Robert Strange Makers Mark Comparisons
“See “ST” Mark on the Crown, there are many more there that I did not want to clutter the image. This is not a makers mark of Strange.
Two years ago I had been often in contact with Ian Mckenzie, who is an authority on the Amen glasses. Ian and Mr. Seddon combined have 30 years research in proving that Sir Robert Strange could have been the only person that cut the Amen glasses. During this time I was hot on the trail of the history of Robert Scot and his teachers work.
Both Mckenzie and Seddon, were able to present their finding by ruling out many artist in the mix of the hand that cut these very important glasses. Which I consider the most import glasses in the Western World, honestly I consider each being worth millions of dollars each if I had the money to buy one. The skill in doing this work is many times harder in skill to do than any form of engraving.
Once I learned, how to identify the individual, letter initial makers marks of Robert Scot and his Philadelphia artists. The method of how they placed their initials in section of an engraving or seal. The artists all had individual skills stronger than others in their group. Example, Scot was the master of cutting letters and would leave his initials on the cut letters. Scot’s student Shallus was better at doing the feathers of birds and would leave his initials there, another student was the master of cutting the head of the bird on the seal. So when an art piece was finished you could find a dozen initials on one relic by 3-5 artist. This is consistent with dozens of known, documented works by them. The attachment I have provided is an example that shows Robert Strange’s letter initial makers marks on his documented art.
Mckenzie and Seddon, only ruled people out and made the history finger point to Strange as the engraver of the Amen glasses with 30 years of research combined. My study in only two weeks is all it took to prove the Amen glasses were made by Strange, with my method of identification! The rediscovered “ST” letter initial makers marks are acceptable as a fully signed artifact! This is the method of how theses guild artist left their guild style signatures on signed and unsigned art, on most “ALL” works for hundreds of years. Only if you can provide comparisons from documented signed works by the artist in question, can you prove the unsigned works by the letter initial marks method. The guilds leaving these marks, it can be said it was common practice to leave makers mark initials in the art design.
Now, going a step further on the subject of Strange and his student Scot’s initial makers marks. Both of them used the “ST” letters that represents their name, some times they used a combination of “RST,rSt, ST” to allow you to know who was the master and who was the student. Strange and Scot both have these same letters in their names, these styles were found on works they did together before Scot came to America in 1775. This can not be disputed, hundreds of these marks have already been found on known original documented art by them, showing consistency. My next set of documents that I plan to present will show a different artists makers marks, who was self taught under the guild umbrella of Scot in America. Trying to find this artists marks took me three years, just to find his single letter mark letter of his last name. Very unique he was not even Scottish and he presented in the 1820’s the four silver arrows associated to the history of the Royal Archers of Scotland.
The last thing I want to address, is the other meaning of the “ST” mark in Scottish history with it also being a type of royal symbol. There is in no question of a doubt a very important symbol that dates back to ancient times. Seen on the crosses on Iona, the Stuart gold crown and found on the top of the Star pyramid in Sterling, also found on thousands of relics, structures, cut in stone, engravings, weapons, seals, coins, pressed in document parchment and the list goes on. My favorite example of this “ST” is found on the Sword of Robert the Bruce. The theory is the “ST” symbolizes the marriages of the Church and ancient people of the UK. The “S” represents the snake history and the “T” being the true symbol of the tau cross. If anyone thinks I am kidding and you are in the UK, go look at the the “Stone of Scone” and tell me this symbol is not there? The point is that the artists used this symbol as their letter initial marks and the “ST” has great significance to to ancient history in the UK that is not fully understood. But people like Drummond who built the star pyramid knew its meaning he placed it on the top of the pyramid and they are 1-2 feet in size, cut in the stone. The Declaration of Arbroath says that the people originate from the Scythian people. Would this be their mark that symbolizes this history? Very well could be and further research may shed light on this symbolism.
Below is the article of Mckenzie and Seddons presentation on Strange being the engraver of the Ames Glasses. Make sure you click on the green link at the top of the page to see my evidence that proves that the Amen glasses have to be accepted by academia that they were made by the hand of Robert Strange. Where the makers marks as equally as acceptable as a fully written signature. Last thing I would like to say, is that most of the art done by these guild master, they left small symbolism in the hundreds on most all work that dates back thousands of years. This art in theory makes the many thousands of relics, documents themselves with what i would have to say is a form of written history. Later I will present ancient artifacts that shows this in clear detail and the scholars in Orkney will have to acknowledge that some stones that have this art pierced in recently found stone. Would have to credit me with this being the oldest known form of writing in the Western world that predates the pyramids of Giza! Would be the oldest writing in the world is the dates are true with the scholars who did the dig in Orkney! The ancient people were much more smarter then they are given credit.
Has the creator of the Jacobite ‘Amen’ glasses been revealed?
At the international conference held in Edinburgh in October 2010 to celebrate 400 years of glassmaking in Scotland, two glass researchers came together in an endeavor to solve one of the mysteries of Jacobite glass made between 1743 and 1749.
endeavorThe ‘Amen’ glasses are unique. Only 37 genuine glasses are known and they are some of the most valuable of 18th century drinking glasses. The historical sentiment encapsulated in these glasses is such that they sell for tens of thousands of pounds. They are engraved in diamond point with verses of the Jacobite anthem together with the cipher and crown of the old pretender, James, and the word Amen. The sentiments are explicitly treasonable, and in the 18th century, especially after Culloden, possession of such material was not without considerable risk. Consequently, some of the glasses are still protected and concealed in a velvet-lined mahogany box.
Ian McKenzie, a professional glass engraver working in Australia, has been studying the Amen engravings for some years. Geoffrey Seddon has also studied Jacobite glasses for over 30 years. In the 1970s, having photographed 16 Amen glasses in close-up detail, Seddon, with the help of a forensic handwriting analyst, was able to show that the Amen glasses are all the work of a single engraver. As described in his book, his study also revealed that four glasses were forgeries and that two of those were in important public collections.
Ian McKenzie came to the conclusion that the most likely engraver of the Amen glasses was a Scottish artist, the famous 18th century line engraver Sir Robert Strange. In the 18th century, line engraving of a polished copper plate was an extremely important art form, as it was the only means of illustrating a book or making a print of any kind. One of the tools used is a diamond point, and it was the expert use of this that eventually made Strange famous.
Seddon, in his lecture ‘Rebellion and Scottish Glass’, told a rapt conference audience how an analysis of the detailed photographs of the Amen glasses had revealed the profile of the engraver. Study of the improving quality of the engraving showed that most of the Amen glasses were engraved over the very short period of a couple of years. Strange’s life (his marriage to an ardent Jacobite, Isabella Lumisden; his period of service in Prince Charles’s army in the ’45 rebellion; his life in Edinburgh and his period in France) fits the profile of the Amen glasses perfectly. This compelling circumstantial evidence is a strong indication that Strange was the engraver of these glasses. His arguments were so persuasive that one sceptic in the audience rose at the end of the lecture and told how he had come to damn the argument but was leaving a convert.
Amen glasses have always reached high prices. The Seddon–McKenzie revelations seem set to ensure their value will now increase still further.
American Relic Hysteries 