Shattaline

Shattaline Limited operated from the mid-1960s for about 10 years. Products were a craft-made range of decorative items including paperweights, pen holders, candle holders, tables, table lamps and table lighters. The manufacturing process was discovered by Lewen Tugwell, a retired major in the British Army and talented sculptor from Farnham, Surrey, England. These items have become collectable in recent years.

In 1969 new partners joined the Tugwells and manufacture moved away from Farnham, initially to Maybury Road, Woking then, in the early 1970s to Scotland. The move to Scotland was to the Evanton/Dingwall area of Ross-shire (now Highland) on the Cromarty Firth. Manufacture of Shattaline came to an end after about ten years because of the inflated price of polyester resin from which the items were made.

The process was labour-intensive and craft-based. Genuine Shattaline items were produced by a patented process and had labels on their underside but, of course, these labels were often removed, leaving the piece anonymous; they can then be confused with similar items but the real thing can be distinguished from these by careful inspection. Lacking the appropriate knowledge, some dealers describe Shattaline and its imitators as "crackle resin" or "resin crackle" items. The company name is often mis-spelt on auction sites as "shatterline" or "shatteline".

External links

* [http://geocities.com/shattaline/ SHATTALINE LTD,ITS HISTORY, PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES]
* [http://www.britishpathe.com/product_display.php?searchword=tugwell&Search.x=34&Search.y=23 BALLAD OF THE BARD - Major Tugwell at work as a sculptor in 1964]