Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Unresolved Glass Queries => Topic started by: Anne on January 23, 2005, 11:44:59 PM
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I'm trying to trace who made Astra Glass - whether it was a company name or a trademark. I have a set of 6 liqueur glasses that came in their box which had Astra Glass printed onto it as part of the box design. They are not modern glasses and I'm trying to date them and find out where they were made. Can anyone point me in the right direction again please? Thanks! http://yobunny.org.uk/gallery1/displayimage.php?pos=-66
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More searching has found mentions of Astra Glass in Germany. The firm isn't mentioned in the Glass Fact File or on the Glass Encyclopaedia, nor does Google turn up anything useful. Does anyone know of this firm please? Dates of existence, what they made, etc. Thanks!
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Nachtmann Bleikristall
http://www.rautmann.de/goods/nachtmann/astra_gold_d.htm
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Thank you Ivo, funnily enough I'd found this page last night as well, having been trying to find out about the Nachtmann range called Crystal Creatures (I couldn't find the creatures though!).
The glasses I have are not like these at all. They came in a box with slots for them to fit into, the box was printed all over Astra Glass (I can't find the box just now but I was sure I'd kept it somewhere!), and the glasses are small liqueur sized ones - each is a different colour bowl on a clear stem, but the glass is coloured irridescent/pearly... there's probably a technical word for the type of glass but I don't know what it is. It doesn't seem to be a surface finish like many of the modern pearly finishes I've seen which eventually wears off.
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sounds very 1950s ...
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I've seen the label lots in local shops here (it's shield shaped, divided into four with red and black on alternate corners- a heraldic-inspired design). I _think_ that they were labelled "Made in Poland" - but this is a vague memory and could well be wrong. The ones I've seen have been 50s-60s era.
They were fairly common. Set up a search for "Astra glass* "on eBay, save it to your favourite searches and set it so that it tells you every time one comes up. Something is bound to turn up with the label, and the label definitely sometimes has the country of origin.
hths a bit,
Cathy.
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Thanks Cathy, that's very interesting. I did search eBay and found a couple of bits but with no info other than the name (and not like mine). I didn't think to set up a search... thanks for that suggestion too! :)
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Hi Anne,
Might Astra be an importers brand label, I seem to recall that A.H. Ludwig used a similar brand label "Cresta", on their imported items, and Remus and Gow seem to have used a number of "brands" including "Tuscany"
Regards,
Marcus
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Thanks Marcus, you could well be right. There seems to be little hard evidence for anything about them as yet... the box gave no clues other than saying Astra Glass - no country of origin, no other text even as a hint. It's another of those little puzzles that I revisit from time to time in the hope that something may have turned up to identify them. (I seem to have an awful lot of such mysteries!)
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Hi Anne,
These labels need to be treated with caution.
The example I gave of "Tuscany" might set people to thinking Italy???
However, some ads clearly show products from Novy Bor, so this can inevitably cause problems.
Regards,
Marcus
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Of course, rather like those Czech patterns with names like Doris which actually sound very English. I'm getting used to the idea that very little is how it seems at first sight in glass! :o
Curiously enough, a search of eBay today produced an advert (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7411397664) dated 1949, for Astra Ware glass by Jones & Co. - I have no idea if this Astra ware has a connection to my glasses though, or who Jones & Co are either.
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Hi Anne,
They were:
Jones and Co (Glass) Ltd, Ely House, Charterhouse Street London E.C.1.
They were a significant importer of Czechoslovakian glass, and I doubt if there was another UK glass importer who would have been using the "Astra" brand at the same time.
I believe now they are called Czech Crystal, and operate with a web-site www.bohemiacrystal.co.uk
I did talk to them last year whilst attempting to collect material for a book on glass imports to the UK, and the importers, over a 50 year period.
This project has hit several problems and is consigned to the back burner for the moment.
Regards,
Marcus
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Hi,
Link working ok for me....
imho, these glasses are probably from Novy Bor, tho Borocrystal or Borske Sklo, I couldn't be precise. The finish is reminiscent of that used by Kannegieser, for the "Nemo" range, also made by Borske Sklo.
I think this link still works:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7405168274
Regards,
Marcus
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http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320046633909
A set of Astra Glasses in the same box as mine came in, but these tumblers are labelled. :) Seller states: Original label to each with the initials "JC" ~ "Made in Belgium"
So, could JC as above be connected to the previously mentioned Jones & Co or is the similarity just a co-incidence?
Does anyone know anything about who JC may have been and who may have made these glasses Belgium please?
If JC are in fact Jones & Co. they could have been importing from Czechoslovakia as Marcus said and from the unknown maker in Belgium as well, of course, but finding the JC labels with the Astra box is a huge step forward in my search! :)
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Just to renovate this topic following some findings of my own.
The Novy Bor link is possible - but according to Ivo's book, "Astera" is the glassworks, not 'Astra', so I'm wondering if there's some cross-pollination of glass going on?
However, my findings take a different slant regarding the Astra label. Firstly, there's a label that's surfaced on a slumped glass item, that's commonly known in the Sunburst pattern:
(http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/albums/userpics/10058/thumb_6-astra_dish_label.jpg) (http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-6541)
Photo © Gordon More
Here's an example of the Sunburst pattern:
(http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/albums/userpics/10058/thumb_6-astra_dish.jpg) (http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-6542)
Very Chance-like — but it isn't!
Finally, a press release dated 1966 from Jones & Co. showing the Sunburst design:
(http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/albums/userpics/10058/thumb_6-astra_jones.jpg) (http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-6540)
A possible reason for these is that Jones & Co were importing glassware made by Spiegelunion Flabeg GmbH and rebadging it using the Astra Glassware label. This might link in with other Astra labels that figure on unrelated items, like blown or stemware.
Incidentally, the designer is noted as being Margrit Thacker.
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Interesting that it says MADE in England, a bit like the Danish Glass the other day. Perhaps made was a very loose term in the 1960s
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I Have been following this thread with interest. I have two bud vases with a JC label. I too was told these were Jones and Co. but BIRMINGHAM. I have never been able to find any more information about this, so I have not put it on my site. My labels say Made in Sweden, but a fellow collector has sent me an image of a JC label which says made in Czechoslovakia, which seems to tie in whith what has been discussed here today. These can be seen in the Identification/Labels section then click on JC
www.glassbudvases.co.uk
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Interesting that it says MADE in England, a bit like the Danish Glass the other day. Perhaps made was a very loose term in the 1960s
Could be the same as those 'Made in Murano' labels ;)
Thanks for the input, Pat. I do wonder if these labels are Jones & Co.: being importers the company was linked to several glass manufacturers, so it is entirely possible. I also wonder if the Astra label is yet another red herring, and another company (unrelated to Jones) importing the glass?
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Interesting that it says MADE in England... ...Perhaps made was a very loose term in the 1960s
There was a very deliberate made in Britain campaign in the 1960's, that utilised a Union Jack sticker. Any company that marketed glass as Made in England when it was not would have been quickly uncovered and fined - In 1950 Jones continued to advertise Astra Glassware and other 'Made in England' ranges. They did not seem to bother too much with all of the potential trade directory options open to them and do not seem to have reached the 60's. This sort of question should be easier to resolve as the glass study develops.
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do not seem to have reached the 60's.
??
Not sure in what sense you mean, Frank.
They were very definitely around in the 1960's and somewhere I have a reference to them in CGR in the late 1980s.
Some importers had their own production capacity, (ie Heppners and Western Glass) others commissioned from UK makers when experiencing supply difficulties.
Regards,
Marcus
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Not in a 62 trade directory
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being back from holiday and NOT having read all:
ASTRA is famous Hamburg beer brewery BTW :P
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... and another to add to the mix.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-6564
Label reads: "ASTRA KAREL CZECHOSLOVAKIA HAND MADE EMBOSSED GOLD".
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That's definitely not the same as the label on mine Cathy. The box my glasses came in (which I still cannot find anywhere!) had the same logo as on David's orange plate above. It was on a black box which had the logo and gold stars as a random pattern across it. It appears there are at least two makers of Astra drinksware! ::) Just to confuse things! ;D
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Possibly an even Australian importer?
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Could well be - and much later as well by the label style?
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Another Astra glasses set, boxed, with the label visible. This is the same label as on my original box. Nothing else on the box to indicate origin, just that label.