Good future in Chinese glass, then everyone will be moaning about African.
Ah, that sort of economic thing interests me. But Chinese will take a while:
Cheap art glass that has to be made by hand by skilled workers is always doomed in the long run in a capitalist society. Handmade glass blowing is skill intensive, so you have to reward it appropriately if people can choose have easier jobs for the same amount of money - hence it will become too expensive for common use and you end up with the prices Orrefors and Kosta Boda have to charge for their art glass. The only reason Polish and Chinese glass is still somewhat affordable is that they are moving out of a communist society and worker's wages haven't caught up yet. In a few years or decades, these glass industries will fold or move to machine produced glass. Polish art glass will be the first to go, I'd think. China may take a while longer, though, so far they manage quite well to have loads of very poor workers around to keep wages down.
So, whenever you hear of Chinese wages rising spectacularly, it becomes time to hang on to your Chinese future collectibles - and if I'm right, investing in Polish glass will be a quicker way to profit
