Horncastle Burmese Fairy Lamp - A Report

One of our Club Members is the proud new owner of a Burmese Fairy Lamp hand made by Horncastle Studios (Nick Inman) in the UK. The Burmese was made from Fenton's Burmese glass cullets. Following is his initial report:

I have made some comparisons with both Fenton and Clarke Burmese pieces. The first obvious difference is the shape of the domes, the Fenton and Clarke having straighter sides and more rounded top as seen in the following photo.

The next obvious difference is weight and wall thickness of the domes. The Inman domes are similar to Fenton, both being heavier and thicker than Clarke (Clarke/Fenton 4 1/2 oz to 7 oz and 0.090" to 0.150"). Other smaller differences are in the finishing of the top and bottom edges.

The base and floriform top of the epergne are well made and delicate and might be mistaken for old except the metal fittings are not marked as they would be with Clarke. The ribbon rim on the base is similar to C-94 but quite different from any of the Burmese epergnes such as C-194.

All pieces fluoresce under black light with perhaps a difference in the amount of gold making the "struck" region a darker pink in the Clarke domes and therefore masking the fluorescence more. Also all of the Inman domes are struck pink further down the sides than is typical for either Clarke or Fenton.

The lamp cups are Cricklite similar to Type 4 (FL-IV-4) missing the usual indented circle under the dancer figure and missing the word "PATENT" in the circular logo, and of course without a peg. They also show machining marks and other general roughness of the mold that aren't typical of Clarke cups.

More details will be published in a future issue of the Fairy Lamp Club Newsletter.

Jim.

The epergne is a stunning piece in my opinion. I was looking closely at the candle dish supports. These look like they may be solid brass pieces rather than the ring type Clarke holders. Would the owner of this wonderful piece be willing to send a pic of these holders or give a description for the group? Thanks. John

From the owner:

The rings appear to be 5/8" slices from 3" OD brass tubing having 1/16" wall thickness. I don't have information to confirm this but this description closely represents their appearance. There is no joint weld anywhere across the width of the rings. The outer surface and top and bottom edges were polished and then welded onto the support arms. There is no lettering inside as there usually is on Clarke rings.

Hi. Thanks for the pic and explanation concerning the candle dish rings. John