Object Type
This butter dish and cover was one of many types of dish designed to suit a particular food. Extensive glass table services became increasingly popular towards the end of the 19th century. Cheaply made, in pressed glass, such sets, which were often elaborate, became widely available.

Materials & Making
The technique of press-moulding glass with the aid of a hand-operated machine was first perfected in the United States of America in the early 1820s. It took only two people to shape a measured quantity of hot glass in a heated metal mould. By simply depressing a lever, a metal plunger was lowered into the glass, forcing it into the patterned mould. By the 1830s this method had spread to Europe and Britain, giving rise to stylistic changes and revolutionising the availability of glassware. The technique made the mid-to late 19th century the first period of true mass production. In the 1890s the introduction of steam-powered presses improved quality while cutting costs even further.

People
The firm of George Davidson & Co. was founded at Teams Glassworks, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, in 1867. Early production began with the manufacture of glass chimneys for paraffin lamps, but ten years later production was centred on pressed glass wares. Despite the serious setback of an extensive fire at the works in 1881, by 1890 there were 350 employees, the output of finished glass was around 200 - 250 tons per month and there were offices in London, Manchester and Paris. Every type of pressed glass was manufactured, including coloured opaque glass in brown, blue, flint and opal and marbled effects. George Davidson also carried on a very productive barter trade with his brother Joseph in Australia, sending glass, herrings and salad oil out and receiving back butter, wheat, flour, tallow and bicarbonate of soda. George's son Thomas gradually took over management of the works from the late 1870s.