Topic: How to ID Kosta Boda vs. later copies?

[c-10]

First post to this exceptionally informatiive site. I buy Scandinavian glass when I can afford it, usually to give away. (Might be a few too many pieces around the apartment, though!) While not a serious collector, I do care about authenticity, both to protect the reputations of the original creative artists and to avoid being cheated.

Almost all of my pieces, from houses like Strombergshyttan and Kosta Boda, are visibly signed. A few are not, like the red face shown here. Is there any easy way for an amateur to distinguish real Kosta Boda from Mexican or other reproductions?

Thanks for any advice.

[chopin-liszt]

Hello and welcome!
Do you have any examples of "copies"?
The best way to tell would be to study the real thing beside something that is not, so you can compare the quality of the work.
But if you know the look and FEEL of the right thing, when it is in your hands, you ought to be able to feel the difference even if it does look the same.
There really is nothing as good as handling a piece to be able to make any judgements about it.

Is the red face supposed to be a Bertil Vallein piece, related to his "Brains" series?
The face does look similar to his designs.
I don't think it is Vallein who actually does sign. If he did, he'd never have any time to be making anything.

I would think Mexican glass would have more air bubbles in.

[c-10]

Thanks for the reply, chopin-liszt. I should have given more information. The photo is of a piece alleged to be by Erik Höglund, ca. 10" high. I assume that it would have been signed if authentic 1960s. It looks "good" to my eye, in all ways except for the absent maker's mark.

I have seen quite a few obvious reproductions, imitations and/or adaptations of glasswork from the great houses. Some had the real maker's signature or logo. Of the few dozen pieces of known-authentic Swedish and Danish glass/ceramics I've owned, and thousands that I've handled in stores, almost all were marked. This piece generally matches the Erik Höglund faces on Swedish sites, but it's easy enough to make a cast from an existing piece like this.

I don't own any obvious copies or fakes. I am a big fan of Bertil Vallien's work - bought a blue "Brains" piece for my parents during a fortunate trip to Stockholm decades back. I now buy them on eBay whenever they're affordable and give them to friends. Set up with plasticine on an LED base, they make fascinating visual effects! And every one is different.

[chopin-liszt]

I want a "flying wedge" Janus "Brains" piece. I saw the one I want in an Art Glass shop in Amsterdam. My partner wouldn't buy it for me.
But given he paid for everything on my holiday and paid for concert tickets and dinner out  every evening, I didn't really have a leg to stand on. 

I know we have somebody here who knows a lot more about Hoglund that I do, hopefully he will be able to help you more with this than I can.

[glassobsessed]

The last time I said something was not by Erik Hoglund I was quite wrong...

However, these faces are not a Hoglund design, never seen them before today as it happens. After a quick google they look like they are Mexican, Jaramillo brothers, Skydreamer mask.

https://www.novica.com/artistdetail/?faid=1715

John

[chopin-liszt]

Thanks, John.
Now you have commented, and said what you have,  I feel a bit more confident in saying I didn't really like the surface texture of the red face. The small lumps were too big and too even and "regularly" sized.
But I don't really know enough to know they are not right.

[c-10]

Seems likely that glassobsessed is correct. I had found similar pieces on the Web labeled as "Mexican" and "possibly copy of Hoglund", but not the direct connection. Hence the OP mention of possible Mexican origin, and query about signatures. (Not that there's anything wrong with Mexican glass; it's the truth-in-advertising aspect that concerns me.)

This page - https://romaarellano.com/listing/787581855/mid-century-blown-art-glass-face - is of a piece identical except as to color, and the poster seems well-informed.

Oh well; it's a nice "face," even if not Kosta Boda as advertised.

[chopin-liszt]

You have had a chance to get a good feel of it as well as see it. You've learned about some Mexican glass and you liked it enough to buy it in the first place. Not all is lost. 
It had me thinking of the Brains series.

[kerstinfroberg]

Just to complicate things a bit more, there are lots of unsigned genuine pieces, namely the "seconds".
It often takes an expert checker (working at the glassworks) to see the differences...

[c-10]

... there are lots of unsigned genuine pieces, namely the "seconds".

Intereasting - thanks for sharing that.

Seems like many high-end glass and ceramic makers have long made a clear distinction between firsts and seconds to protect their brands. With ceramics, that might mean putting scratches through the underglaze marker's mark before overglazing.

Is it possible that Kosta Boda et al are OK with compromising their brands by selling seconds without any obvious indication? Or perhaps they won't release even seconds that aren't up to a very high standard.

Since Bertil Vallien's "Brains" were mentioned: I have noticed a significant change in quality between the first one I bought almost 25 years ago, and more recent versions of the same design (Florence/blue). Shaping of some recent pieces has been cruder and less organic, and the finish both rougher and variable across a single head. (This is quite distinct from the hand-made variability that lends so much interest to these scultpures.) I don't know whether this is a deliberate move away from precision, a sign that less-skilled apprentices are making some of the (signed) pieces, or something else. But when I want to buy them for gifts, I now look for older pieces.