Whitefriars
Pewter Pinecone Vase
Designed by Geoffrey Baxter in 1969
Height: 6"
Pattern No: 9731
Polished Pontil to base
Information taken from Whitefriars.com
1950-1980, Page 4
Whitefriars: A glassworks with a centuries, Whitefriars is once again hot, hot, hot!!! Collector interest has grown massively since the late 1990s, and values have risen correspondingly.
Whitefriars, founded in 1680, was Britain's oldest glassworks when it moved to the London suburb of Wealdstone in 1923, its final closure following two generations later in 1980. Whitefriars glass has since become the subject of intense collector interest.
The greatest demand for Whitefriars glass is two-pronged: for the designs produced on both sides of 1900 by Harry Powell, and for those dating from the 1960s and '70s by Geoffrey Baxter.
Powell designed in several decorative styles, including historical revival, Arts and Crafts, and Art Nouveau. Many of his pieces enjoy a timeless elegance and were produced by the works for several decades in a palette of soft pastels.
Baxter was recruited from the Royal College of Art in 1954. He largely borrowed from the Scandinavian repertoire during the 1950s and '60s, and it was not until 1966 that he began to establish his own identity. In that year, he designed many of his most idiosyncratic pieces, including the "Banjo", "Drunken Bricklayer", and "Bark" vases.
Values of larger Whitefriars pieces continue to rise and fall in the manner of stock market shares today, depending on their specific colour.
