Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Germany => Topic started by: Simba on August 29, 2013, 10:01:34 AM
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I was very pleased to find this lovely amber Walther 'Breslau' centerpiece bowl at a local Charity shop yesterday for £1.75 :o....now if only I could find the flower frog at a similar price ;D
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I am confused ...not for the first time....Black Poppy has this bowl down as BRESLAU in its bowls section but GORLITZ in its centrepiece section but Pamela has it down as GORLITZ ???
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Hi Angela,
I know it's almost 18 months since your post, but I thought I would try to assist you with your concern with the naming of this bowl. This is based upon my perusal of the catalogues available.
It appears that after WW2 VEBSachsenglas changed names of some pieces, or used names of August Walther & Söhne AG pieces, from before the war, on new designs, they created after the war.
On p.3 of the 1936 catalogue the centrepiece with the Lille figure in it was named 'Breslau'. On p.036 of the 1953 and 065 of the 1965 catalogues it is named 'Gorlitz' with the Lille figure in it. The bowl commonly named 'Diana' in the 1950's was named Undine in the 1936 catalogue with the Lille figure, and the 'Undine' name was used for a fairly nondescript design in the 1952 catalogue.
The name 'Paris" was used on on a range of pieces found on p.042 of the 1933 catalogue, and on p. 098 of the 1965 catalogue the 'Paris' name is given to a vase, with a totally different design to anything from the 1933 designs. The name 'Berlin' was given to a vase in the 1965 catalogue, nothing like the 'Berlin' bowl from before WW2.
Breslau was part of Silesian Germany before and during WW2, but became Wrocław, well inside Poland, when the borders were redrawn, after the surrender of Germany. Gorlitz is a town on the west bank of the Oder River, which forms most of the border between Poland and Germany.
Perhaps the makers were asked by the DDR to change the name to a town within East Germany, or it may have been a decision of those in charge at the glass works at the time.
I am not sure if this has helped you, but being aware of these contradictions has allowed me to accommodate varying descriptions given on web pages.
Neil
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Thank you so much Neil for taking the trouble to explain that...it all makes sense now. I will be very happy to catalogue it under both names. ( I have been asked by my children to catalogue my collection as they have no idea what any of it is and having had elderly friends whose belongings have been practically thrown away after their deaths it seemed such a shame to amass a nice collection only to have it lost ....bit morbid I know but it is helpful for me too for when I have a senior moment ;D )