Topic: val st lambert swan....

[norman warbreck]

This one has val st lambert signed on the side and underneath the following...
(all raised)
pierre humide
a saint-mars-la-briere
sarthe
Is this merely a decorative piece or perhaps for a special occasion/event

[Anne]

Just wondering if anyone can add more about Norman's swan query here?

[Anne Tique]

Funny one this is, because St Mars la Briere is in France, for european standards quite a distance, even just  from the border of Belgium. In France, as you're probably know, they had plenty of glass and crystal factories, so i don't know why they commissioned them from belgium.

I will need to look a bit further into it but 'pierre humide' ( translates as wet stone) has something to do with printing and i came across an old advertisement of a company that has a logo or range called 'aux cygne' meaning litterally with swan...whatever that might stand for or  mean....so yes, perhaps a commemorative or promotion item, but again, i need to look into it a bit further.

Underneath i've added the link for an order / receipt of this company, dated 1932,  it is all in french but you can have a look at it if you like, there's not a lot of explanation in the description.

http://www.delcampe.fr/page/item/id,188481572,var,72-SARTHE-SAINT-MARS-LA-BRIERE-PIERRE-HUMIDE-REPRODUIRE-AU-CYGNE,language,F.html

[Anne]

I was hoping you would spot this and respond, thank you.   Pierre humide (wet stone) I think refers to lithography, which uses a wet stone process, described here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithography (I worked as a letterpress printer in the days before computers were commonly used to produce documents, but have a small knowledge of the lithography process.)

[norman warbreck]

Hello Anne

Thanky for booting this older post...forgot about the posting but still have the delightful Swan. So the ideas given by you and Anne T are great and started searching once again. I do remember the Swan ink...and that it had to do with printing as well as Swan pens...American based...and after all could have been a promotional gift/item.
https://www.google.ch/search?q=swan+ink&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=0K82UsecB4-g7Aal3YCYDQ&ved=0CFYQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=771&dpr=1

Will hope to add further info and am delighted to hear from you.

kind regards
norman

[Anne Tique]

Wasn't that a Pelican?.... ....Sorry just kidding, you're right, totally forgotten about the inkbottle with the little swan on it!

It puzzles me why a French based company would commission a foreign glassmaker, when they had, and still do, several excellent glass and crystal manufacterers in France  themselves. The only reason i can think of is the prestige VSL had at the time, in 1925 for instance, they triumphed at the world exhibition of decorative arts in Paris and received several awards and medals for their works and 70 % of their work in general was for export, but i'm just guessing here.

Last time i went to VSL, couple of months ago, i took two  items with me that they'd never seen before themselves, and was explained that private commissions were kept seperate from the main catalogues and would be very difficult to trace, and i have to say that so far, this is the first one i've come across, but then, one has never seen everything.

Sofar we can already conclude that it is from the first half of the 20th century, that it was a private order and not made in large quantities.