Most Cranberry Is a Con! the Great Period of Manufacture Was from C1870 to C1930 but Reproductions Over the Last Ten Years and New Cranberry Has Done Us No Favours
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Glass 1 6 Most cranberry is a con! The great period of manufacture was from c1870 to c1930 but reproductions over the last ten years and new cranberry has done us no favours. Cranberry was also Webb, Stourbridge, cranberry & opaque glass scent bottle, made in France, Belgium, Bavaria, Bohemia and the as a swan’s head, silver gilt Late 19thC Webb’s cameo 11 USA. Its manufacture across the Atlantic took place cap with marks for Mordan glass biscuit barrel, white over mainly in New England where cranberries are grown and & Co, London, dated 1884, deep cranberry, cut back with it is perhaps here that the name was first coined. In 14.5cm. Locke & England, flowering apple blossom Victorian cranberry glass Europe it is called gold ruby. Cranberry is made by Leamington Spa. Feb 06. boughs, white metal cover, epergne, central trumpet, two adding a gold chlorine which has been dissolved in a 6in high. Fieldings, West HP: £2,700. ABP: £3,175. outer trumpets and 2 twisted solution of nitric and hydrochloric acids. It was certainly Hagley, Worcs. Jun 05. HP: canes supporting hanging £920. ABP: £1,082. made in Roman times. We have the famous Lycurgus cup baskets, frilled edge bowl from the fourth century. Its origins were rediscovered in 7 base, 21.5in high. Diamond Mills & Co, Felixstowe. Mar the seventeenth century by either Johann Kanckel in 06. HP: £425. ABP: £499. Bohemia or Antonio Neri in Florence. All the nineteenth century manufacturers produced cranberry but there was 12 also a cottage industry carried on in backyard factories. Despite the downturn, prices show that collectors are still at times being ruled by their hearts rather than their Late 19thC cranberry and heads. I cannot say that there has ever been an upper iridescent glass drinks set: market but there is a middle market and a burgeoning pair of decanters, 12 stemmed 2 Pair of white overlaid cran- lower market. The Webb scent bottle at 1 is exceptional glasses and circular tray, gilt berry painted and gilt table Pair of late 19thC Bohemian rims. (15) Wintertons Ltd, but hardly relevant. Let us also leave out the Bohemian lustres, crystal drops, some white overlaid, cranberry Lichfield. Mar 01. HP: £900. overlay glass as well as the superb Thomas Webb cameo af, 10in high. Tring Market glass ewers, 23.5in high. ABP: £1,058. examples at 5 and 6. These are the serious pieces that Amersham Auction Rooms, Auctions, Herts. Mar 02. HP: every collector should be targeting. I should also include £420. ABP: £494. Bucks. Mar 03. HP: £2,000. 17 and 18. The glass drinks set at 7 only holds a high ABP: £2,352. position because it is a set averaging £70 a piece. This is the worst buy on the page and a ‘pink’ elephant unless it 3 13 8 ends up in a museum. The top end of the lower market mainly belongs to epergnes and lustres in the £200-£600 range. There are enough examples for the reader to study Pair 19thC Bohemian glass the market and see that prices have done very little in the goblets, cranberry glass with last few years. Both make excellent table decorations but white overlay, floral band, are prone to damage. 23 and 28 are typical. I wouldn’t faceted stems, 20.5cm high. Pair of 19thC Bohemian Sworders, Stansted quarrel with most of the lots on page 55 except that fussy Victorian cranberry glass cranberry glass urns, white Mountfitchet. Sep 03. HP: drinks sets never get used and are examples of ‘pink’ four division epergne, flared overlay, 13.5in high. Andrew £850. ABP: £999. elephants. This is not the case with decorative pieces (34) wavy rimmed trumpets, wavy Hartley, Ilkley. Oct 00. HP: or functional items like 31. The scent bottles at 30 and 35 rimmed base, 52cm high. £1,950. ABP: £2,293. 9 Wintertons Ltd, Lichfield. are highly collectible and good buys. At 39 is a good Mar 00. HP: £400. ABP: £470. example of nineteenth century cranberry and a few more lots attract the eye such as the scent bottles at 49, 52 and 61 and the silver topped match tidy at 58. How many 14 4 cranberry collections can boast one of these? Much of the rest represents poor value at an average of about £30 a piece. Should we be buying say 41, 63, 66, 74 and 91 at an average of about £7 a glass? I doubt it. Although Pair of mid 19thC Bohemian Victorian cranberry glass cranberry glass lustres over- much cheaper than at retail, they won’t get used, take up epergne, central upright laid with white, crinoline tops space and are hardly artistic. As always better to save the funnel, two smaller funnels, 2 with oval vignettes of white Victorian cranberry glass pounds until something worthwhile appears, but not green glass wrythen moulded enamel painted with flowers, epergne, central trumpet with Mary Gregory! Its ubiquitous presence in all areas of the canes, 2 cone-shaped baskets, complete set of faceted trailed clear glass decoration, clear glass trailed decor- market serves as a warning. Sensible investing does not lustre’s & drop. Kent Auction 2 smaller trumpets, 2 wrythen ation, 22in. Fellows & Sons, mean buying the three glasses at 56 for a wasteful £117. Galleries, Folkestone. Mar moulded clear glass canes, Birmingham. Jul 03. HP: I have valued many a cranberry collection over the years 07. HP: £1,200. ABP: £1,411. cranberry hanging basket, £550. ABP: £646. and also viewed many a dealer’s stock and repro is rife, (s.d.), 21.5in. Fellows & Sons, Hockley, Birmingham. except where the dealers are specialists. General dealers 5 Oct 03. HP: £380. ABP: £446. cannot tell the difference. All genuine antique glass will 10 have bubbles of air and stones or seeds, that is, impurities in the mix. All will show wear on areas that have been in contact with surfaces. Everybody concerned should learn 15 about pontil marks and their history. They should under- Pair 19thC cranberry glass stand the marks left by the gadget, the tool that replaced lustre vases, shaped cut rims, the pontil and study the history of press moulding and Thomas Webb cranberry/white tapered centre columns, cut cameo glass vase carved with prismatic drops, 11.25in Pair of Victorian cranberry machine made products. Most cranberry in the market convolvulus, 5.25in. high. Canterbury Auction and white flashed glass table today is twentieth century and modern. Until you become Gorringes, Lewes. Apr 01. Galleries, Kent. Dec 05. HP: lustres. Gorringes, Bexhill. familiar with all of the manufacturing processes stick to HP: £1,100. ABP: £1,293. £500. ABP: £588. Dec 04. HP: £360. ABP: £423. buying from specialists in consumer protected situations. ANTIQUES INFO - January/February 08 Glass 24 20 29 34 Set of 3 Victorian cranberry Pair of Victorian cranberry 16 glass bells, each with pale glass trumpet shaped vases, green handle, 11.5in and crimped/folded rims, clear Pair of Edwardian cranberry Victorian cranberry glass 12in. Gorringes, Lewes. Oct trailed decoration, 10.5in glass lustre vases, prismatic epergne, 7 trumpet shaped 04. HP: £300. ABP: £352. 19thC Bohemian cranberry high. Canterbury Auction lustre drops, 8in high. fitments, clear trailed decor- & white overlaid glass vase, Galleries, Kent. Oct 05. HP: Andrew Hartley, Ilkley. Aug ation, base with crimped rim, slender flared neck, pedestal £200. ABP: £235. 00. HP: £360. ABP: £423. 18.75in high, one trumpet foot, facet cut and gilt slightly chipped. Canterbury 25 arabesque decoration, 11.5in. Auction Galleries, Kent. Jun Fellows & Sons, Birmingham. 07. HP: £320. ABP: £376. Jul 03. HP: £260. ABP: £305. 17 21 35 Victorian cranberry glass Cranberry glass sherry set: double ended scent bottle, decanter and six stemmed base metal mounts, 5in long, Victorian Bohemian cranberry glasses, circular tray, painted 30 with similar clear cut glass glass pedestal bowl, white with figures in the Mary example, 4.75in long. Victorian cranberry glass hobnail enamel panels, Gregory style, decanter 9in Fellows & Sons, Hockley, double ended scent bottle, florally painted on white high. Hartleys, Ilkley. Oct 06. Birmingham. Oct 03. HP: metal mounts with embossed enamel with gilt acanthus HP: £300. ABP: £352. £180. ABP: £211. floral decoration, 4.7in long, decoration, similar floral with a similar blue glass panelled outward splayed Cranberry glass epergne, 36 26 example. Fellows & Sons, stem, old damage to top of raised central trumpet with 4 Hockley, Birmingham. Oct stem now riveted, 30.5cm. smaller trumpets, ribbed 03. HP: £220. ABP: £258. Marilyn Swain Auctions, outline, wavy rims, scrolled Grantham. May 05. HP: EPNS stand on four ball feet, £360. ABP: £423. 13in high. Fellows & Sons, Hockley, Birmingham. Oct Prices quoted are actual 03. HP: £310. ABP: £364. 31 hammer prices (HP) and the Approximate Buyer’s Price Late 19thC cranberry claret Two Victorian cranberry (ABP) includes an average 22 jug, clear glass barley sugar premium of 15% + VAT. Mary Gregory type cranberry glass fruit comports with gilt handle, star cut to base, glass jug, c1900, tray and decoration. John Taylors, plated mount engraved swags three goblets, jug 35cm, Louth. Dec 01. HP: £210. & tassles, ivory knop handle, chips. (5) Sworders, Stansted ABP: £247. 10.5in high. Dee, Atkinson & Mountfitchet. Feb 07. HP: Harrison, Driffield. Jul 04. £300. ABP: £352. HP: £170. ABP: £199. 32 18 Cranberry/clear glass epergne, central trumpet with clear twist decoration, three candy twist canes supporting cran- 27 37 berry baskets, fluted cran- berry bowl, 21in. Golding Late 19th/early 20thC Stour- Young & Co, Grantham. Nov Pair of cranberry glass Victorian cranberry glass bridge crystal cameo vase, 06. HP: £310.