It’s ANZAC day today, which reminds me of an item in my collection.
When I first found the glass tray in an op shop my first thought was that it was a quite ornate and a little ugly. But it appears in a 1932 Crown Crystal catalogue as the No. 1917 sandwich tray. So I when I went back to that op shop and it was still there I bought it.
It was only some time later that I recognised the significance of the design, when I was browsing the collections of the Powerhouse museum in Sydney.
Called in their collection “Glass scone tray”, their specimen is slightly different to mine, and the one in the 1932 catalogue, in the it has “Sydney 1929” moulded into the ends. The Powerhouse museum explains that this was to commemorate the official unveiling of the Sydney Cenotaph in Martin Place on the 21st of February 1929.
My example, and the one in the 1932 catalogue, doesn’t have the place and date. These were presumably ground off the mould after 1929 in order to retain currency after that date. But the design still retains the more artistic inclusion of the Rising Sun motif, as used on Australian Army badges.
WW1 rising sun badge from the collection of the Australian War Memorial
Today I made a very exciting discovery—a Crown Crystal bottle.
It shows up in the 1932 Crown Crystal catalogue called a Bar Bottle. The example I have, and the one shown in the 1932 catalogue, doesn’t have a cork or stopper.
Crown Crystal also sold these bottles to the NSW Railways for years for use in their train carriages for refreshments. These were fitted with a metal and cork stopper. These kept dust and flies out of the bottle, and were chained to the neck of the bottle. The bottles, and shared drinking glass, were mounted in brackets at the end of the carriage. The bottles used by the railways were etched with the initials of the various railway operators, as the bottles were replaced during the lengthy service life of the rolling stock.
From the collection at the Powerhouse Museum
The Powerhouse Museum has examples of these bottles—a civilian one without stopper or engraving, and an example engraved “N.S.W. G.R.” with stopper, both from the Crown Crystal collection. They also have an example donated by a Railway employee marked “P.T.C. N.S.W.” complete with chain. The P.T.C. existed from 1972 to 1980 and I believe may have been the last operator to use such bottles. Edit: I have found a photo of one of these bottles etched “S.R.A. N.S.W.” The State Rail Authority took over Rail operations from the P.T.C. in 1980.
The use of these bottles aboard NSW trains make an appearance in the 1971 film Wake in Fright, when the fish-out-of-water protagonist takes a country train from his outback teaching post to a fictionalised version of Broken Hill. His use of the shared water initially sets him apart from his fellow passengers, who are all sharing a beer. The three following stills from the Wake in Fright show the bottle in use and the mounting brackets.
I’ve been keeping an eye out for one of these for a while, and while I am interested by the railway connection I appreciate the bottle primarily for itself. Considering that the railway marked bottles with stopper (and sometimes bracket) go for a fair amount of money, I’m glad to have found a representative example. The design is elegant in it’s simplicity. I especially like the fact that it is not cut glass, but simply blown. Like most Crown Crystal items prior to the 1960s, the designers are not known or recognised, but their work speaks for itself.
I found this brass vase last Friday in an op shop, just before the Melbourne cup weekend. It has an elegant if simple shape. It is hand made with the body made of sheet brass (there is a faintly visible seam) and a heavy cast base to keep it nice and stable. It stands 273mm (approx 10 3/8 inches) tall. Only after I brought it home did I notice it has a maker’s mark.
The mark is small (only 15mm wide including the logo) and worn, but still legible. It reads “J.W. STEETH” with a trefoil.
Generally called thistle vases due to the common shape resembling a thistle, these small glass vases were called in period advertisements violet vases due to their small size being used to hold the small flowers. Commonly bought in pairs for the dressing table, singly for the desk at work or for brightening up the breakfast or afternoon tea tray. Both of the matching pairs above I found that way, I have a handful of single clear thistle shaped vases. But not all violet vases were thistle shaped, here are two examples from my modest collection.
The more abstract and art deco pair date to a little later, I have found it illustrated in an ad from 1942. I don’t have a Crown Crystal catalogue from that date to refer to, but imports of glassware were non-existent during the war, so it would have to have been made domestically.
Despite, or perhaps due to, the ubiquity of the thistle shaped violet vase, dating and identifying their manufacture is difficult. I have yet to find a newspaper illustration of the thistle style shown at the top of the page. Crown Crystal glass did make a thistle shaped vase, but when they started making them I do not know. A 1970 catalogue shows them being made up until at least then. The coloured ones that are so popular with collectors are slightly shorter with a squatter base and much rougher surface finish and seams. These are probably earlier than the more well finished clear ones, but are most likely Crown Crystal as well.
Their small, trinkety, commonplace nature has meant that during the time they were made they were probably not valuable or notable enough to warrant an illustration in a newspaper.
I believe that the pair of thistle vases at the top of the page are made by Crown Crystal, but I have other clear thistle vases that have subtly different details which I believe are made by other manufacturers. This post mostly deals with violet vases made domestically, as there were also thistle vases of Czech pressed glass, German lead crystal, English cut glass and so on that may get their own post later.
And the rise and fall of Regal Mulga Wood Products Pty. Ltd.
I love mulga wood. I have a small collection of mulga wood objects, but my most recent acquisition is the most impressive. It is a turned vase of an unusual design, not the usual urn shape, it stands exactly 12 inches (30cm) tall and weighs 1lb 15.5 oz (893gm).
It came to me with the usual condition issues of vintage mulga wood items; loss to the bark at the base, a small crack from shrinkage and most of the original nitrocellulose lacquer was missing and what was left was yellowed, brittle and came off in my hand. Because of this it was in the 50% off rack at the op-shop I found it in, and it was mine for the princely sum of $3.
Unfortunately, I neglected to take a photo of it in its original condition (I was too excited, and started work on it as soon as I brought it home), but the photo above shows it in it’s current refinished state. I scraped off the very brittle remains of the old lacquer, gave the surface a very light clean with fine steel wool and a few coats of shellac (nitrocellulose lacquer is now all but obsolete, but the more traditional shellac is still available), and after cutting back with some steel wool a final coat of wax polish.
The manufacturer’s decal was still on the bottom, though the “mulga” part had been removed by some old sticky tape by the time I got it. My research was able to date this piece rather precisely, thanks to newspaper articles on Trove.
Daily Commercial News and Shipping List (Sydney, NSW : 1891 – 1954), Wednesday 24 July 1935, page 4
Regal Mulga Wood Products Pty. Ltd. was registered in Victoria on the 10th of July, 1935 in Melbourne. They seemed to make the usual range of Mulga wood products such as bookends, pen and ink stands, desk calendars, vases, clocks and other novelties. There are only a handful of advertisements (none illustrated) in newspapers during the preceding year for Regal Mulga products, most of them are Christmas gift lists.
Less than three years after being established, on the 5th of February 1938, their factory at 571 Little Bourke St, Melbourne was damaged in a fire, destroying a quantity of timber, with a responding fire car colliding with a car.
Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), Monday 7 February 1938, page 12
The report for the fire lists the address for Regal at William St. This is incorrect, as classified ads for wood turners list the address as 571 Little Bourke st.
On the 30th of March 1938, a new factory at 214a Park St was registered with the South Melbourne Council, the move was evidently planned before the fire occurred as they had been advertising for an electrician to quote for wiring the South Melbourne factory a month before the fire. It is unclear whether they managed to re-start production at the South Melbourne factory as by August 1938 the company was in liquidation. It does not seem that the Regal Mulga brand was used again after this.
I actually used a different recipe, identical except for the amount of gelatine. It used twice the amount and was published in a Townsville paper. I assume the extra gelatine was needed due to the climate, but was quite a firm set.
One problem with pressed glass is that it’s made in a mould. Once the die is cast, it’s form is fixed. Some patterns are popular and can be made for years, but if fashions change there is little you can do. You can change the colour of the glass, or you can change it’s name.
Recently I bought quite cheaply a set of four of these Jelly glasses (Pictured above holding homemade port wine jelly) made by the Crown Crystal Glass Co of Sydney. Made from thick and good quality glass, although they have a slightly sharp seam line around the foot.
They are from the 29 series, a pattern termed by collectors as “petaloid”. The 29 series appeared between 1926 and 1929, and the glass seen pictured below is from a 1932 catalogue.
Crown Crystal “Petaloid” custard cup from a 1932 catalogue.
Crown Crystal, interestingly called it a custard, despite it’s closer resemblance to a jelly glass. But the story doesn’t end there.
I don’t know when Crown Crystal discontinued the 29 series, but when they did, they must have kept at least some of the moulds. I had read somewhere that Crown Crystal in their later years would sometimes pull old patterns out of storage and put them back into production.
We see an example of this when in a 1966 catalogue we the same glasses being sold for serving the most 60s of appetisers, the prawn cocktail!
There may be no way to tell when my set was made, but I think I’ll stick to serving jelly in it.
