Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Decolucretia on March 13, 2007, 10:57:27 PM
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I've had a Jules Lang Ad from the Pottery Gazette & Glass Trade Review (September, 1950) hanging on my wall for a while and just noticed something curious (to me at least). It pictures what looks like a Brockwitz fish handle fruit bowl and another float bowl with birds on the rim and says "Two of our latest designs in British-made Glass". Were the Brockwitz moulds purchased by an English company? I've posted a copy of the advert below - the first is a close up on the Brockwitz bowl.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-5625
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-5624
I was aware that Jules Lang imported glass from Europe - is this misleading advertising :o ???
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A fascinating find. The bowl with the birds around the rim is also interesting as I was recently watching one on ebay (no. 260090878590), It was described as Jobling (which it isn't) but I could never figure out who made it. It seems to have been inspired by the Barolac 11571 Swallows Bowl.
Returning to the Brockwitz fish handled bowl, whilst I have not heard of this pattern being made in Britain, it is not entirely surprising and could explain why the pattern is seen so much more frequently in the UK than the other Brockwitz handled bowls (Lion, Squirrel, Budgie).
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For some time now I have been puzzled by some entries in Miller's Glass Buyer's Guide (2001), all by BKK (Bona Art Deco Store, The Hart Shopping Centre, Fleet, Hampshire, status unknown as the website cited is no longer devoted to Deco). So one has the usual reservations about their attributions &c.
The book includes seven figurine centrepieces by BKK. The two in the coloured pages are Sowerby, OK, but one is a combination I've not met before.
I had assumed that all five bw sets were Continental. Two of these are attributed to "International Bottle Co." How did BKK know?
Anyway, is there a possibility that these two were from the same factory as the two pieces in the Lang advertisement? Could it really be a British works? There are still plenty of glassworks in the UK about which we know almost nothing. Wood Bros and Waterstones are just two examples in Yorkshire.
At least five significant '30s glassworks were either omitted from or received the most scanty treatment in the British Glass between the Wars Exhibition at Broadfield House Glass Museum twenty years ago. There must be one or two more.
Bernard C. 8)
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I seem to have a vague recollection of reading somewhere, that in the immediate after-math of the cessation of hostilities in Europe, a wide range of British manufacturers sent personnel into Germany, with the objective of obtaining items seen as important to their businesses, including chemical formulae, (among them, the recipe for 4-7-11 eau-de-Cologne) industrial drawings and possibly? moulds. Much of this was seen merely as seizing items as "war reparations", so it would not surprise me if the Brockwitz and other continental glass items were obtained in a similar manner.
This is possibly less than helpful, as I cannot recall the title of the book.
Regards,
Marcus
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That's a very interesting ad - many thanks for showing it.
I have two Jules Lang ads from 1936 and 1937. In each ad are pieces that I recognise as made by both the Czech firm, Rindskopf and the German firm, Brockwitz. The 1937 ad features the Brockwitz Fish handled bowl and also the Brockwitz Fish handled tall vase.
Now in the 1950 Jules Lang ad, they describe the pieces as "two of our latest designs in British made glass" but they had had the Fish bowl on their books for at least 15 years, so to refer to it as a "latest design" is not really correct!
I doubt that they (or an unknown British factory) bought the mould from Brockwitz. I think there are probably more Brockwitz Fish bowls in circulation still generally. They pop up on eBay being sold from various parts of continental Europe. Possibly there were more Fish bowls made - or possibly they have survived more easily. The handles on the Lion and Squirrel bowl are more angled and possibly more easily damaged than the curving Fish handles.
My guess (just a guess) is that Lang could well have imported a job lot of the Fish bowls and felt that calling them "British Made" would sit better with 1950s audience.
Glen
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Thanks for all the input - I do love a good glass mystery ;)
My immediate thought was as Glen stated - that Jules Lang had perhaps 'tailored' the ad so that it was more appealing to British audiences. But the thought of personnel 'acquiring' moulds after the war is not out of the question either. Add to that, the amount of copying going on....who knows!
By the way, is there a rule about showing glass ads (ie. copyright)? I assumed it was OK and would like to share another one with glass board members.
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I believe that advertising copy and pictures are fine, but Frank knows chapter and verse.
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But the thought of personnel 'acquiring' moulds after the war is not out of the question either.
I really doubt this was what happened in this instance. The Brockwitz glassworks was located not far from Dresden, in what became the Soviet Sector in the aftermath of WW2.
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By the way, is there a rule about showing glass ads (ie. copyright)? I assumed it was OK and would like to share another one with glass board members.
Providing it's over 25 years there are no limitations. There is an advert gallery here:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/thumbnails.php?album=124
I have submitted several myself.
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But the thought of personnel 'acquiring' moulds after the war is not out of the question either.
I really doubt this was what happened in this instance. The Brockwitz glassworks was located not far from Dresden, in what became the Soviet Sector in the aftermath of WW2.
I am neither being cantankerous nor merely obnoxious. It is clear that in the post-war scrum, certain British businesses were EXTREMELY focussed, on the ultimate goal. My father, who worked in MI, suggested that in the first year after the cessation of hostilities, it was less than difficult to access what became the Russian controlled zone, as even Stalin could not control post-hostility euphoria. There were always going to be questions raised regarding Dresden, and observers must have had access to be able to confirm or deny the fire-storm bombing of that city, which to this day, remains one of the most contentious of British military actions of WW II.
I know Glen's father was one of those serving at this time, and thus he commands my greatest respect.
Marcus
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Jules Lang did buy from British Companies, ours being one of them. In fact we give their Hatton Garden address as our London Showroom on some of our adverts in teh Pottery Gazette!
If they did not they would have gone under during the war. These however were not made by us. So what did we make for them? They may have marketed our Fantasia range of jugs glasses and plates and the acid etched pink, green and blue plates and large and small bowls.
sadly wedo not invoices to prove what we made for them just photos and samples of items. We still have some moulds listed Mould Owner: Jules Lang. We nearly made the British Airways Concorde range of large and small wine and tumbler. Western Glass of Basingstoke ( The Heppner family) pipped lang by half an hour with the enquiry and we only quoted for one wholesaler.the order was over 350k pieces spread over 5 years, so worth having for a hand factory!
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I noticed this morning that Hajdamach cites the Century Glass company as being the manufacturer of the fish handled bowl we usually call Brockwitz. He even gives the mould number. I will investigate this further this evening, but thought a post would get other people thinking. This might explain their commoness and the weight variation discussed elsewhere on the board http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,2548.msg18916.html#msg18916.
I think the clue may lie in the flower's absence or presence
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Hm, further ferreting hasn't got me far, I have found that the coloured ones seems to have unpatterned bottoms.
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Glad I found this despite lacking 'Brockwitz' in the title :-[
!most interesting - thank you for sharing! :-*
I will try to contribute tomorrow with photos, weights and measurements of my several fish bowls, however I can say already now that the one in Lang's advert looks as if oval shaped which corresponds to my only clear white one. The coloured ones are all perfectly round and a bit larger.
The pattern of my white bowl is extremely different and definitely originates from another mould.
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Century Glass seem to be something we need to find out a lot more about, given that they apparently produced a wide range of items, most of which don't appear to be well-recognised by collectors. I'm keen to know more of them as they certainly made trinket sets (labelled example in my collection.)
There's a mention of the Century dolphin-handled bowls in the topic Max started here: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,2375.0.html.
David Watts is also trying to find out more... I managed to trace some entries in the London Gazette about their winding up in the mid-1960s, but there's still a lot more to find out about them!
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I know this is a fairly old post but I have just been given an amber swallows bowl as shown in the advert. Is there still no manufacturer known for this piece yet? Cheryl.
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Not so far as we can tell Cheryl. :'(
Good to see you back, it's been a while! :-*