Topic: a little bohemian mystery

[Mike M]

Hi Folks

A little light entertainment for those willing to play along.

I must apologies for doing a 'Bernard C' as I'm going to explain this in two goes.

The picture below is of two very cute tiny vases, only about 3 inches tall. I bought them Monday at Woking Art Deco.

I thought they could only be from a very few makers. For those willing to play along I invite suggestions as to who was responsible for them.

Once people have had a reasonable chance to hazard a guess as to their origin - I'll post a picture of the label on the bottom of one of them. A label, I've never seen documented before and that is quite confusing .. but I get ahead of myself.

Once I saw the label I've come to a very surprising conclusion (in a nerdy glass collector kind of way) I'd like to see if people agree, but I think it works better is you just see the vases first.

So fine glass folk who do you think are responsible for these vases? - suggestions please

I'll post the label picture over the weekend.

Oh yes apologies to anyone who likes all the information at once!

later

Mike
 

[azelismia]

the glass it self looks like Harrach and the decoration looks like Goldberg, Josephinhutte or Rachmann (and probably 90 others that I can't think of off the top of my head).

I think the glass itself looks like Harrach, from the green on the bottom and it's got that color that Harrach tends to have as well as an elegant shape.  

I have also seen decoration similar to this from Poschinger..oh, come to think of it  Moser also had a similar glass treatment but their green was usually on top.

But, I know what a slippery slope I am playing on Really, it seems like without a mark or a catalog page that matches exactly all glass attribution is a slippery slope.  


So, my guess is blank from Harrach decorated by another company. Either that or a Josephinhutte blank either decorated by Josephinhutte or another company. For some reason, the decoration doesn't seem like Harrach to me.

[obscurities]

Mike,

I would ask if they have pontils or are mold blown....  ? Are the rims enameled or silver overlay?  Other than a label, are there any other marks on the underside?  Those questions being asked...... Here is an answers unless you respond with something that would change my mind.   :thup:  My response is based on the appearance of the glass.

I would agree that the blanks look like Harrach blanks.....  Moser would have had the color scheme reversed with the green up top. I have also gone through several books to see if I could locate another company with that color scheme, with any type of decor, and at least in my library, I can not find one.  I do have to say thought, that all the examples I can think of, or find examples of by Harrach in this color scheme are actually noticeably larger than these small vases.....

I also have to say that the aspect of a paper label on the piece has me quite interested in seeing it....

I will go with a Harrach blank, and decorated by another house (too many to choose one)....  Paper label applied by the decorating house.....

Craig

[KevinH]

Interesting that the decoration is similar on both vases but also has noticeable differences, possibly suggesting these two were decorated by different workers, although probably in the same work place and at much the same time.

Might even be modern work out of ... well ... Eastern areas, perhaps?

[Bernard C]

Do I play games like this!    

I don't think anyone is within a million miles.   Mike wouldn't be playing this game unless it was both completely unexpected and quite fabulous.   Also you can eliminate some possibilities, like Liberty's, Manley, and Parkington, as it's taken Mike too long, and the solution has to be something that he has had to check out.   So I will go for a New York retailer's label, and CMoG have just confirmed that they sourced from Tiffany.

Well, if you're going to be wrong, why not do it in style ...............

Bernard C.  :angel:

[Galle]

My very first thought when I saw this was that the glass is Harrach. I'm going to say decorated at Josephinenhutte.

[Mike M]

Hi

thanks for playing along

Bernard -you are a little wide of the mark- sadly it's not fabulous  -in fact the others are all quite warm. The label though is, I think very interesting and odd and not referenced anywhere I can find (eg Lexikon). It's also changed my knowedge a bit.

Craig - they have lovely polished pontils -rims are enamelled -one vase has a part label remaining and under it you can see a tiny indistinct gold squiggle -same as the enamelling. 

I'll let others play before posting the label shot

cheers
Mike

[Bernard C]

Mike — Well, it was a nice thought!

Bernard C. 

[krsilber]

I hate to even hazard a guess...Loetz perhaps?  I dunno.  I'd say Moser because of all the little souvenir-type pieces they made, but it looks like there's silver on it, and apparently they didn't like to use silver because it tarnished.  The main reason I'm writing is to address the shading question.  While I agree that Moser generally shaded with color at the top, there are at least two signed examples in Baldwin Moser Artistic Glass of Moser's shading at the bottom, in plates 50 and 131.  So it's not a hard-and-fast rule.

[Paul S.]

from a total ignoramious  -  all I can say is that the green shading is so very Harrach.   But then that is far too obvious, so bound to be wrong.  Paul S.