Topic: Franz Welz Klostergrab - Pictures of the production Facility

[obscurities]

I am posting these here in glass for those who have an interest in the production of Franz Welz. Recently found in the possession of a Czech postcard collector who grew up in Hrob / Klostergrab and now living  nearby in Most.

These are the first images of the facility that I have ever seen, or even heard of.

The first image is the most recent representation of the facility, and the others are earlier pictures. Image 1 is obviously post WWI, as Klostergrab is in Czechoslovakia.   I am trying to get the dates for the other three from the postmarks on them.

I am told that the facility was leveled in the 1960's and there are no remnants left...  sad.....

I guess I will have to be satisfied seeing images that let me know what the facility actually looked like.

Although I have always though it to be large after WWI, it is larger than I expected, and it's size certainly seems to support my belief that their production interwar was likely reasonably substantial.

Craig

[glassobsessed]

Wow, not a one man operation then.

You must have been thrilled to find these Craig.

John

[obscurities]

Yes John I was......  very excited....  and yes.... it would appear that "Franz" may have had s little help..... 

Kevin actually found the first in a facebook post of about 200 old cards by the gentleman. They were all of Hrob / Klostergrab. I contacted him and started a conversation and he provided some known history and more images. He lived in Hrob / Klostergrab for about 35 years and then moved to Most, which is nearby. 

I now know the history behind the area names and their derivations. I have an image of a grave marker on a wall of 4 family members who died in 1945 and are buried there.  Both recent and old images of the family house of the wife of Josef Welz, the eldest son who ran the company with his brother Franz Alois Welz until the end in the mid to late 1930's.

I also inadvertently ran across an envelope on ebay I purchased, while doing a Klostergrab search after seeing the cards from the collector, which it turned out had a Franz Welz seal on the back flap which was intact. The letter was opened across the top. There was no mention of Welz, only the age of the stamp, the original value, and the fact that it had a Klostergrab cancellation on it. The letter it seems was sent by Franz Welz in 1867 to Josef Wendler in Haida, who was also a manufacturer of "Fancy Glass Goods" according to a later ad in a London paper. That ad was provided by Anne. Apparently Wendler also made trinket sets.

The letter is gone, but I am sure the envelope was written by Franz Welz and the seal placed on the flap by him.   

I am incredibly excited to get it. It is coming from Austria. I will frame it in a double sided frame so that I can see both sides of it.....

So it has been kind of exciting here for a few days... in a geeky kind of glass way....       Maybe at some point some brochures of some kind will eventually show up.......  One can only keep their fingers crossed.

Craig

Pics of the envelope used with permission.

[flying free]

Wow.  Fascinating finds by Kevin and you and thank you for sharing the information.
I've just spent a while reading through your posts on CW as well as here.
Very exciting news
m

[obscurities]

Thanks M.......  pretty cool stuff....    :-)

Craig