Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Scandinavian Glass => Topic started by: ckscot on April 08, 2011, 12:30:47 PM
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Hi all, I have just bought this Orrefors bowl. When I saw it sitting dirty in a mixed box of glass I just thought it was a piece of 1980s corporate glass, going from the logo marked on the inside at the base - it says Seminar -81. When I cleaned it up I saw that it's signed Orrefors Simon Gate, so I did a little research and realised that I have what is known (at least colloquially) as a Thousand Windows design, produced from the 1930s to the 1990s. From the little I know I would have expected to see maybe an SG or G after the Orrefors name but this one has his name in full, and no numbers or codes.
So can anyone tell me what the significance of the signature is? How unusual is it to see the full name? Could it have been made and signed in the 1930s and the logo added years later? Or made in the 80s and the signature just identifies Simon Gate as its originator? Or maybe the logo isn't as recent as I suspect? Googling Orrefors and Seminar 81 reveals nothing.:huh: :huh:
Many thanks, Iain
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Sorry, my other photos got lost in the submission:
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My guess is that it is production from 1981.
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I think that this seminar was run by a chemical company - hence the logo which sort of rings a bell - but I can't get a name yet. -81 degrees Celsius would be very close to the triple point of Acetylene for instance - the highest temperature at which it can be forced to change from a gas to a liquid. Acetylene is an important industrial chemical.
I am interested in the full name which I believe indicated a limited production run - Gallery runs of 15 to 60 are signed by the artist.
Ross
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If it was a limited run and signed by Simon Gate then it would have to be before 1945 (when he died). So why would it be used in the 1980s for a chemical company seminar, or anyone else's seminar. That would seem a very extravagant thing to do......or maybe that says something about the 80s/?
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This is the old logo of Skanska, a global Swedish construction company with subsidiaries all over the world. Perhaps a gift brought from Sweden to a seminar in the US in the early 80s?
As regards the signature, this is a non standard one. My guess is that this is a second that has been signed afterwards, or perhaps Skanska asked for them to be signed this way? :huh:
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The Orrefors crystal designs including Thousand Windows are often used by companies and non-profits to be etched as awards or special presentations. As a matter of fact, I sold Orrefors crystal, etched, to the US Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, to be used as gifts. Various other clients purchased this glass as golf awards or gifts.
The Thousand Windows bowls and vases have been in constant production since the day they were designed and put into production. Various sizes have been discontinued but the basic vase and bowls have been created. The style has changed a little when new molds were made.
The signature of the full name has not the trend in the 1980's and forward.
Bill Geary
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Thanks for all the info on this piece. I must confess my pulse had started to race a little on seeing the signature, but it has calmed considerably by now, courtesy of your replies. A little older a little wiser. And it's still great to hold a nice piece like this that I've only seen in photos before.