c.1927 Breakers Club Uranium glass water pitcher w/ Gorham silver soldered frame.

I know the frame was made by Gorham & has an airplane symbol which correlates to 1927. I believe this item would be from the Breakers Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

My question is the numbers to the left of the mark & under the mark. I assume the one under the mark is the manufacturer's model number, but what does the "Q"? underneath mean? I think the number to the left may be the specific part number as each of the pieces have a different 2 digit number, but the rest have a star next to the number.



Thank you for any & all advice or opinions!!!

 

You are correct about the numbering, but I'm just as clueless on the meaning, if any, of the Q as you are. Cheryl may know.

 

Thank you Susan!!

I love this piece & bought a whole table of glass just to get this one. I didn't even know the Breakers Club connection or the maker till I got it home & I will have to sell most of the rest locally as an ID is unlikely & a couple of pieces would be a shipping nightmare waiting to happen.

The silver was black as could be & the previous owner did not take it apart to clean the silver. There was remnants of silver polish on the glass & dripped onto the inside of the various pieces. I was pretty sure it would glow like crazy once I found & deciphered the mark. As you can see in the one photo I was not disappointed.

 

Too chic!

Debora

 

Peggy, that is a LOVELY piece!

 

Thanks!!

I wish I had taken a photo of it before I got it all cleaned up. It looks so much better with the shiny silver against the green glass.

 

Hey, Peggy! Had a thought about that Q as I was falling asleep last night. Does it look like it holds a quart of liquid? A lot of hotelware has a "capacity" mark.

 

Hey, Peggy! Had a thought about that Q as I was falling asleep last night. Does it look like it holds a quart of liquid? A lot of hotelware has a "capacity" mark.

I don't know for sure, but I will check it out & post my findings later.

 

Gee, that "Q" looks like the Gorham date letter for 1884, which of course makes no sense with the airplane for 1927.
http://www.silvercollection.it/gorhamdate.html
http://www.silvercollection.it/GOR1884TRE.jpgl

Also curious about the stick figure of Native American drawing a bow to the right of the "12" mark.

--- Susan

 

Gee, that "Q" looks like the Gorham date letter for 1884, which of course makes no sense with the airplane for 1927.
http://www.silvercollection.it/gorhamdate.html
http://www.silvercollection.it/GOR1884TRE.jpgl

Also curious about the stick figure of Native American drawing a bow to the right of the "12" mark.

Well I filled it with water & it holds about 1 1/2 quarts.

Susan you are correct that it really does look like the 1884 mark. I thought maybe it had something to do with the original hotel which started about that time, but I don't think they would have designed the frame like this in 1884.

I thought it was a star next to the 12. There were other marks on the inside of the pieces, but they were all different & the image next to them was not always so clear.

 

I suspect it may well be 1884. That's reminiscent of Dresser modernist designs of the time and I don't se why a US maker might not have copied same.

 

I suspect it may well be 1884. That's reminiscent of Dresser modernist designs of the time and I don't se why a US maker might not have copied same.

I was not familiar with this designer, but when I did a Google search for his works I found several that really did look like the same style.

I wonder if this frame was originally ordered by the hotel & designed by Gorham when it opened in the 1880s. Then they continued to use the same design & then this particular one was actually manufactured in 1927.

 

I think there's little chance of aircraft symbology in 1884

 

That "stick figure" looks to me like the "star" was slightly double-struck.

 

I think there's little chance of aircraft symbology in 1884

The airplane mark is from 1927.

 

Not where I can get to my copy of Carpenter to check if he dates that version of Gorham's silverplate mark, but will say that I can't recall seeing it on any 19th century pieces. Have seen other random letters and numerals, would guess some sort of internal factory codes, same with the double-struck asterisk - the 'Q' would have no meaning regarding date by 1927.

It really is nice, probably one of the most attractive hotelware pieces I've seen - suspect it is more likely from the Breakers Club in Santa Monica, CA, which opened in 1926...

~Cheryl

 

@bercrystal, @Bakersgma I could very EASILY be 100% off base here, but when AR isn't aired because of WGBH fundraising, I get a link to watch what I missed....was JUST watching from last Monday's show (which originally aired in 2015)...the Vase was being identified by David Rago who always (mostly) does the pottery......the vase was a piece of Newcomb Pottery, and had a Q on it which David said identified it as being pre-1905......here is the link and I think it is the first item being described......as I said.....it may be of NO relevance, but it RANG a bell!!!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/watch/episode/1918-charleston-hour-3/

 

Cheryl - I think you are correct about this being from the Santa Monica club. That actually makes more sense than the Palm Beach location.

Thanks!!!

 

I'd totally missed the biplane!