Topic: Primitive looking cordial - ship engraving

[uphoosier]

This cordial is 4" tall.  Both the quality of the glass and the engraving look very poor.  A dealer friend of mine said this was 1st half of the 20th century Bohemian made.  The poor quality was intentional to feign an early manufacture date.  It makes sense to me, but was he correct?  Thanks for looking.

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9071
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9070
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9069

[Ivo]

Reijmyre, Sweden. Do not be fooled by "poor" quality - it is quite high , really.

[Frank]

Intrigued I twitched the engraving a bit... what were they engraving with Ivo?

[Ivo]

I think the viking ship (hey hey giveaway) is actually etched or sanded.

[uphoosier]

Thank you, Ivo.  I've done a lot of searching of Reijmyre glass, and haven't run across anything terribly similar to these.  Am I to assume they are older?  I recognize the skill required to make glass with a consistent appearance.  I didn't mean to say the cordial was poor quality, just that a concerted effort was made to make a fuzzy etching and glass full of irregular bubbles.

[uphoosier]

The wonderful people at Reijmyre have replied to me.  They searched old catalogs, and even showed photos to retired employees.  They cannot identify that these were part of a regular line, but also stated that it could be their production circa 1850-1900.  Thanks to all for the assistance.

[18thCGlass]

Hi. I'm an 18th C glass dealer of some experience and I've seen plenty of similar items on my travels and they pop up with regularity in pre 1840 glass on eBay; an example here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190189436824

The general understanding amongst the antique glass trade is that they were produced in Gibraltar or perhaps somewhere else in the Med and apparently produced from recycled Coca Cola bottles. The Coke bottle cullet idea may well be a bit 'tongue in cheek'; but having said that, I would think that 'Coke cullet' would produce a better quality metal! The products produced range from small glasses such as those shown through larger items such as that shown on eBay; through to large 12"+ bucket vases. They all bear similar 'ship' engraving. I wouldn't think they have any great age and are most certainly 20th C and have little value. They are not bought by the antique glass trade.

Sorry if this is disappointing news.



Moderator: Long link shortened

[uphoosier]

Thank you for the reply.  Not disappointed at all, just happy to solve this.  I know now that Reijmyre is a quality manufacturer, and the variation in these two cordials was not making sense to me if they were made by a high quality maker.