Durand Glass

Durand Glass

Durand Glass 

The iridescent glass production at the vineland glass company, new jersey, is better known as Durand, the name of the enterprising French born glassmaker whose commercial success allowed him to fund his range of art glass.

Durand Glass 

Staffed by former employees of Quezal glass, the art glass workshop at vineland initially produced glass whose forms and declarations closely resembled those of the famous Tiffany’s.

However, the team soon produced its own distinctive range of colours and patterns.

Durand Glass 

Forms were regular and simple.

The basic golden amber iridescence was called Ambergris, but it was the patterns that distinguished the Durand vineland  pieces.

Some vases were decorated with fine random trails of glass threads, a technique known as spiderwebbing other declaration included Peacock feathers and King Tut swirls, following the fashion for all things Egyptian after the 1923 discovery of Tutankhamuns   tomb.

On some pieces the iridescent pattern was allowed to drip down the sides to create random patterns.

Other iridescent ware had cameo or intaglio designs in the surface.

Durand Glass 

In the late 1920s, a range of crackled glass vases was introduced under the exotic names of Moorish crackle and Egyptian crackle.

Durands early cut glass is mostly unmarked.

Later pieces are usually signed Durand, with the lettering sometimes across the letter V.

Prices are pretty solid and the likelihood of finding a cheap piece may imply it could possibly be a fake, or as they say you get what you pay for.

I hope you have found this page on Durand Glass  to be helpful and informative, please feel free to search my blog for more articles on glass.

Happy hunting from the collectibles coach.

Quezal Glass

Quezal Glass 

Quezal Glass 

The Quezal  company , name after a south American bird noted for its gorgeous iridescent plumage , was established to produce iridescent glass in the Tiffany style, and its finest pieces are of comparable quality and price.

As former Tiffany employees , Thomas Johnson and Martin Bach were familiar with the company’s decorating techniques and glass recipes .

They made no attempt at technical or design innovations , and Quezals range of vases, bowls. And lampshades were  unashamed imitations of Tiffanys  Favrile art glass.

Forms included the famous jack-in –the-pulpit shape and other flower inspired designs.

Quezal Glass 

Quezal pieces had slightly thicker walls and a high-quality iridescent finish.

The decoration was more regular than that on Tiffany pieces, with an emphasis on pulled-feather decoration that created distinctive patterns.

Quezal Glass 

Under courted blue or purple pieces are rare.

The superb technical quality of Quezal  glass more than compensated for the lack of originality found in the Tiffany pieces, and Quezal glass became a serious rival.

However Quezals fortunes were dependent on the fashion for iridescent glass, and when it fell out of favour, in the 1930s, the firm struggled, and production switched to lamp shades.

The high quality of Quezal glass made it popular, from 1902, most pieces were marked with an engraved name.

Quezal Glass 

Quezal  glass made in 1901 was unmarked, and some of these pieces have been given suspicious Tiffany signatures.

Prices are high at the moment in 2013, listed below are if you examples of what you may have to expect to pay if you want to acquire one of these exquisite pieces of glass.

A  1902 to 1920 Luster art lampshade marked [Luster art] will set you back $200 $300.

1902 to 1920 squat vase $450 $700.

1902 two 1920 footed glass compote with flat rim iridescent green to blue $600 $800.

Quezal Glass 

I hope you have found this page on Quezal Glass  to be both informative and helpful, please read my other articles on glass from around the world.

Happy hunting from the collectables coach.

Tiffany Glass

Tiffany Glass 

The name of Tiffany is virtually synonymous with American Art Nouveau art glass.

Tiffany Glass 

Tiffany refined and developed the technique for iridizing contemporary glass to produce and exclusive and now extremely valuable range of trail blazing shapes and finishes.

Louis Comfort Tiffany was essentially a designer rather than a glass maker, and it was the technical expertise of English glassmaker Arthur J Nash with whom he collaborated at the Tiffany furnaces in New York, that transformed Tiffany’s designs into the stunning glass that made Tiffany’s a household name.

Tiffany’s Favrile range of iridescent art glass, launched in 1894, was an immediate success .

Tiffany Glass 

The glowing colours blue and gold are most common where produced by spraying the surface of the molten glass with metallic lustres, and were applied to truly innovate plant inspired Art Nouveau forms.

These included the distinctive Jack in the pulpit vase, based on an iridescent wild flower, the goose neck vase that resembled a Persian rose water sprinkler, and the magnificent but highly vulnerable and valuable tall Floriiform vases with gently flaring ruffled rims.

Tiffany Glass 

On less complex forms, the decoration included the trademark but technically complex peacock pattern, feathering, tooled threading, and patterns created by marvering hot glass into the surface of the vase to create the trailing leaf and flower shapes favoured in art Nouveau.

On other pieces, the naturalistic floral decoration was created by painting the design on to the surface in metal oxides.

Tiffany Glass 

Other iridescent ranges had experimental textured surfaces.

The lava range was inspired by the molten lava from a volcano and decorated with iridescent molten trails that ran down the irregular cracked iridescent surface.

Tiffany’s Cypriote range sought to recreate the pitted iridescent surface found on ancient Roman glass.

I hope you have found this page on Tiffany Glass  to be both informative and helpful, please read my other pages on iridescent glass.

Happy hunting, from the collectibles coach

Pate-de- Verre

Pate-de-Verre

Pate-de- Verre

In the late 19^th century, a group of French glass makers revived and redeveloped the complex ancient Egyptian techniques of Pate-de-Verre and reintroduced it into the 20^th century studio glass making repertoire.

Pate-de-Verre is a sophisticated technique used to make exclusive one-off or limited edition pieces.

Pate-de- Verre

A mould of the design is filled with crushed glass coloured with metallic oxides and heated until the glass fuses .

Pate-de- Verre

When the glass has cooled it is removed from the mould and hand finished.

For exclusive pieces the mould was made using the cire perdue or lost Wax process and used only once.

With limited editions or semi-production line pate-de-verre, a reusable mould was employed.

French glassmakers excelled in the techniques, Almaric Walter was probably the most prolific exponent of pate-de-verre.

In the Daum workshop at Nancy, between 1906 and 1914, both he and Henri Berge produced small animals, insects, and reptiles, either as small sculptures or decoration.

Pate-de- Verre

Walter set up his own pate-de-verre workshop in 1919, using the A Walter Nancy mark.

Pate-de- Verre

He continued with designs similar to those he created for Daun, as well commissioning designs from other artists, who  often signed their work.

Francois Emile Decorchemont  and Joseph Gabriel Argy- Rousseau were both former ceramicists turned glassmakers.

Who specialised in pate-de-verre after world War 1.

Decorchemont  is best known for his thick walled vases  with veined and streaky decoration.

Pate-de- Verre

Argy-Rousseau produced a prolific range of small richly coloured Art Nouveau and Art Deco style pieces at his workshop Les Pates de verres d Argy Rousseau in Paris.

If you like this class you will have to dig deep into your pockets as it does not come cheap, but I personally think it’s worth every penny and a great investment opportunity.

Designer Hand Bag

 Designer Hand Bags

 Designer Hand Bags

Handbags capture the glamorous fashions of the past century.

A Hermes 1950s Kelly bag can be worth more than $1000 but many desirable bags cost much less than a $100.

 Designer Hand Bags

Handbags have grown in size and complexity in proportion to women’s independence.

In the early 20^th century, most women were largely financially dependent on men.

Handbags were correspondingly small and dainty, as they needed to hold very little.

Some were so tiny that they could be clipped to belts are dangled from fingerings.

The most popular style from this period were the drawstring bags and square flat bags with a chain handle.

Both types were often made of Saturn are leather but most of the examples that survive are of fashionable

beadwork, or metal mesh, which is like a delicate chain mail.

 Designer Hand Bags

Floral patterned beadwork bags generally cost between $1-$200, but rarer designs, such as those with and unusual beadwork  pictures,  tend to be slightly more valuable.

Mesh was some kind chemically tainted or decorated with enamel discs.

Most mesh bags, made from a base metal, fetch between 100 and $200, rarer gold and silver examples are usually worth substantially more.

 Designer Hand Bags

By the 1920s a growing number of women were earning their own money, which give them more independence.Meanwhile smoking had become a fashionable pastime and the use of cosmetics was all the rage.

This resulted in a trend for larger bags, to accommodate the necessities of women’s busier lifestyles.

 Designer Hand Bags

Daytime bags were made of cloth and leather, while glamorous brightly coloured beadwork bags with Art Deco patterns were favoured for the evening.





 Designer Hand Bags

Clutches bags without handles were predominant through out the 1930s.

 Designer Hand Bags

These were some of the first women’s bags to be given interior divisions to organise their contents.

Clutches came in many sizes and in simple, geometric shapes.

Some examples can be bought for less than $100 but expect to pay more for fine quality materials.

 Designer Hand Bags

Simple, modern designs were sometimes given an exotic twist with materials such as snakeskin, finally made bags of this type may sell for more than $150, while standard pieces often start at around $50 seek out models with brightly coloured detail is such as clips in plastic as they can add to the value.

 Designer Hand Bags

   

World War II limited bag production in Europe, so most surviving 1940s bags come from the United States of America which was less affected by rationing.

British bags of the time were often made at home from items such as old clothes.

Colourful felt applique bags, made from recycled fibre, were another wartime choice.

These inventive bags tend to be less costly than those of the 1930s, as they are often inferior and less attractive.

 Designer Hand Bags

In the 1950s, austerity gave way to frivolity and unabashed elegance.

Novelty bags were the latest craze especially in the USA from wicker bags with felt fruit to rigid plastic box shaped bags in bright colours.

The latter were mostly made from an early transparent plastic called Lucite, and are much sought after with prices starting at the around $200.

 Designer Hand Bags

The Hermes Kelly bag [named after Grace Kelly] was hugely popular for dressy occasions, and is possibly the best-known and most luxurious bag in the world.

Genuine examples can command prices of more than $1200.

The 1960s youth quake favoured futuristic designs and ethnic declarations.

Enid Collins wooden boxes and Emilio Puccis psychedelic patterned bags are among the most desirable examples from this era and often fetch around $50-$400 depending on the condition, design and rarity.

 Designer Hand Bags

In the 1970s with the advent of the woman’s liberation movement, tote and shoulder bags became popular as particular alternatives to the briefcase.

As with bags from the 1960s, many items are usually available for less than $50 although those by well known names will usually be worth more.

In the 1980s and 90s women rose to top positions in businesses for the first time, and indulged in expensive outfits and luxury handbags.

 Designer Hand Bags

These status bags from elite makers are highly collectable in the current brand conscious age.

Names such as Gucci were popular in the 1980s, and the Prada rucksack was a highlight of the 1990s.

Both often sell for more than $100, look to for glitzy, witty handmade evening bags from the 1990s.

One top of the range examples is Judith Liebers crystal covered animal handbags, known as Minaudieres, which often fetch around $400 $1,000.

 Designer Hand Bags

I hope you have found this page on  Designer Hand Bags                to be both informative and helpful.

Happy hunting from the collectibles coach