Topic: Dale Chihuly bowl from Lobmeyr glass studio Baden, 1981

[rocco]

Amazing charity shop find: big bowl / object in purple glass with orange lines. Diameter 23 cm, height 15 cm.

Signed to the base by Dale Chihuly (and some of his collegues / assistants: Rich Royal is one of the names I could identify, not so sure about the other two, maybe Benjamin Moore?).

Made at the Lobmeyr glass studio in Baden (which is located 20 km south of Vienna) in 1981. There is also a dedication engraved "... for Iris from the Baden Boys".
And a sketch of the studio

Thanks for looking!
Michael

[Greg.]

A super find Michael, congratulations 

[chopin-liszt]

Fascinating - I wonder if all the scribblings on it are worth more than the glass itself? 

Quite apart from that, it's rather a lovely beast anyway. What a find, you must be over the moon!

[glassobsessed]

Stunning find.

I wonder who the Iris is? There must be a story that goes with it.

John

[rocco]

Thanks for the comments, folks!

Yes, I was stumped when I saw this for 10 Euro in my fav charity shop.
But to be honest -- there are (many) other rare pieces of glass I would have prefered to find at that prize
So maybe this bowl will fund me one of those...

Still it is quite beautiful.
My second Chihuly piece btw, the other is >> a small bowl also made at Baden, from a workshop held by Chihuly as far as I know. But that one is unsigned, so just dear to me as I know about its provenance...

Michael

[Fuhrman Glass]

you might want to contact Rich Royal and he might be able to give you the full story on it. He could probably tell you who all signed it and were present at that get together. Nice piece and very unusual.

[Anik R]

I love the 'scribblings' to the base -- it makes this piece outstanding!  What a unique and exciting find, Michael.

[rocco]

Thanks!
I have contacted Richard Royal, let's see if he can tell "the story behind"

Michael

[rocco]

I got a very friendly reply from Richard Royal, and also the permission to post it here on the board.
Thanks!

So here is the story behind:

Congratulations on a wonderful find, to my knowledge there are very few pieces where Dale took the time to sketch on a piece. A very special piece, indeed!

From what I can see in the images the piece is signed by Dale, myself, Benjamin Moore and a local fellow named Janchiek Hollander ( I'm really not sure on the spelling of his name) [...]
I spoke with Ben and he thinks that Iris was Mr. Hollanders' girlfriend.

Thank you for getting in touch, my time in Baden is remembered fondly as it was early in my career and had a significant impact on my life! If you have more questions, please, do not hesitate to get in touch!

If you are curious as to the work I'm doing now go to my Web site www.richardroyalstudio.com

Warm regards,

Richard Royal

I certainly had a stroll through the website, incredibly beautiful glass.

Michael

[Fuhrman Glass]

I'm glad Rich was such a good source of info. He has always been very open and helpful. I spent a few days with him in Novy Bor in 1997 at the Int'l Glass Symposium and have a lot of respect for him and his work.