Topic: Art Deco Vase ID = S. Reich & Co.

[dawn53]

I inherited this glass vase from a Great Aunt, and would like to know more. I took it recently to the antique roadshow and was told by the appraiser that it was Tiffin and "not worth very much." She also said she didn't know any more history or info, since this was only the second one she'd ever seen. I wrote the Tiffin Museum, and was told, "No. it's NOT Tiffin." Can you help? There appears to be a 6 on the bottom and there's some kind of mark on one of the angels in the metal. The vase stands 10 3/4" tall

[Mosquito]

Hi Dawn, welcome to the board 

Your vase was made by S. Reich & Co. in the former Czechoslovakia circa mid 1930s. You can see the design as no. 8930 in the Reich 1934 catalogue on glas-musterbuch.de here: http://glas-musterbuch.de/Reich-ca-1934.375+B6YmFja1BJRD0zNzUmcHJvZHVjdElEPTE0OTYxJnBpZF9wcm9kdWN0PTM3NSZkZXRhaWw9.0.html 

The metal mounts may have been added by the importer/ retailer (I've seen several pieces with such mounts but only in the US). 

More Reich opalescent glass here: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,43170.msg240658.html#msg240658
And my copy of the same pattern, albeit without the mounts: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,183.msg212608.html#msg212608

[dawn53]

Steven, you are an angel!

Thank you so much for your references and pictures. In 1934, my beautiful great Aunt would have been in her twenties. Your pattern is exactly right. But mine doesn't have a mark. Is that because the importer wouldn't have wanted one? Or perhaps because of the add-on metal work, they ordered it without marks? And to solve the mystery further, which company would have invested in such an up-style?

She lived in Chicago, so it could have been Marshall Fields....just making a few stabs in the dark. The antique roadshow appraiser said that the only other one she'd seen was in Alabama this same year. Another possibility is that the Worlds Fair was in Chicago in 1934.

What value would you place on it? Just curious--not selling. 

[Lustrousstone]

The mark on Steven's is an importer/retailer's mark (Ferdinand Bing & Co. Successors (1900-31) then Friedlander Buying Service (1931-WW2)), which is probably why yours doesn't have one

[Mosquito]

Yes, as Christine said, the example from my collection has the mark of an importer/ retailer. Most examples are unmarked. The pattern seems to have been quite popular in the states: I have two examples in my collection, both bought at auction in the US (only one has the FBS mark).

Regarding value it's very hard to say. Reich opalescent glass is not all that well known, is hard to find and is often sold without a correct attribution. Because of this it's not easy to find sales records and look at price trends. Both of my examples I purchased for somewhere around $100 USD each at auction (possibly even less for the marked one), but then both were unattributed and I consider them both to have been bargains. However, in a specialist art deco dealers' you'd be looking at a retail price of many times this figure. The metal mounts on yours are also very attractive and might well add to the appeal. In the days when I was selling this type of glass I'd have probably expected to get around 200GBP (~300 USD) each for them, but might have settled for a little less. However, I no longer sell -- partly because I think that opalescent pieces like this from the less well known makers are undervalued at present -- hence why my apartment and office are crammed with shelves and boxes full of pieces by Jobling, Reich, Hunebelle, Barolac, Sabino, Verlys, etc...