Three pieces of ruby glass in silver, made about eighty years apart on opposite sides of the Atlantic, and grouped here because they clearly belong on the same dressing table. The oldest is a Gorham cologne bottle from around 1900. It has a low round body, a long neck and its original ball stopper, and it is wrapped in pierced silver scrolls that curl and double back in true Art Nouveau fashion.
Gorham was founded in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1831, and by the turn of the century it was among the largest silversmiths in America. It set silver over coloured glass for a well-off market, sometimes using gold ruby blanks bought in from Bohemia. Gold ruby gets its colour from a small amount of gold dissolved into the glass, so the red was never the cheap part.
The other two pieces came from Laugharne Glass in Carmarthenshire in the 1980’s. One is a round scent bottle with its tall spire stopper, overlaid with flowering branches. The other is a small cylindrical vase in the workshop’s Wild Rose pattern. Both are hand blown in deep mottled ruby glass with hallmarked sterling silver overlay, and both still carry their round paper labels, old landline number and all. Laugharne worked in the same overlay tradition as Gorham. Side by side the family resemblance is plain, though nobody would mistake one maker for the other.
Condition notes
Excellent condition throughout. The original stoppers are present and fit their bottles, and both Laugharne pieces retain their original paper labels. No chips, cracks or repairs.
