Topic: Anyone know old Russian Cryrillic script?

[mrvaselineglass]

Kristi:  as promised, closeup shots of my 4 Biedermeier ANNAGELB pieces:

The photos related to these pieces
http://www.vaselineglass.org/1biedermeierthree.jpg
The piece on the left is TUMBLER, center is GobletTALL, and right is GOBLET, so they can be referred to in those names in the photos below.

The mug  http://www.vaselineglass.org/biedermeiermug2.jpg is labeled MUG

First up: MUG
close up of the heart shapes, showing how the glass surrounding the hearts has been cut back to leave a raised surface.  The words were then cut INTO the hearts.  TWO views.  in both views, you can see the long flowing crosshatched area that is to the outside of the heart shapes and it is clearly raised up from the surface.  The hearts are also raised up from the surface of the main body of the mug.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/mugheartscloseup2.jpg
http://www.vaselineglass.org/mugheartscloseup.jpg

lower portion of the applied handle, you can see how the knob was ground off to make it flow with the contour of the rest of the mug:
http://www.vaselineglass.org/muglowerhandlecloseup.jpg

The top portion of the applied handle, showing how a thumb rest has been cut on the top of the handle.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/mugupperhandlecloseup.jpg

TUMBLER: (height 4.5 inches)
The first shot is a close up of the upper raised portions, onto which designs were cut.  If the areas were surface level, the cutter would not have been able to cut such intricate designs, as the wheel would have left the trailing edge on the body.  By having a raised area, the cutting has a distinct stopping point.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/tumblercloseup1.jpg

This photo shows the ornate cutting on the side of the foot.  These are also 'nodules' that have the surrounding areas cut back to leave a raised surface so intricate cutting can be done.  If you look 'behind' the starburst cutting, you can see the level where the inside of the tumbler stops being open and the solid foot starts.  The tight neck at the base of the tumbler expands outwards just below to make a larger opening than the narrow area just above it.  This could not have been accomplished with a press, so the blank had to be mold-blown.  You might have to refer back to the grouping photo at the top to see the narrowing of the tumbler, just above the foot.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/tumblercloseupfoot.jpg

GOBLET-TALL (The center one in the group shot above):  height 7"
This is a close up of the medallions on the upper portion of the bowl.  Again, raised areas (surrounding area has been cut back), so that intricate designs can be cut into the raised areas.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/goblettallmedallions.jpg

close up of the 'skirt', which is near the bottom of the bowl, on the outside, to show the depth of cutting:
http://www.vaselineglass.org/goblettallbowlskirt.jpg

underside of the foot, to show how deep the cutting had to go on the 'circle' cutouts around the edge (most likely, a very tough cut to make and to get them all the same size too!)
http://www.vaselineglass.org/goblettallfoot.jpg

a close up of the top of the foot, to show the cut-out.  I purposely photographed it with a reflection showing to both sides of the circle, so you could see the flat surface that is the top of the foot.  At the center of the cutout, you can see a small sunburst.  That is actually the cutting that is in the center of the underside of the foot, refracting through the glass and due to the curvature of the circle, it acts like a lens, making the circle smaller.  just above the circle cut-out, you can see the same sunburst again, only larger, reflecting up through the flattened portions of the foot.  the crosshatching pattern you see to either side of the circle cutout is also a reflection from the bottom side of the foot.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/goblettallfoot2.jpg

GOBLET (right side of the trio photo at top of this posting):  height 6 inches.
Raised portions on outer surface of the bowl.  This photo clearly shows how the glass was slanted a bit from the raised portion down to the smooth surface of the bowl, and then the cuttings applied on top of the raised medallions.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/gobletmedallions.jpg

The bowl 'skirt' just above the stem:
http://www.vaselineglass.org/gobletbowlskirt.jpg

a view of how the stem was cut:
http://www.vaselineglass.org/gobletstemcutting.jpg

and, two views of the underside of the foot.  These photos show the 'table wear' scratchings from movement on a surface for the past 160+ years.  I covered a bit more of the accessible lighting when I shot these two.  One shows the color better, the other has more detail.  The one on the left looks like it is actually a blue glass, but that is just a reflection of the black velvet backdrop I use to shoot the photos.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/gobletfoot.jpg

All comments are welcome!
Dave
aka: Mr. Vaseline Glass

p.s.  there were some of these that were made in the mid-1930s and also some are being currently produced in the Czech Republic, but neither the 1930s or the contemporary versions are not as ornate on the cutting, and do not have a narrow stem on them. They are shaped more like ornate bulbous tumblers with a base that narrows, then expands to a foot. They also usually have a surface cutting that is figural in nature.  I have a friend who has a couple of these from the 1930's that has German script and a swastika emblem on it. 

[johnphilip]

  Woweeee. JP

[krsilber]

"I have a friend who has a couple of these from the 1930's that has German script and a swastika emblem on it."
Wow is right!  What a collector's item.

Thanks for all the additional photos!  I feel like I'm being a real pest.  This intrigues me, though, because a week ago I wouldn't have thought Biedermeier pieces like these might be anything but entirely cut.

I just have this one question, I've asked it before, and even with the new photos I can be sure of the answer - photos have played tricks on me before with this.  Are the straight miter cuts raised (do they stand out it relief, higher than the glass either side), or recessed into the glass?  In some spots they seem to be cut into the glass, other areas not, for example in the photo I've drawn on below, where the arrows are pointing.

This is a key question, which is why I'm harping on it.  At least some of them look raised to me.  That would mean that some of the designs were cut into the mold, not into the glass.  If it was molded, there's no reason it couldn't be cut as well.  (obviously it was at the bottom of the handle attachment on the mug).

[mrvaselineglass]

Kristi
that tear drop-shaped medallion is raised off the smooth portion of the glass.  In the photo link here:
http://www.vaselineglass.org/TUMBERMEDALLION.JPG
I have an arrow pointing at the top of the page that shows the border that runs all the way around the medallion.  It is raised off the surface of the smooth portion by just a little over 1/16" inch. 

The red areas, including those faceted sunbursts (or 'buttons') are the high points on the medallion.  All high areas are marked in red, including the faceted areas between the 'buttons'.  If you look at the areas directly adjacent to the buttons, you will see that those are beveled flat cuts, so each button is faceted on 8 sides, like an octagon stop sign shape.  However, you will also notice that none are uniform and each one is different.  On the top of each 'button', there is a little starburst that has been etched on top of each button.  Again, no uniformity. 

The blue lines show the deepest cut grooves so that the rest is beveled up to the adjacent areas marked in red.  All areas not marked red or blue are slants going from the high points down to the bottom of each blue 'channel' cut.  I am sure that is not official 'glass cutting terminology' but it describes it.  An even more clear way to describe it.....the red areas are mountains, the blue areas are the valleys.  All unmarked areas are slants going from the mountain to the valley below.  none of the VALLEYS goes below the depth of the height of the raised medallion. 

Hopefully, this makes it a lot more clear.  It has been my experience that if a piece has a pressed pattern (like daisy and button), all of the buttons are uniform in shape, all 'valleys' are also uniform.  The shallowest cuts are the little sunbursts on top of the button mountains.  Those are also not uniform.

All of the medallions are raised up, which means all of the other glass was cut back and then smooth polished.  None of the raised areas are indented on the inside (a typical sign of a mold-blown piece that is blown into a mold with an irregular patterned surface).  The tumbler has a narrow area at the bottom that then expands into a wider area, so the piece was not made by the use of a plunger press. 

This only leaves detailed cutting as an explanation as to how the cutting was done.  The glass worker started with a thick blank, cut down all the areas to leave medallions around the surface, then detailed out the medallions to put a finish on the end product.  The other pieces in the collection were made the same way!

[krsilber]

Thanks, Dave, you've been very patient with me!  You've been very nice to take the time to explain things and add more photos.  The handled one is the only piece that really had me questioning the technique, and it still seems a bit odd, but if you're convinced it's cut after all my hmmms and questions, that's good enough for me.  Sorry I can't help you with any of your questions about it!

What a great quartet of annagelb Biedermeier you have there!