Steve/sewell
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Joined: 1/23/2010
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I have shown this here at the forum before but it was removed during my member name change ......... I have also used this time a better camera then previously.
When I revived my glass collecting hobby 4 years ago I set out to find older glass,more rare glass and quite frankly more valuable glass.I figured if I was going to clutter up an area in my home with bottles it had to look more appealing then a store shelf.I had always heard about Wistarburgh and its glass and I set out to own my own example.I met Hank Flowers of oldsouthjerseyglass.com and was amazed at the extent of his collection of Wistar made glass.To this day it far exceeds any museum collection known.I purchased a chestnut bottle from him that was ****yzed by J. Victor Owen and it was absolutely chemically identical in the batch recipe to other Wistar glass and shards he had tested.This method for determining Wistarburgh authenticity was patented by J. Victor Owen. (check out his resume quite impressive)
http://www.smu.ca/academic/science/geology/bios/victor_owen.html
People collect glass and bottles for various reasons.Some of the reasons are for products that were in them,fancy embossing and design,the bottles or glass are from a particular area or region of the country,color in any make or historical relevance.Old medicine and bitters bottles will always have good value retention for they represented a long period in our countries early beginnings to the start of the 20th century.There names and listed products on the bottles makes them exciting to collect.
Jars and common storage bottles,look great on a kitchen area shelf.Poisons displayed in a bathroom,whiskeys,sodas and beers on a back bar,all the glass in our hobby is fun to collect and when displayed and presented properly make them appealing and more desirable for being so.I have a large insulator collection which are boxed right now in my attic.My Dad back in 1973 to 1975 rewired the city of Woodbury New Jerseys fire alarm system on the poles.The old system was put into use in 1890 to 1900 and there were scores of insulators removed.He would bring home 10 to 15 a day for a two year period.Well if you do the math 5 day work week times two years ....you get my point. I also have the threaded wooden pegs they were mounted on and one day I want to make a display on my tool shed......one day.................. it is just not high proirity right now.
I have said this before and I will say it again once you get the bug for the old glass or black glass,the glass made in the 1880s seems new in comparison.There is something about the historical relevance of the colonial glass that makes it so attractive along with being a good investment (we cant take them with us) and if you are going to have this stuff in large numbers then you might as well make a son or daughter happy when you leave this world as the resale of this type of glass will hold its value forever.My advice to any collector is collect what makes you happy first,but take into consideration the financial aspect of your collection also for if you are purchasing your bottles not digging them then you might as well invest in good historically relevant bottles that will hold their value over time better then most of their counter parts. I know color is the number one determining factor in the bottle market today,but realistically how many of us can afford those 10 to 20 thousand dollar off color bottles anyhow.So the next best things to consider when making an investment are historical relevance and rarity.
The dog-shaped vessels, schnapshundes were originally novelties of the Palatinate German glassblowers in the 17th and 18th centuries. A green colored example that had belonged to Richard Wistar's granddaughter, resides in the collection at Wyck. It was made at Wistarburgh and like stated above was previously owned by the granddaughter and another more recent member of the family. There is documentation with the piece that allows other examples to be attributed to the glasshouse also based on color and style.Schanpshundes were primarily made in Germanys Palatinate district but the decor is most different and more ornate on those then on my example shown here.
I have owned this dog vessel for over 3 years.The pincered waffle like decoration used to make his feet are identical to Pincered decoration that is repeated on the finials of several sugar bowls that have been attributed to Wistarburgh. These decorative features are fin-like protrusions surrounding a triple knopped shaft; a configuration recorded in other German glass. Pincering can also be seen on the top of a swan on another sugar bowl. Fanciful birds and animals were popular finial devices for a lot of the German sugar bowls.
This particular dog or schnapshunde is a pretty yellowy green to emerald green and is made in the German half post second gather method.It has sixteen ribs,a sheared lip, and a huge pontil mark on the chest of the dog.There is also plenty of base wear on very small areas of each paw.If you hold the dog upside down he would have been a ribbed chestnut type of flask.The dog is attic mint in condition with only a tiny bit of a white water type mark staining inside on a very small area on the under belly which I have never tried to clean.He is not really heavy for the walls of the torso are thin showing the skill of the gaffer.The part of this dog which makes it a strong candidate for being made at the United Glass Manufactory (Wistarburgh) are his paws. The pincering tool used to make his paws and the style employed is seen on many Wistar attributed pieces in museums and private collections on other fancy end of day objects. Enjoy
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< Message edited by Steve/sewell -- 5/29/2011 12:41:40 PM >
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Wistarburgh 16 ribbed Dog Vessel. - 
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