Busacca Gallery

Exceptional painted floral swirl design, applied silver overlay candlestick, with a square form in a clear glass. From 1895 to the late 1920s, this elegant and exciting manifestation of the glassmaker and silversmith's art garnered its own avid following, just short of becoming a decorative rage. Silver overlay and silver deposit were regarded as an exquisite, special gift or accent for that certain table or shelf. A few nice pieces of overlay were as evident in the genteel home as a piano in those days of refined, yet simple pleasures. This little candlestick beauty has lots of painted silver overlay floral swirl designs.

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SILVER OVERLAY GLASS Silver has been used to decorate bronze, copper, and earthenware for ages. Silver on glass, however, started to come into its own a little over a century ago. In 1889 Oscar Pierre Erard of Birmingham, England, developed an effective method of electroplating silver on glass and porcelain. Although beautiful on the outside, it shared an important shorcoming with its predecessors. The reverse side of the silver design, the side next to the glass would tarnish and turn dark. In clear plates, bowls, dishes and glasses this unsightly result was hardly condusive to a hearty appetite. In 1893, an American from New Jersey by the name of John H. Scharling patented a method no less simple or beautiful than Erard's creation, but with a distinct advantage. The reverse side of the design was snow white and it stayed that way indefinitely. Like Erard's method, Sharling's designs utilized electroplating. He shared his new process with all, both domestic and European. By 1895, the Czechs, Italians, French, English and Austrians were producing exciting glassware with sterling deposit and overlay.