Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Bohemia, Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Austria => Topic started by: Mr. Turnip on September 18, 2013, 05:51:51 PM
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I've been pondering some interesting Exbor vases currently on Ebay. What exactly is the known status of Exbor vases? I've noticed one or two threads suggesting that copies (or possibly fakes) do exist of some Exbor vases, although the available information is patchy at best. I've seen the links to Jindrich's information but as it's not in English I'm not sure what any of it says.
Are there any reference books regarding Exbor - I've not been able to find any listed anywhere (I have most of the well known general glass reference books). Could this be why the Exbor etched logo is so highly prized in World of Exbor? I hope that's not faked as well. I currently posses these two - the amber/pink one has a logo, but the red and green one doesn't. Exbor I feel is the most prized of my collection and I'd like some more, but I don't want to find myself bidding on copies or fakes, especially as they're unlikely to be cheap.
Any clarification welcomed!
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Hi, I would not worry too much. There is a thread on GMB discussing Egermann Exbor taking over Exbor after 1993 or 1994. the quality is not hugely different but worth noting at auction, the new acid stamp is different anyway but I think both eras produced some unstamped pieces. The old Exbor pieces with czechoslovakia are slightly more beautifully made in general. The Lipsky vases may have had other factories copying them, especially in single colours historically, but I have not seen any companies today copying them, other than the Egermann-Exbor productions. Jindrich had an issue with an auction house selling new Egermann as old Exbor. Which was obviously not accurate but the vases I have seen made there recently are OK quality and they use some old Hlava and Lipsky designs and own the name Exbor today, so they have a kind of right to prouce these things if they want to, as I understand it. There is an Egermann catalogue on Jindra's site showing some of their remakes. A purist would prefer the old, every time but in my opinion it is not literally a disaster to own an Egemann-Exbor piece. I doubt either of yours are modern pieces, certainly not the stamped one saying Czechoslovakia. This is my understanding of the state of play re. this subject and is just an opinion,
Robert
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Well thanks for your comprehensive opinion bOBA, I will have to thoroughly investigate the Exbor Egermann connection and come up with a timeline, so I know where I am. I'd have thought with Exbor vases being so visually stunning and such high quality that somebody would have put a book together by now. Perhaps I'll have to do it - when I've got a moment.
I have now carefully absorbed Jindra's comments on the actual age of some Exbor/Egermann products. Perhaps he could write a book - when he's got a moment. I'll have the first copy. I suppose if it was all accurately documented in a book (ultimately I still seem to prefer books to websites!) then everyone would know, and Exbor prices would become currency-like, as seems to have happened with Whitefriars. Maybe then quickly go out of print and don't do an updated version just to annoy everybody, like Mark Hill's Michael Harris book.
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Exbor is a very interesting factory and the range of glass is much more diverse than initially meets the eye. The history of it is briefly told quite well in Ricke, Czech Glass. The earlier pieces can be engraved and signed. Some of the top makers-engravers appear to have come from Lobmeyr, some of whom returned to working for Lobmeyr after 1990. Many big design names made a mark at Exbor including Wunsch and Oliva.
great glass!
Robert
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Hi Mr Turnip,
Could you please confirm whether the two images you show are your own photos, or are used with permission. It is just that somebody has queried this in connection with the Board policy on use of copyright images.
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Hello Mr moderator, yes I can confirm I took these photos of my own Exbor vases in my own bathroom (the light is rather well diffused by the frosted glass I find - I was fully clothed at the time though) with my own Panasonic digital camera. For many years I worked in publishing so I'm aware of the consequences of messing with copyright.
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Thanks.
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I'd have thought with Exbor vases being so visually stunning and such high quality that somebody would have put a book together by now.
Mark Hill's book Hi Sklo Lo Sklo is well worth purchasing, although I now see it is out of stock!
http://www.markhillpublishing.com/books/
Might be worth picking up a copy second-hand when one is offered. I actually saw some for sale in Utrecht the other week, so other independent book sellers might still have copies.
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I already have a copy of Hi Sklo Lo Sklo - you're right, it is a good book, I'd recommend it too. I reckon Mr Hill knows how to write an entertaining and informative book. I often wonder why books become 'out of stock' when people want to buy them. You'd have thought the publishers would notice the inevitable onset of non-availability and print some more.
I'd like a copy of Mark Hill's Michael Harris book but as has recently been mentioned elsewhere on this site, it seems to demand an unreasonably high price secondhand. I don't know why he hasn't done an updated version, maybe I'll find one in a car boot sale one day for 50p. I wish I was so successful that I could afford to not do things that there was clearly a demand for me to do.
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It's because publishers are normally committed to printing high volumes. Once these have sold a further batch can prove to be a very risky strategy.
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E - X - B - O - R
:'(
A - N - S - I - E - T - Y
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Well thanks fontanazul, I'd say you've created - through the medium of illustration - a reasonably accurate rendition of the feeling one could experience in these circumstances. Further to this trauma I now have a new addition to my Exbor shelf (it's a good, solid shelf - not in any way wobbly, so that's a relief). It's quite an unusual one I think. A whopping 342mm tall, possibly designed by Pavel Hava. Difficult to photograph as the colours are quite dark - it looks a lot better in real life than it does here. Exbor mark is a bit poor but it's there all the same.
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Wow, beautiful vase!
These square pieces were more likely designed by Adolf Matura >> Link to CGR 1961/7 on Jindrich's site (https://picasaweb.google.com/104509467784289017506/Glasrevue19617?authkey=Gv1sRgCJWO3vK12P6sRQ&noredirect=1#5513682754473793074)
Michael
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Thanks for that Michael. Does indeed look as though it might be Adolf Matura then. The shape is mostly like the top, brightly lit of my three pictures, ie. more tapered than it appears in the second picture. I'm afraid my cheap camera has distorted the shape slightly, made it look less tapered than it is. In the book page link you've added it's like the one on the far right of the illustration.