Sunday, January 22, 2012

Northwood Alaska Blue Opalescent Glass Sugar & Creamer and Unkown Double Hobstar Bowl

 I had a young woman come into South Coast Antiques & Gallery the other day and sell me some really nice blue opalescent glass pieces. She had a sugar bowl and creamer that are in the northwood pattern known as "Alaska". The "Alaska" pattern was made by the Northwood Glass Company and dates between 1898-1903.  This is a pattern that I was not familiar with. I went online and typed into the Google search engine, "blue opalescent sugar bowl" and was suprised to find almost immeadiatly a thumbnail image of 26 pieces that had been previously been sold.

Northwood Alaska Blue Opalescent Glass Sugar & Creamer Circa 1898-1903

This site told me who made my pieces and what pattern this was. I did a bit of checking around to verify that this was correct information, beacause contary to popular belief just because it is on the internet does not necessarily make it correct information. 
I then looked around online and was suprised at how easy it is to fimd pieces avalable and at moderatly reasonable prices. 

Northwood Alaska Blue Opalescent Glass Creamer 


 I find this pattern truly beautiful and in my opinion it epitomizes the high Victorian tastes of the turn of the century.  The feet on these pieces are what are known as "Lion's Legs". 
Please note that these pieces were photographed before they were cleaned. There is some dust and a small amount of dirt that shows up in the images.  What looks like dirt also in the images is actually traces of what was once gilding on the edges.

Bottom detail of Northwood Alaska Blue Opalescent Glass Sugar Bowl



Blue Opalescent Glass Bowl Double Hobstar Design Eva

There was a third piece of glass, a bowl in the same blue opalescent type of glass. This piece has benn driving me crazy. I have looked in all my books and found nothing.  I have looked at a million pieces of glass online and not found anything at all in this pattern. This pattern has a double "hobstar" pattern that I just can not track down. Until someone can show me what it really is called I will refer to it as "Double Hobstar Eva"

Side Detail Double Hobstar Eva Bowl

This is a really great looking piece of glass that just radiates an almost magical opalescent inner glow. I am very curious as to who made this one, when, and what the pattern is called, if anything. Many patterns did not originally have names they were just given number designations such as pattern number 143.  Many times the names were added to the pattern because that was just what the collectors started calling a specific pattern. 
If anyone has any information about this piece please let me know.  

UPDATE:  I was told by  PatternGlass.Com, That this bowl is a one off piece and was not part of a pattern set. That is why I can not find a pattern name for it. So I guess I will call it the "Double Hobstar Eva" Bowl.  Many thanks to PatternGlass.Com!




Thursday, January 5, 2012

A Few New Photos and a Frederic Remington Bronze at South Coast Antiques & Gallery

Here are a few new images of the shop that I took today.
This case has a variety of things  such as 19th century spelter figurines, a 1920's red flapper's box camera, 1870 top hat, Pre WWII boxed childs cutlery set, Pair of Victorian ivory paintings, Bristol ware glass, Santa Clara blackware pottery, Large sterling silver oval vanity mirror, assorted antique ivory jewelry and ornaments, including an African chiefs horn.  Also included are Japanese geisha doll, squash blossom necklace, a Harrach glass and gilt vase. Tiffany Favrile footed glass salt dip, Sterling Coach chain and lock necklace, 1860's gold and garnet necklace.  The bottom shelf has vintage Shearwater figurines which a very rare cabin shaped cookie jar, Fred Press original plaster art deco bust, A matched set of three Sea foam blue victorian opaline ware containers, Black Victorian mourning fan, Large niello sterling Siam belt, and a small grouping of early William Spratling jewelry, plus many other items.


In this case we have a very rare circa 1870's Ames sword company sign, a pre WWI Bavarian reservist regimental stein, early 1800s Ottoman Empire inlaid blunderbuss, a bone mounted late Mejii dagger, a Malaysian watered steel kris, African trade spear point, Spanish bone handed bull fighting sword, a shamshir, Spanish 1820s uprising briquet sword, very early Dragoon sword, 1840s single shot percussion pistol, a WWII  Japanese NCO's sword, a WWII Japanese officer's sword, rare pre-kerosene smugglers black out lantern, Austrian pioneers sword from the 1820s, 1840s newspapers masthead American eagle printers block, 19th century Persian tile, an image of an Italian Alpine trooper circa 1910, small bugle, early 1900s handcuffs, African dagger, German guild processional axe, WWII aircraft gun camera, a Spanish shipwreck coin and a very large Remington bronze mountain man sculpture.


This handy little corner cabinet has on top an Indian painted water bottle with folkloric scenes, and inside the case is a large Fenton art glass vase by Robert Barber, a white bronze Coptic cross with hand painted inset panels, A Victorian red on crystal basket, A Rosie O'Neal Kewpie cup, A scarce paper thin milk glass hand enamel painted beer stein circa 1820's, A hand painted wooden Russian peasant mug by Michael W, Moses, and a early 1900's creamware Mettlach, German stein, and on the bottom shelf is a mid 1950's Murano glass bowl. Next to the case is a French provincial style table from the turn of the century. On this table is a medium sized Persian samovar, a Japanesque American made caster set by Reed & Barton, An Egyptian motif oil lamp, a moss rose Japanese made 1950's coffee table set, a Japanese made lustreware bowl, and a set of circa 1910 Royal Doulton plate and bowls. Underneath the table is a 1930's fan and a coal fueled iron, a common flat iron, a tall reproduction fireplace trivet, and a vintage cooper tea pot. off to the side we see a early 1900's ships wheel and WWII liberty ship binnacle with compass and a matching set of craftsman leaded glass door panels circa 1915.  Well these are a few of the things that we currently have in stock at South Coast Antiques & Gallery!
Now for the big news. We have acquired a wonderful extremely fine casting of a Frederic Remington bronze. This wok of art is 28½ inches tall and is called the "Mountain Man".  This bronze sculpture is one of the finest quality Remington bronzes that we have ever seen! The detail is amazing. Every detail on this piece is just incredible. Everything from the liver sulfur patina to the exquisite mirror polished French slate base shows this to be a truly superior work of art.

"Mountain Man" by Frederic Remington