Tuesday, June 30, 2009

“Mt. Washington, A Name to Remember” - Daryle Lambert's Antique and Collectible Blog - League of its own.


Peachblow - Thanks to www.glass.co.nz


Yesterday was a blog on Royal Flemish glass by Mt. Washington Glass Company but they had other lines equally impressive. Two of their best lines were Peachblow and Burmese. Each of these are distinctive and beautiful in their own right. Like the Royal Flemish, both of these started in the 1880's. So much of the early glass has seemed to have lost value over time but not the Mt. Washington pieces. I would like to continue sharing with you items in the Early's auction on October 24th that caught my eye.

First there was a wonderful Peachblow pitcher that was decorated in the classic colors pink and lavender. This combination is hard to miss. You will find that Peachblow is only one layer of glass where so many other forms of glass are cased, meaning constructed with more then one layer of glass. This pitcher also contained verse by James Montgomery and flowers and butterflies. It was small in size, measuring just 6 ¾ inches, but it packed a powerful punch when its estimated value was $20,000 - $30,000. What made this piece so special was that it was accompanied by a letter stating that it was from the collection of the Glovers, who wrote the book on Art Glass Nouveau. It was pictured in the book which left no doubt about the source of the pitcher. After stating the original owner, the letter went on to give the total provenance of the piece.

There is a great lesson to be learned here and it is any provenance that you can attach to a piece you're selling will enhance its value. When I purchase any item I always ask as many questions as I can about where the item came from.

The second line of Mt. Washington that I would like to familiarize you with is the Burmese glass. It also was started in the 1880's but was completely different from the Peachblow. It was developed for Mt. Washington by Frederick Shirley in 1885. The difference from the Peachblow is instead of pink to lavender, Burmese goes from pink to yellow. From there you will see many similarities between the two. The piece that caught my eye was also a part of the Glover collection and it was a ewer and even had slight damage but the estimate was still $5000 - $8000. The ewer was 10 inches tall which made it a very outstanding piece.

I have found that if a company makes a line of wares that command attention in the market place, they will often have other lines that carry equal or greater value. Knowing this, once you are attracted to an item, be sure to research other lines that the company produced. Mt. Washington is definitely a company worth researching.

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