can invert one and put it directly on top of the other and it is a perfect fit for diameter. The only difference is one has 5 petals on the foot, one has six. This is explained in that a glob of hot glass is gathered, and then a tool is used to VERY QUICKLY pull out the leaf shapes. the tool also acts as a pattern design crimper to give detail to the piece. the entire foot was most likely made in under a minute. if the gather was a little thick, it could mean one additional (or one less) petal, depending on how quickly the glassworker was doing his task. both have the same 'snap-off' smooth and flush pontil on the bottom. Both twists in the stem go the same direction (which would be a repetitive task, always done the same way). After studying both pieces carefully, there is no doubts in my mind that they were made by the same glass factory, possibly even by the same glassworker.
Photo Donated To Gallery By Mr. Vaseline Glass
(aka: Dave Peterson) |
