Wonderful Vintage Whitefriars Ruby Glass Swan

Wonderful Vintage Whitefriars Ruby Glass Swan.

When they were first shown in the 1938 catalogue, swans were made in medium only, which were approx 8 inches high. In the 1940
catalogue they were made in 8 and 10 inch versions. In the 1945 catalogue a 5 inch swan was briefly added to these, but by the 1954 catalogue this had changed to 10, 8 and 6 inches. In 1966 the 10 inch and 6 inch were discontinued, leaving only the medium. From 1978 to 80 the footed swan (like my Aqua) was introduced, made in medium only. They were made in Aqua, Flint, Gold, Ruby and Sky blue. These are all rare, but Sky blue is the rarest as it was only made for one year, in 1980.

All the swan sizes are approximate and there are considerable variations. Medium swans vary from seven and a half inches to 10 and a quarter inches!

All together over the years swans have been made in Flint, Sea green, Golden amber, Emerald (rare), Sapphire (rare-ish), Sanctuary blue (another rare ), Ruby, Arctic blue (which replaced Sapphire) Ocean green (replaced Sea green) Twilight, and the VERY rare colours, Silver – only made for one year in 1972 – Amethyst and Black! (Black was only made for the Australian market, apparently.)

There are some examples of odd colours, which may or may not have been experimental or accidents. Some Flint have a slight hint of colour, and some Amber have been seen in a darker shade, almost copper brown.

The small swans (5 and 6 inch) have three \’pulls\’ on each side to represent the wings, and the medium and large swans have four, however the footed swans only have three.

Pre-war swans are apparently narrower, because when purchase tax was introduced the swans were made wider so that they could be sold as bowls and therefore escape the tax which would have been levied on them if they were classified as ornaments!

The footed swans were not liked by the glassblowers, but  decided that to add a foot would save the time it took to grind the base flat on the swans. In fact it didn’t save time, as the foot had to be carefully applied so that it wasn’t uneven, which would have resulted in it needing grinding anyway! What actually happened was it took the glassblowers longer to make a swan with a foot, but it saved the need for employing an extra person to grind bases!

This particular Whitefriars Swan measures 18cm x 7cm x 22cm

I do also have some other colours available so please enquire if there is a particular colour you are looking for.

This ruby red swan has no chips, cracks or any flaws or faults in any way and is in an original vintage condition.