Topic: Antique glass bricks (need info)

[Citizen-RJ]

Hi everyone.

I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and I have quite a few antique glass bricks that look identical to the ones referred as "Falconnier".  They have even the exact same dimension. (I just read a few threads about them). I also found this "Falconnier" glass brick in the MOMA (N.Y.) website.   

Anyway, the ones I have, despite looking identical, have a different "brand" marked on them: it says "Glashütte Gerresher" instead of "Falconnier,etc"

After a quick research I found out that this "Gerresheimer" Glass company was one of the biggest glass companyes from the 19th and 20th century, and also considered one of the best in the market. (making blown glass things).
 
I wonder if anyone know something else about these glass bricks(?).  Isn't it weird that a different company would make exactly the same product as Falconnier was making, in just about the same period?

I know the ones I have are very old, because they originaly belong to this german-brazilian beer factory that was built and began its operations around 1910, here in Rio de Janeiro. The factory no longer exists.

The bricks I have would form a nice panel with about 3m² (about a hundred and ten bricks).  However I don't have the half-bricks.  I still don't know how to post a picture in here, but this link shows a similar image:  http://www.glassian.org/Falconnier/gallery.html

It would be great if someone could give me some info about the correct date/period they were made, and also give me a clue about it's value. How much could they worth?

Thanks a lot for your attention.

Best wishes,

Bruno.

[David E]

Hi Bruno and welcome to GMB.

Ian Mackie (owner of www.glassian.org) is actually a member of this site, so hopefully he'll drop by soon to offer his advice.

To post a picture, see this link:
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,6522.0.html

[David E]

I have consulted Miller's Glass Fact File A-Z and here it states:

Gerresheimer Glas - Glass conglomerate located in Dusseldorf, Germany [?-present], operates 17 plants   around the world, (bottles, vials and tubes).

Note the spelling is Gerresheimer and not Gerrescheimer as I assumed!

http://www.gerresheimer.com/

Looks like their main output is pharmacutical glass these days.

[Citizen-RJ]

Hi David.  Thanks for the reply! 

I still didn't find much info about the bricks, but I read that Falconnier, after just a few years, sold his patent to England and a few other countries in Europe.  I believe the ones I have are a german version of his bricks, and must have been produced by the Gerresheimer Glas, around year 1900.  Aparently the german version is also at the Modern Art Museum of München, Germany, but I still have to check this information.

I've seen the bricks on e-aby for aproximatly 40 euros each, but they are always sold as a single brick - and they have the "falconnier" signature.  I could be wrong but I believe it must be quite rare to have so many bricks together (enough to make a panel).

Would you have any idea of evaluation for an original panel (a hundred glass bricks)?  In theory, having several bricks would make them chipper, same price or more expensive?

Once again, thanks very much for your attention.

Best regards, Bruno.

[Frank]

It would make them a lot cheaper, as far as I know, there is one collector and a few others who want examples. However, with careful marketting the batch could sell well as a single lot.

[Andy]

Salvage / Reclaimers may be interested, but they will want their cut
Andy

[ian.macky]

Hi all.  So much interest in briques!  And hi Bruno-- 110!  Nice find!!  No sides or corners tho, uh oh.  They are harder to come by.  I haven't seen any single corners or sides for sale yet, just as part of groups.

Most bricks I've seen are French/Belgian; Deutch are definitely rarer, and though Haywards in the UK was supposed to have bought the rights, haven't seen any English ones yet.  All are marked FALCONNIER.  Timeframe has consistently been late 1890s thorugh 1920 or so; don't know of any new constructions taking place after that.  Perhaps they declined against rising electric lighting, as did vault lights?  Cheap electric lighting brought many changes.

Just stole this group from an unfortunate gentleman on German eBay:



It has both types of side blocks, my first-- se bon!   Alas, no corner blocks.  The whole group was only 4.49 euros (!!), but shipping them from Germany to California will be expensive.  The last group for sale was at Quittenbaum auction house in München, and sold for about 50 euro each (full and short sides), which is typical.

If you're going to use them, please heed what my contact-friend Taco Hermans of the Netherlands Department for Conservation:

The glass bricks were made in a time that there was no cement, so don't use it!! It will never come off again and you would ruin them forever.  Use lime mortar instead and be sure you make it yourself.  I don't know the weather conditions where you live but I would recommend a meager mortar of lime and sand in a proportion of 1:3 or 1:4.  If possible use a lime that sets with air.  A meager mortar will easily come off the bricks in the future.

When are we going to see pictures of this haul?  I have pictures of Falconnier installations here, in case someone hasn't seen them.

--ian

[taco]

Dear Bruno,

As far as I know the Falconnier bricks were made in different countries. If Falconnier sold patents to all these factories I don’t know. He had patents in a lot of countries including Swiss, Germany, Belgium, United States, etc. I know that the bricks were produced at “AG Glashüttenwerke Adlerhütten” in Penzig  (Poland) and "Albert Gerrer Societé Anonyme" in Mulhouse (Haut Rhin, France). I have a brick like the ones you have that says only “Belgium” and has no factoryname. I think this brick was made at the Belgium company “Val St. Lambert” that made prism tiles too. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has three bricks with “France” and “Belgium”, but these too have no factoryname. They were probably made in Penzig, because in France there are bricks for sale that are similar to the ones in New York and it says on the seal “Adlerhütten”. All these bricks have the name Falconnier on it.
Up to now I didn’t found a company in Germany that made Falconnier bricks, probably the “Gerresheimer Glashütte” is this missing one. Why there is no mentioning of Falconnier on the bricks I don’t know.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Best regards,

Taco Hermans

[Frank]

Adlerhütten in Penzig bei Görlitz made Falconnier bricks. Gerresheimer certainly made glass bricks and possibly Falconnier, the were Ferd. Heye in the 19th century though.
Other possibles Von Streit, Berlin and A-G für Glasindustrie, Dresden.

ADG #21 1925/6, courtesy the glass-study.com

[David E]

While on the subject of architectural bricks, I have this large lilac one which wasn't positively IDed:



Marcus speculated it might be Czech (Duchov), but any renewed thoughts are welcomed

Here's the original thread:
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,5801.msg49350.html#msg49350