Topic: Alsterfors brandy glass vase?

[scavo]

I've seen a couple of items online that make me think this might be Alsterfors. 1/ the polished rim 2/ the thickness of the glass 3/ the bulge n the stem all correspond closely to items I've seen on Wayne's 20thcenturyglass encyclopedia. Also the shade of blue also makes me think Scandinavian.

[scavo]

Realised today that I have matching liqueur glasses for this vase. I thought I had ID'd these glasses as Czech, but the 'Foreign' label is throwing me.

And that these glasses have a matching sticker to this oversized brandy glass - which I thought was Empoli from a distance.

My understanding is that 'Foreign' stickers were applied exclusively to products from Germany and Japan. But apparently, in another thread here I have been told that Foreign stickers was 'commonly' applied to glass from Scandinavia.

[glassobsessed]

As far as I know Foreign stickers were placed on products from Germany and Japan as consumers in this country were reluctant to buy them if they were labelled with their country of origin.  A hangover of sentiment from the 1940s.

What an odd shape those glasses have!

John

[scavo]

John, your statement confirms what I 'know'. However, it's been suggested elsewhere that 'Foreign' stickers and stamps are not the exclusive preserve of Japanese and German immediate post war production. I'd love a to see a thread on here that could show some confirmed examples from other countries. As I said about these pieces of glass, I've have thought they were either Scandi, Czech, or Empoli. My knowledge about 'Foreign' contradicts that.

[petet63]

This is like QI with Steven Fry (Great Show). You think you know something then  someone moves the goalposts !! I too understood that 'Foreign' referred to Germany and Japan. It does throw up a few questions about pieces of pottery and glass I have seen and thought they looked wrong for Germany and Japan. It would be good if some we could see others as some glass similar to Scavo's Brandy I have thought were Scandinavian but they had foreign stickers on. They were amongst a few easily ID'd Scandi Glass but I left them.

[Greg.]

Those glasses are indeed an interesting shape.

The quote in the other thread was from page 15 of Andy McConnell's 20th Century Glass, which refers to a commonly used Foreign Sticker 'commonly applied to Swedish glass in the 1960s'. Just flicking through the other day, I did also notice on page 77, there is also a selection of Scandinavian stickers, which also included two Foreign labels. To quote ''The scale of the 20th-century Scandinavian glass industry, involving hundreds of different works, is mind-boggling. Most did not sign their output, preferring cheaper stickers, the designs of which were often adapted or entirely changed, these are just a tiny selection of them, including some simply stating Foreign. "

Its hard to say exactly looking at the Foreign sticker on your brandy glass, however, it does look similar to the one shown on page 77 of Andy McConnell's 20th Century Glass, shown in under the selection of Scandinavian labels. Although its also worth bearing in mind that the vast majority of these 'Foreign' labels are all fairly generic in appearance.

[scavo]

Thank you so much, Greg - we meet again over this topic.
The wonderful thing about knowledge is that it continues to grow.

As I  don't have access to the book you refer to, do you think it would be a serious copyright infringement to scan the label in question for comparison?

What is it you find 'interesting' about the shape of the glasses? The vessel or the stem?

[Greg.]

The label looks fairly close to your one, although its difficult to compare. The Foreign one in the book seems to have a white -ish smaller boarder around the edge, with the centre colour being gold or orange. The exact colours are very hard to pin down.

I did think of uploading a picture, although I think there may be a few copyright issues there.  These 'Foreign' labels do appear very generic in appearance, I don't k now if its perhaps easier to try and attribute the glass based on its style and production.

[glassobsessed]

Never noticed that bit about the Foreign labels before.

John

[scavo]

Of course the glass makers would have been buying the stickers in rather than producing them themselves. In that sense they are totally irrelevant to IDing the producer.

What would be more important would be it we could ID some of the glass - then we could confirm what is in the book. But I would also like to pin down other countries that were using Foreign labels.