Unusual Glass Vase - Any Ideas?

16 years ago

My mother recently passed along this lovely glass vase. All I know is that it's been in the family since 1914 and that it was purchased at the estate sale of a prominant midwestern man who was much admired by the family member who purchased it.

It's 10.5" tall, 7.5" across at the rim, 4" at the bottoom, and has no markings anywhere. The decorations at the top and bottom appear to be painted onto the surface rather than between layers of glass, and the glass is thicker under both of the painted sections. The middle of the vase has cut-in (polished in?) panels vertically separated by gilded arrows, and the glass on this section is noticeably thinner than the rest. The bottom of the vase is fairly thin, and there is the faint indication of a circle - I can't tell whether it's from a pontil or mold.

I've Googled everything I can think of, and haven't found anything even remotely similar! To me, the painting looks Bavarian or Dresden-ish, but the most similar painted glasswork I've seen is called Bohemian... Any advice would be appreciated!

Sorry for the poor picture quality --

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Comments (5)

jaybird
16 years ago
I have NO idea, but I am soooooooo jealous!!! It is an absolutely lovely vase!!!
sweeby
Original Author
16 years ago
I posted later in the day on another Antiques forum and got this back in reply --

-----
Your vase was made in Bohemia, was wheel-cut and is called glass overlay.

Bohemia is in the western part of what is now the Czech Republic and was once an independent country. They produced a wonderful variety of fine art glass starting in the 16th century, with exports to the USA beginning in the 1820's and continues to this day.

Based on the quality of the work, the design and composition, I would date it late 19th century at best or possibly very early 20th century. The vase is composed of clear glass with white enamel overlay which has been hand painted with various floral motifs and outlined with gilt. The center of the vase is fluted and outlined in gilt. It has a tapered waist and a rollover scalloped rim.

A pontil mark is not necessarily an indication of age as many examples of vintage glass had pontil marks polished out, which seems to be the case with your example as you say there is a circular mark where one would expect to see a pontil mark.
Ten inches is a good size and should you decide to sell it, you should do well. Do not be confused by the offerings on eBay as many similar items of a much later date are being mis-identified as date.
------

I'm still looking for anything similar to get an indication of value for insurance purposes, but so far, these are the closest I can come up with. (They're not that close...) There's a cluster of pieces on eBay that are clearly 'below' these (and mine) in quality going for $100-200, but I'm thinking these may be higher than mine... Thoughts?

http://www.trocadero.com/seventreasures/items/541584/item541584.html
http://www.alexiaamatoantiques.com/antique_bohemian_white_overlay_tazza.htm
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/piatik/item/PS07-12-06-01
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/the-vault/item/A-442
http://www.atlantaantiquegallery.com/wsm/i-22803_bohemian_moser_white_cased_to_emerald_huge_vase.html
http://www.alexiaamatoantiques.com/antique_bohemian_white_overlay_centrepiece.htm
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sweeby
Original Author
16 years ago
Just bumping this back up to see if any new viewers can add any more information.

From my continuing research, it appears most similar to the works of Moser -- but perhaps that's just because that's where I've been looking.

And any ideas of value? I'm still clueless there...
alisande
16 years ago
You might email a photo to Skinner or Bonham & Butterfield. If the vase is valued under their minimum for consignments you won't learn much beyond that. But they'll give you a price range if it meets their minimum, and in any case it's so easy to ask.

Good luck!
sjarz
16 years ago
I have no knowledge of these things, but that is one gorgeous vase, which it was in my house, lol.
Suzan J

Unusual Glass Vase - Any Ideas?

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jaybird

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Unusual Glass Vase - Any Ideas?

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jaybird

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