Derbyshire glass is very sought after for their great designs and lovely colours. The initial firm was James Derbyshire & Brother. In 1873 John Derbyshire set up at the Regent Road Flint Glassworks in Salford, Manchester so there may have been a family split.
A sugar bowl and cream jug with a pineapple pattern was the first design registered by this firm. However it was the later designs which are exciting for collectors. Derbyshire glass used the trademark of JD over an anchor, which often accompanies the registered design lozenge. Unlike Sowerby glass and Davidson glass, Derbyshire produced a number of animal, caricature and human figures.
Derbyshire glass designs
- A recumbent lion design modeled after Sir Edwin Landseer’s design for the lions of Trafalgar Square, London. One version has its paws straight out, the other has paws crossed. Greener glass in Sunderland produced smaller and now considerably cheaper versions of this design.
- A greyhound or whippet, again after Landseer
- A Newfoundland dog, again after Landseer
- A winged sphinx, mostly or exclusively in black. These are very expensive and there are cheaper versions produced by Molineux Webb
- A pair of figures of Punch and Judy, most sought after in yellow (uranium) glass, with a pair being most desirable
- Britannia
- Queen Victoria
Some of these Derbyshire glass designs are superb and command high prices, varying with the colour of glass they have been pressed in. The sphinx, dogs, lions, Britannia and Victoria all sit on distinctive, vertically-ridged plinths. Many offered for sale have chips on the base or elsewhere and it is difficult to find a completely undamaged piece. Watch for the smaller and lighter Greener versions of the lions.