Topic: Lamp worked musical troupe, box and labels

[glassobsessed]

A collector kindly showed me this set today, many of the figures still have their paper labels. The initials on the box and labels look to be GA.

John

[chopin-liszt]

The labels read not only GA, but "foreign".
They may have been added by the importer, for legal reasons, rather than be anything to do with a maker.

These are really wonderful. I might not be terribly keen on small animals, but musicians are something else in lampwork figurines to me.

I did once find a group of three lampworked frog musicians, but I gave them away. (Fool that I am!)

[flying free]

Japanese maybe?
m

[glassobsessed]

I had assumed Lausha because of the 'Foreign' labels but Japanese instead of German would be the other contender in the circumstances. Likewise I assumed GA would have been the importer/exporter.

I was just happy to see a set of nine undamaged figures with their original box!

[chopin-liszt]

I'm delighted to see them, I'd love to own them, with or without box.
A lampwork orchestra would combine my two major loves, one is on my "ultimate wish list".

[rosieposie]

Reduced to 1/-  oh my!  That must have been a bargain even in pre-decimal days!
How something as delicate as that has survived all this time is little short of a miracle.

[glassobsessed]

Looking at my first photo again Rosie I think one of the figures has lost a hat - far left at the back. 

There was no indication of a date, can anyone suggest anything more precise than 50s/60s/70s?

[Lustrousstone]

You can probably rule out the 1970s (decimalistion in 1971) and I think the design on the box is 50s/early 60s rather than late 60s.

[chopin-liszt]

I will never forget the year of decimalisation. It was the year Hendrix released Voodoo Chile as a single and my copy cost six shillings/30p. It's printed in black and white on the cover, not a sticky label.
They look '50s to me. Not that I actually remember the '50s. 

I have a boxed set of 6 funny cocktail sticks, with "Foreign No. 59.22 printed on the back, and the price written on in biro.Tthey were 9/- !!
That is a *lot* more expensive than this set of musicians, for many fewer and much smaller items.

[KevinH]

It may be just my way of thinking; but why would a box showing only animal figures on the lid be used to hold a set of musicians? Is it really the correct box? If not it could confuse the dating.