February 2002 Cloud Glass Newsletter

February 2002 Cloud Glass Newsletter

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October 2001

In This Issue:

Website updates
Fairs report
The 'Everest' Ashtray
Cloud Glass on Ebay
The early years of George Davidson & Co. Ltd
Reports from the Pottery Gazette

Cloud Glass Website

Only a few minor updates to the site this month. I have been preparing the rest of the Davidson Catalogue, which I hope to include over the next few months.

Antique Fairs

Despite the wind and rain I managed to get to the Swinderby Antique fair which occurs the weekend before the massive Newark fair. This proved to be an excellent fair for unusual Cloud Glass and Davidson pieces. The first unusual piece was an Octagonal Purple Cloud bowl. Despite being sold with a Davidson Flower Dome and Plinth I do not believe it to be by Davidson. It is not an attractive piece, and I cannot decide who made it. The second unusual Cloud Glass piece was a pair of green Cloud Glass Candlesticks. I bought them thinking they were from the 330 Trinket set. It was not until I got home that I realised they were different. Firstly the top of the candlestick was round, unlike the 330 which has three flat and three curved edges. Secondly the 330 candlesticks have a small step on the base of the raised moulding and these do not. Finally these candlesticks have a neck towards the top, whereas the 330 candlesticks do not. I do not know who made these candlesticks. Both items will be appearing on the ‘Cloud Glass of Unknown Origin’ page shortly.

For non-Cloud Glass I found a wonderful 7.5” 269/12 Amberina bowl. This is only the second piece of Davidson Amberina I have come across; the other was a 283 bowl. This is a really attractive piece. Deep ruby red at the base and a wonderful golden yellow at the rim. To round off the day I discovered an old 1910 pattern flint salad bowl with the registered design number showing faintly in the base. The 1910 pattern has a simple elegance when seen in plain flint glass.

Talking of the 1910 pattern, a Blue Cloud Glass 1910BD bowl has recently gone through Ebay, which had the Registered design number in the base. This was the first 1910 Cloud Glass piece that I have ever seen with a registered design number. It caused a lot of interest on Ebay.

The Everest Ashtray

When I last updated the site, I added a new ashtray to the Davidson ashtray page. This ‘Everest’ ashtray has a patent number on the base ‘887277’ (the first two numbers are not clearly moulded). This patent number does not appear to be English!! I have tried looking for every possible combination, but cannot find it in the Patent records. So where was this ashtray patented? Interestingly Jobling sold a similar looking ashtray that they also claimed was patented. Another mystery.

Cloud Glass on Ebay

The table below lists the items that were auctioned on Ebay in January. In interpreting the table please note the following:

I have only included items which are available to the UK
Sale prices are in pounds sterling. A sale price of zero denotes the item did not have any bids or failed to reach the reserve price.
Identification is based on the photographs and descriptions given. I cannot guarantee my interpretation is 100% accurate.
The table has been sorted by item type and colour
‘Complete’ applies to Flower sets and trinket sets and denotes whether the set was complete
No regard has been made as to condition

Description	Colour	Complete	Sale Price	EbayItemNo	End Date	Source Country	Comment

Mixed lot inc violet tray		No	£513.04	1319270954	14/01/2002	AUS	Mixed lot inc violet tray
Unknown	Amber	No	£18.75	1323674168	22/01/2002	UK	No picture
Top part of Saturn lamp	Amber	No	£38.97	1319429123	14/01/2002	UK	Top part of Saturn lamp
3.5” dome + 5.5” plinth	Blue	No	£18.74	1325899065	29/01/2002	UK	3.5 dome + 5.5 plinth
279 - 6" Vase	Amber	No	£27.24	1324315606	29/01/2002	AUS
279 - 6" Vase	Blue	No	£43.14	1319814138	15/01/2002	UK
279 - 6" Vase	Green	No	£43.14	1319581513	15/01/2002	NZ
279 - 8" Vase	Amber	No	£0.00	1503870312	25/01/2002	UK
279 - 8" Vase	Blue	No	£58.00	1324851088	27/01/2002	UK
279 - 8" Vase	Orange	No	£33.94	1325753406	31/01/2002	NZ
279 - 8" Vase	Orange	No	£181.00	1326660416	31/01/2002	AUS
1910 MD Flower Set	Amber	No	£5.50	1320201404	16/01/2002	UK	Not Sure. No Flower Support or Plinth
1910 MD Flower Set	Amber	No	£24.35	1322437150	15/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support
1910 MD Flower Set	Amber	No	£21.41	1315654426	04/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support
1910 MD Flower Set	Blue	No	£24.84	1319195243	14/01/2002	CAN	No Flower Support or Plinth
1910 SD Flower Set	Amber	No	£0.00	1325900946	29/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support
No 1 Vase	Amber	No	£18.23	1321437009	22/01/2002	UK
21 Flower Set	Topaz-Briar	No	£32.01	1319814560	15/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support or Plinth
20 Flower Set	Purple/Amethyst	No	£17.51	1323285251	23/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support or plinth
1910 BD Flower Set	Amber	Yes	£17.67	1325660639	29/01/2002	AUS
1910 BD Flower Set	Amber	Yes	£19.09	1324283319	26/01/2002	AUS
1910 BD Flower Set	Blue	Yes	£23.00	1324779977	23/01/2002	UK
283 - 3" Powder Jar	Amber	No	£15.00	1316318664	09/01/2002	UK	Pair, no lids
283 - 5" Powder Jar	Amber	No	£9.99	1319084637	13/01/2002	UK
283 - 5" Powder Jar	Blue	No	£33.66	1325844406	23/01/2002	UK
283S - 2.5" Candlesticks	Amber	No	£16.00	1320060110	19/01/2002	UK
283S - 2.5" Candlesticks	Green	No	£8.77	1323662603	24/01/2002	UK	Single
No 3H Dome 4"	Amber	No	£10.87	1321922115	20/01/2002	UK
No 3H Dome 4.5"	Purple/Amethyst	No	£7.36	1321887405	20/01/2002	UK
Lotos 31436 - 19cm Vase	Topaz-Violet	No	£198.67	1322900347	23/01/2002	AUS
S/696 D 10"	Purple/Amethyst	Yes	£26.00	1316321611	03/01/2002	UK
50 Vase	Blue	No	£42.00	1320643721	15/01/2002	UK
51 Vase	Amber	No	£12.50	1316293395	06/01/2002	UK
283 - 5" Bowl	Amber	No	£2.00	1326437155	28/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support
283 - 8" Bowl	Amber	No	£19.00	1325591024	28/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support
326 Candlesticks	Amber	No	£15.09	1323555101	24/01/2002	UK	Pair
1907 TD 5" Flower Set	Amber	No	£10.87	1323285057	23/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support
1907 TD 5" Flower Set	Amber	No	£0.00	1503540446	27/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support
712 10" Vase	Orange	No	£263.45	1324154091	28/01/2002	AUS
10/1910 Flower Set	Green	Yes	£0.00	1324324205	26/01/2002	AUS	no bids
248 D Flower Set	Amber	No	£12.50	1319796364	13/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support or Plinth
5P Trinket Tray	Amber	No	£0.00	1319110889	14/01/2002	UK	Chipped
Sowerby Ashtray	Purple/Amethyst	No	£10.50	1316972578	08/01/2002	UK
1910 MG Flower Set	Amber	No	£0.00	1314112763	01/01/2002	AUS	No Flower Support
34 SD 9.5" Flower Set	Amber	No	£0.00	1324327656	26/01/2002	AUS
24 Hexagonal 11" Flower Set	Amber	Yes	£0.00	1314572920	03/01/2002	UK
No 3H Dome 3.5"	Blue	No	£11.14	1324429763	26/01/2002	UK
No 3H Dome 3.5"	Purple/Amethyst	No	£0.00	1316236378	06/01/2002	UK
No 3H Dome 3.5"	Purple/Amethyst	No	£10.00	1323754118	24/01/2002	UK	Frosted
No 3H Dome 3.5"	Green	No	£11.34	1314754634	03/01/2002	UK
Aphrodite Oval Bowl	Sepia	No	£46.94	1315742705	04/01/2002	USA
25 Octangonal Flower Set	Orange	No	£300.00	1316156616	06/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support or Plinth
1910 D 11" Flower Set	Amber	No	£19.00	1317242679	09/01/2002	UK	No Flower Support
700 D 12" Flower Set	Orange	No	£193.64	1317380787	09/01/2002	AUS	No Flower Support, Added Black Plinth
No 2 Cigarette Box	Blue	No	£119.24	1321080627	18/01/2002	UK
732 F 9.5" Flower Set	Amber	Yes	£19.99	1321381800	19/01/2002	UK	Not Sure
No 27 Boat shaped bowl 14" * 6"	Amber	No	£21.84	1503822391	25/01/2002	AUS
No 8 3.0" Semi-dome	Blue	No	£17.95	1324426005	26/01/2002	UK

The early years of the Geo Davidson Company Ltd

The Davidson family firm became a limited company on the 26^th October 1934. The newly formed company had a share issue of £75,000 divided into 75,000 £1 shares. The two subscribers to the new company were Thomas Davidson of the Teams Glass Works, Gateshead and Claude L Fraser (Thomas’s nephew) of 2 Sturdee Gardens, Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. From the start Thomas wanted to maintain control over his family business, and this right was written into the Articles of Association:-

The share for which Thomas Davidson of 18 Percy Gardens, Tynemouth has signed the Memorandum of Association shall, whilst registered in his name, confer on him the right at every General Meeting to 3 times as many votes as are conferred by all of the other shares for the time being issued.

And later:-

The said Thomas Davidson shall be the Governing Director of the Company and Chairman of the Board of Directors until he resigns the office or dies or ceases to hold at least one share of the Company …. And all of the other Directors shall be under his control and shall be bound to conform to his directions in regard to the Companies Business.

Thomas was in control of both day-to-day running and at shareholder meetings.

At the first shareholders meeting, the National Provincial Bank Ltd was appointed as Company Bankers. T D Galloway was appointed Company Secretary and Thomas Lambert the Company Solicitor. The initial allocation of Company shares went to Thomas Davidson (27,999), Claude Fraser (9,999), M Macintyre (10,000) and Miss D Fraser – Claude’s sister - (10,000).

Davidson performed well as a limited company, always making a profit and issued dividends of between 7.5% and 20% per annum. As the post depression economy picked up, demand for glassware improved. Davidson introduced many new lines and colours, winning a Diploma of Merit at the Paris Exposition in 1937 for their range or royal blue domestic glassware. Advertising was not high on Davidson’s agenda. They only spent between £100 and £150 per year on advertising. This compares with £250 per year spent on the their stand at the British Industries Fair.

Success did bring its own problems. In 1939, the Japanese started to copy the 255 Barrel Can (Registered Design No 802751) and sell it a lower cost in the Australian market. Davidson decided to register some of the new designs in Australia to protect that market and in late 1940 W Hills of their Australian Agents, T W Heath was granted Power of Attorney to sign documents relating to Design registration. In 1933 Davidson had bought the sole rights to the Chippendale range of glassware, paying £3,000 for the moulds. Despite being very successful in the UK, and copied by most other manufacturers, it did not sell well in Australia. In 1938 T W Heath & Co was granted an extra 10% commission to help establish the range in Australia.

On the first of February 1938, the Davidson Company employed their first designer W J G Fullerton, who designed some of their more popular ranges including the ‘Ripple’ pattern and the ‘Van Vase’. Actually Claude Fraser wanted to employ a designer who could also help at on the technical side as well. Fullerton was only with the company for 10 years. In 1947 he was told to look for alternate employment, as there was insufficient work for him at the Davidson Company.

The workforce benefited from Davidson’s prosperity. In 1937, the year that Thomas Davidson died, the company ran a trial for holiday with pay, which soon became available to all. In 1938 they introduced a pension scheme, putting £1,000 into the scheme in the first year.

The Davidson Company had many local problems to deal with, all of which required money. For example money was put aside each year to cover repairs to the Quay. The opening of the new Trading Estate, which changed the flow of the river, cause the company to take out extra flood insurance in 1938 at a cost of £70 per annum. The state of the buildings was also a constant source of concern. In 1937 the estimated cost of repairs amounted to between £25,000 and £35,000. This high cost caused them to consider moving to the new Trading Estate, but this was rejected when the cost was calculated. For a number of years the company put off any decision about the building repairs, each year they considered new alternatives and estimates. Eventually the war intervened and no work was carried out until after the war.

The Davidson board found that year on year the difference in value between the glass produced and the glass in the packing room was running at over 20%. The difference was put down to breakages, bad work, trial pieces, experiment, stock breakages and theft. This high loss rate could not be sustained, and so in 1938 a ‘Progress Manager’ was appointed to improve the manufacturing process and reduce this wastage. This was very successful and the loss rate was reduced to only 2.4% in 1941 as can be seen in the table below:

Year	Value of Glass Produced £	Value of Glass Packaged £	Difference £	Difference %

1934	134,850	98,050	36,800	26.5
1935	124,400	97,800	26,600	21.4
1936	135,600	106,100	29,500	21.8
1937	135,300	114,300	21,000	15.5
1938	143,750	111,000	32,750	22.8
1939	122,125	105,326	16,799	13.75
1940	130,378	113,489	16,889	12.15
1941	112,724	110,016	2,708	2.4

And this was achieved with out the need for “Management Consultants”!!

Although Davidson regarded themselves as makers of domestic glassware, about 40% of their production was for specialist glassware or domestic products for other companies such as Clayton Meyers. One of their largest customers was Holophane. Davidson had been making illuminating glassware for Holophane since the late 19^th century; the first moulds for Holophane were made on 23^rd July 1896. In 1940 Holophane considered acquiring a financial stake in the Davidson Company – a proposal which was rejected by the company.

Other pre-war customers included Cadbury’s Chocolate and John Smith’s Tadcaster ales.

Reports from the Pottery Gazette

In 1931 Davidson introduced ‘Jade’ at the British Industries Fair. Their display impressed the Gazette reporter, who produced quite a long piece in the report on the BIF. The gazette also introduced an error, stating that amber was the first cloud colour. The report wrote:

Geo Davidson & Co., Teams Flint Glass Works Gateshead-on-Tyne, occupied a spacious stand of dignified characteristics, which was concerned with a wonderful display of pressed glass for both useful and decorative purposes. Of plain white moulded ware for ordinary table uses there was a powerful assortment, but from a spectacular point of view the coloured glasses, were perhaps, the principal feature. We have watched with interest, over a period of years, the gradual evolution of the coloured glasses in the pressed ware of Gateshead, and we are inclined to think there is nothing more wonderful that one could relate in connection with the recent development of popular-priced glassware in England. When the plain amber glass first made its appearance trade buyers hesitated momentarily, wondering whether it would “go” or not. They felt their way cautiously until they were assured that the public was ready for it .It was with greater courage that the cloud effects were taken up as they came along – first the amber cloud, then the mauve, followed by the blue cloud. A year ago saw the advent of a brilliant scarlet, networked in black, and this year witnesses the marketing of still another colour – this time a beautiful jade. We congratulate Davidson & Co upon the way this was displayed. An alcove, having a background of black velvet, was entirely reserved for a full range of this new jade colouring, and we have grounds for believing that it was one of the talks of the fair. Retailers will do well to make a note of the value of this process of isolating a line that is powerfully individualistic. We have often urged that a window, or a section of window, should be draped off to display a particular line of goods that has its own definite message to convey. And certainly this is the case in regard to these glasses of unique colouring. Taking a broad general glance at the entire exhibit of the Teams Flint Glass Works, one was satisfied that considerable progress is being realised, and that this progress is based definitely upon the changing moods of the retailers and the general public. No longer can it be said that our English manufacturers of pressed glass are not impressionistic.

The British Industry Fair was not always popular with the salesman who had to be on duty all day, particularly after the public were allowed in. In 1931 a prominent pottery manufacturer gave the following analysis of how he spent his time

10 %     Dusting
20 %     Sitting or standing idle
5 %      Eating (including smoking)
5 %      Grousing
10%      Trying to distinguish buyers from members of he public
10%      Selling to the lady “who only wants one” generally introduced by some so-called friend of the firm
10%      Discussing the history, value, and possibility of “matching up” with the lady who has a set that has been in the family umpteen years
5 %      Explaining the difference between earthenware and china
5%       Directing people to another stall
10%      Waiting for so-and-so who was “going to come in again” and didn’t

And Finally

That’s all for this newsletter. If you have anything to include in the next letter, then please email info@cloudglass.com.

Best Wishes,

Val & Chris