Topic: Anyone know old Russian Cryrillic script?

[krsilber]

David!  Fancy meeting you here!

He doesn't really know nothing.

[mrvaselineglass]

Kristi:
the heart shapes are neither applied, nor molded.  The entire piece is cut glass.  the glass was cut away around the heart shapes to leave those raised off of the surface of the mug. The handle is applied.  Here is a link to front & side views.

http://www.vaselineglass.org/biedermeiermug2.jpg

I have written to a Serbian-to-English translation service, and no reply was received.  Still hoping someone wanders by who can translate.  I see we are getting closer, though!  For some reason, I usually get updates when people post, but the last few I did not receive notification, so sorry on the late reply to the request to see a front view.  The bottom foot is also very ornately cut. 

What little history I know on this piece:  I was the very determined high bidder on this piece (ebay) about 2 years ago.  It cost me about $350 USD.  The seller was absolutely overjoyed at the end price and I thought I had gotten a bargain, but there were a lot of other determined bidders too.  The seller had found it in a thrift store in Vancouver, BC, Canada for $5 Canadian!  This is the first annagelb/vaseline/uranium Biedermeier piece I have ever seen with an applied handle. 

It resides in my small collection of other pieces from 1840's Bohemia.  The tallest is 7", middle size is 6", tumbler is 4 1/2" tall.  All of these have glass cut away to leave a high relief that was then used to cut designs into it.  When I take pictures of this glass, I have to dial down the aperture considerably, or the uranium just overpowers the image.  What amazes me about this is that they were cut with very crude cutting equipment and their lighting was either natural light or kerosene lamps.  The only damage to any of the 4 pieces is 2 or 3 little rim chips on the mug.  The three other pieces do not have as much as a fleabite on them.  All have honest wear on the underside of the foot.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/1biedermeierthree.jpg

Dave (aka: Mr. Vaseline Glass)

[Ivo]

Riedel I assume?

[mrvaselineglass]

Ivo:  that would be my guess too, but no way to prove or disprove.  definitely 1840's Bohemian, and he was the biggest (or possibly, only) maker.

[krsilber]

I would have thought many Bohemian glasshouses could have produced this.  Several makers of Biedermeier are discussed in Langhamer's Legend of Bohemian Glass, including Harrach in Novy Svet, who perfected a yellow uranium glass (and, incidentally, did some pressed glass in the same period - news to me!).

I thought about the shapes on the front being cut, but that would mean that the glass would be thicker near the handle, or as thick, anyway, as the glass is in the areas of relief.  Or is that why the handle appears to stick out a little at the top before it starts curving?  Hard to judge without handling it.  Whew, how laborious, to cut all that away!

I wonder to what extent Bohemian glassmakers used "figured blanks," i.e. blanks in which part of the shape was formed in a mold so that less cutting was necessary.

[mrvaselineglass]

It was most likely mold blown, with some raised areas inside the mold, then beveled down when they cut it.  the glass around the rim is the same thickness, and the handle would have to be applied while both the main portion and the handle were hot.  There is evidence that the area at the bottom of the handle (where there is usually a big glob of glass) has been cut down to match the bevel of the area below where the handle attaches.

[krsilber]

Hmm, this piece of yours has gotten me curious about the construction of these puppies!  I have a Biedermeier goblet, but never really thought about how it was made (http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9590).

There must have been a big solid blob at the bottom of the parison to fill in the stem (whatever shape it was before cutting).  Normally in a mold blown piece there would be an indentation on the inside corresponding with raised areas on the outside.  Can you feel anything like that behind the raised areas of the bowl?  Perhaps the glass is too thick to reflect it.

Looking at the cross-hatched parts, it seems like the grid is raised, rather than the tiny squares within the grid.  Is that just a product of the photo?

[mrvaselineglass]

Kristi:  the grid is raised on the outside, then there is cutting on top of the grid.  I felt the inside of all of my pieces that have areas that are raised, and there is no indent on the inside of the cup, so that means that the piece was thicker and they cut back all the areas around the shields, grids, raised portions.  I am familiar with mold blown that has a pattern or shape other than smooth and that you can feel an indent on the inside, opposite the raised areas.  nothing like it on any of mine.

[krsilber]

I've stared at this and pondered it for quite a while now.  From the way it appears to me, I think it's pressed.  Now it may be appearing wrong, but hear me out.

The crosshatching - I'm afraid I still don't understand.  Are the lines raised or cut back?  Maybe it's an illusion, but to me they look raised.  This would be extremely hard to do by cutting.

The sides of the glass look convex.  Is that right?  This, too, is very difficult and time-consuming to do by cutting, and it would have been necessary if "the piece was thicker and they cut back all the areas around the shields, grids, raised portions."  I reckon maybe that's one reason why when you find a Biedermeier piece with areas cut in relief, you also find cut facets, like on my goblet.  Much easier shape to cut.  And when they are cut, the optics are excellent, with little distortion in the glass.  Yours shows a fair bit of distortion.

Sorry!  I'm not trying to insult your glass or anything.  I think it's really cool if it is pressed.  Chances are it was made at Novy Svet - well, maybe.  Who really knows?!

But I could be seeing things wrong.  You've got a better position from which to see its finer points.

[mrvaselineglass]

If it is pressed, all mold marks were ground off when it was made.  I will shoot some close ups tomorrow when i have better light.