a tisket, a tasket, a mystery glass basket

Posted on by Cattywampus Fellow

So a member of the FB Wexford has moved to a different pattern and is selling off her Wexford. Among the items was this peculiar basket of dubious provenance, which is now mine.

an overhead view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, with a bent glass handle added presumably through a glassblowing technique.
an overhead view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, with a bent glass handle added presumably through a glassblowing technique.

a front view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, with a bent glass handle added presumably through a glassblowing technique.
a front view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, with a bent glass handle added presumably through a glassblowing technique.

Originally I wasn’t going to bid. I didn’t know who made it; I already have a fair amount of Wexford lookalikes. It is oddly made.

But…

I have over 1200 pieces of Wexford. I have nearly every clear glass piece that I know they made in the pattern line. I wanted to see it up close, to touch it, handle it, see the pattern counts, compare it to every other piece to discern where it came from.

More about the basket:

When I first saw photos, I thought maybe it was formed by slumping a luncheon plate into a form and then attaching the handle. The luncheon plate is the only plate with a smooth ridge; the rest are scalloped.

Also, it’s fair to say that the mold seams would be gone and the pattern on the base more obliterated  if it was slumped after molding another regular piece.

Below, the four seams of the base are indicated by arrows.

a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, showing a mold seam in the glass from the manufacturing process.
a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, showing a mold seam in the glass from the manufacturing process.
a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, showing a mold seam in the glass from the manufacturing process.
a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, showing a mold seam in the glass from the manufacturing process.
close-up views of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, showing the mold seams in the glass from the manufacturing process.

Additionally, what I first thought to be distortion on the basket bottom from slumping can clearly be seen now as a break-off mark from when it was removed from a punty (a glassblowing tool).

a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, showing the rough surface of the bottom of the piece.
a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, showing the rough surface of the bottom of the piece.

So it isn’t slumped, then what is it…?

The base is clearly molded and then altered, at least by adding the handle, through glassblowing techniques, but what did the mold look like?

Was it made as a basket, shaped like a brimmed hat? Or was it molded more like a on-the-rocks tumbler?

a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, showing both diamond patterns.
a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, showing both diamond patterns.

The softened edges of the bevels and the flattened top surface, of the large diamonds, are both highly representative of that design element on authentic Wexford pieces. The small diamond band closer to the lip is softened in its molded detail from authentic Wexford.

The bottom edge is similar to Wexford glasses, with a thin, raised ridge nearest the daisy, and a wide, flat band on the outer perimeter.

a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor, showing the details of the bottom edge.
a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor, showing the details of the bottom edge.

Does this indicate it started as a tumbler?

Maybe…?

It might have started looking like a rocks glass, then being opened by jacks (tongs used to shape glass vessels) while on a punty.

Except…

This would have had to have its own custom mold. The bottom is the same size as a Wexford double-rocks, but the daisy only has twelve petals. The double rocks daisy has fourteen petals. The basket has a vertical three count in the small diamond band, which matches the double rocks, but only has a vertical two count of large diamonds. Both Wexford rocks glasses have a vertical two-and-a-half count.

And finally…

Who made the thing?

Was this produced by Anchor Hocking glassmakers? Were glassblowing techniques commonly used by them?

I mean, certain Wexford pieces needed to be blown into a mold instead of using a full mold, right? The canister set, the cookie jar/ice bucket, the decanters. Each of these has a neck smaller than the vessel and uneven glass flow inside at the bases.

If the finishing was done by Anchor Hocking, I think it would be part of building a prototype or someone playing around at the end of the day.

Either way, there’s a surprising amount of slop in how it was made.

an overhead view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, with a bent glass handle added presumably through a glassblowing technique. the arrows indicate the mold seams of the basket base and shows the off-center placement of the handle.
an overhead view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor Hocking, with a bent glass handle added presumably through a glassblowing technique. the arrows indicate the mold seams of the basket base and shows the off-center placement of the handle.

The handle is unevenly pulled when attached. It appears that the handle was stretched to length after the first end was joined, both stretching the lead end thinner than the other side and pulling the attached end off of position.

a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor, showing one of the handle joints pulled off of position.
a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor, showing one of the handle joints cleanly on position.
close-up views of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor, showing the handle joints.

Also, there are numerous inclusions in the glass, and the bottom of the base is noticeably thicker than any Wexford glasses.

a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor, showing a flaw in the glass.
a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor, showing flaws in the glass.
a close-up view of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor, showing a flaw in the glass.
close-up views of a pressed glass basket base, mimicking Wexford by Anchor, showing flaws in the glass.

If this is an Anchor Hocking prototype, there would have been blueprints as specs for the base mold. I am not sure of how to confirm its existence.

If it was made by an independent glass artist, where did the base piece come from? And wouldn’t the reheating and manipulation of the base be significantly more difficult?

Either way, Wexford or imposter, I am happy to add this odd, little basket to my collection.

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Published by Cattywampus Fellow

I'm a cattywampus man, in a cattywampus house, living a cattywampus life with my cattywampus spouse.