Glassware

Readers are advised to be wary of cut-price Whitefriars Drunken Bricklayer vases – they may be fakes.

The highlight of the Oriental sale conducted by Salisbury auctioneers Woolley & Wallis on May 22 was this underglaze copper-red Qianlong (1736-1795) mark and period moonflask standing 11in (27cm) high.

The 21st century equivalent of an unknown masterpiece brought in to the front counter of a saleroom must be the treasure that surfaces on an auctioneer’s computer via a routine email.

IT is almost 10 years since the noted Wiltshire glass dealers Delomosne last held an exhibition with accompanying handbook, and that was the collection of cordial glasses belonging to the late John Towse.

Giving Scotland’s once-neglected art glass further standing in the saleroom, a good range of Monart and Ysasrt glass emerged at auction recently North of the Boarder.

Wedgwood, famous as it is, is not the leading name for majolica collectors and this mid 19th century matchbox modelled as a fly, right, was something of a puzzle to Paul Goodley, specialist at Aylsham auctioneers Keys (10% buyer’s premium) when it was entered for the March 15-16 Norfolk sale.

Topping a very successful sale by Reading specialists Special Auction Services ( 15% buyer’s premium) on March 12 was this rare brown stoneware spirit flask, left, by Oldfield & Co. Date c.1835 and depicting the then Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. The 9 1/4in (23.5cm) flask sold on its mid-estimate £3000.

JUST a couple of years ago, specialist glass fairs were proliferating. That frenzy seems to have settled down of late, probably because the serious glass dealers understandably are getting choosy. But one that increasingly is making its mark is the Cambridge Glass Fair, organised by Paul Bishop under the name Oxbridge Fairs, which will be held for the fifth time this Sunday (February 20) at Chilford Hall Vineyard, Linton, Cambridgeshire.

Fine Art Auctioneer Dr. Jürgen Fischer in Heilbronn, Germany has announced an important forthcoming sale of European and Studio Glass to be held on 11th and 12th March 2005.

Two of the strongest performances in the December ceramics sales came from the glass sections offered at Bonhams Bond Street on December 8 and at Sotheby’s Olympia two weeks later.

A UNIQUE archive of journals and notebooks, including the secret recipe for Tiffany’s signature Favrile glass, is now available for public inspection at the Corning Museum in New York.

A LEADING figure in the world of heritage is calling for a change in the export licence rules – after the decision to keep a valuable work of art in the UK.

GLASSWORKS by Emile Gallé thought to be worth over £1.5m have been stolen from a Swiss museum. Thieves seized 15 items by the French master craftsman in the raid on the Neumann Foundation, housed in the castle of Gingins overlooking Lake Geneva, on October 27.

AN early 20th century Tiffany Favrile ten-light lamp was an unusual consignment for a provincial auction house. The market for Tiffany is largely based in America and even the major London rooms tend to sell their best consignments through their New York rooms. However, the family of the late Peter Grant, former manager of the legendary rock group Led Zeppelin, live locally and put his lamp into Dreweatt Neate Tunbridge Wells Saleroom's (15% buyer's premium) September 3 sale.

THE Venini factory of Venice are to meet with their lawyers this week to discuss stepping up legal action against the family of Italian glass designer Fulvio Bianconi.

ACCORDING to Hertfordshire organiser Paul Bishop, who works as Oxbridge Fairs, the attendance was up at his fourth Cambridge Glass Fair, held at Chilford Hall Vineyard on September 12.

RELATIVES of one of Italy’s leading 20th century glass designers have launched an assault on the trade in works using his name.

ONE of 11, generally very fine, British drinking glasses consigned from ‘a Highland lady’ to The Scottish Sale held by Bonhams (17.5% buyer's premium) in Edinburgh on August 18-20, was this 3 1/4in (8cm) high polychromed enamel firing glass, right, probably decorated c.1765 by member of the Beilby family of Newcastle.

HERTFORDSHIRE organiser Paul Bishop, who founded Oxbridge Fairs to mount specialist glass events, holds his fourth Cambridge Glass Fair at Chilford Hall Vineyard, Linton, Cambridgeshire this Sunday (September 12) and, with 100 tables, it is fully booked.

INNOVATIVE Oxfordshire dealers The Country Seat may be best known as furniture specialists, but they are increasingly turning their focus towards 19th and 20th century design.