Thomas Webb & Sons Burmese Glass Vase, ca. 1886
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GUEST:
It's a vase, or a "vahse."
APPRAISER:
I would call it a "vahse."
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Do you know where it was made?
GUEST:
I have no idea about this.
APPRAISER:
Would you like to guess?
GUEST:
I thought it looked Asian-ish.
APPRAISER:
It's interesting that you said Asian, because this period of glass, a lot of times there are Asian influences, particularly Japanese and Chinese influences on art glass from this period. So I can understand why you'd say that. The company that made this was Thomas Webb and Sons. They were an English company. This is called decorated Burmese glass. Burmese glass first originated in the United States. The formula was developed by a man named Frederick Shirley, who was at Mount Washington Glass. He developed it in 1881, and then he patented it in 1885. And slightly after that, about a year or so later, he licensed it to Thomas Webb and Sons in England. In terms of date, I would say late 1880s. The Burmese glass is actually a translucent glass. Small amounts of gold, germanium oxide, feldspar, and fluorspar were added to the mix. The glass itself, the background would start at a salmon color, and then it would gradually turn into this beautiful lemon. What's so nice about it is it's very gradual. You don't see an abrupt line where it's salmon and then it goes to lemon. But what makes this so exceptional is the decoration on it. It has beautiful chrysanthemums In various stages of development. It also has this beautiful butterfly, which is always an extra perk for a piece of glass like this. But the other thing that's interesting is the decorated collar, which is something else. Like, they went the distance on the piece. You also have gold outlining it, and even around the foot. And there's no loss to this at all. What makes a good piece of decorated Burmese glass is the combination of the shape, the color, and the design. Another thing that I particularly noticed, that I noticed about this that got me kind of excited, was down below is the original retailer's sticker. It's still there, and most people would have washed that off. But the name of this store was Phillips, and it says "Oxford Street," which was in London, so that's where it was retailed. And I'm happy that no one ever took that off.
GUEST:
How many people did it take to make this?
APPRAISER:
I assume that first, you have the person or the people that actually blew the glass. And this is actually blown glass. And one of the ways to always tell a piece of authentic Webb is that there is a beautiful ground pontil on the bottom, and you can see that right here, how it's been ground. So first you had people doing that kind of work, and then the decorator would be... probably one person would decorate it, and that would be done in another department.
GUEST:
So two.
APPRAISER:
At least two. And where did you get this?
GUEST:
I got it from my mother.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
And I believe she got it from her mother.
APPRAISER:
Okay. And she never discussed it?
GUEST:
I know nothing about it.
APPRAISER:
Well, something like this, a retail value of this vase would be between $4,000 and $5,000.
GUEST:
Okay. Thank you.
APPRAISER:
You're welcome.
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