The Wonderful World of Glass Animal Figurines — European Creations

 I have been intrigued by glass animals since I began collecting glass some 50 years ago.  Early on, I limited myself to Cambridge Glass animals, but since then, I have expanded to many different animals from a number of distinct companies.  Believe me, this area can be anything from a collector’s paradise to a collector’s quicksand.  In fact, glass animals have been around for over 3,000 years.  Some creatures are incised; some made via cameo layering, some molded or etched glass, and many, many are delightful figurines.  Figurines will be the primary focus of this article, as well as of next month’s article on U.S. glass animals.  I am also excluding blown glass Christmas ornaments from this writing.

 Evolving technologies improved during the last two centuries, and molds became used increasingly, transferring much of the creativity from the glass blower to the metalsmith, either with molds or etching plates.  Details could be embellished within the mold or via hydrofluoric acid etching.  While this encouraged mass production, the true glass artisans still ruled in many locales.  World expositions from 1851 London through 1934 Chicago all helped to spread the artistic beauty and technological growth in glass.

 The casual collector such as me might be intimidated by prices and counterfeit pieces among many that are available in animal figures from Europe.  Many European manufacturers use lead crystal, following established traditions.  I look toward pressed items from central and northern Europe; I can’t seem to fathom collecting and authenticating the myriad Murano animals, many from lamp work.  Most glass animals from Venice/Murano made before the industrial revolution were done by lamp work, with an oil lamp and artisan controlled bellows.  Since then, many molded and blown pieces have been produced in Italy, including a numerous pieces with millefiori (‘thousand flower’ inserted colored rods).

 In the late 1800s, glass works around Manchester, England, included Burtles, Tate & Co., creating opalescent pieces such as swan salt sellers, an elephant, and an ostrich/emu (Australian export?) vase.  Molineux and Webb fashioned a stunning Sphinx paperweight about 1875, following increasing interest in Egyptology.  Ireland’s  Waterford began in the 18th century, went dormant in 1851, and was resurrected in 1947 by Czech expatriate Karel Bacik and Dublin jeweler Bernard J. Fitzpatrick.  The sparkling crystal ball used in New York City New Years’ celebrations is from Waterford.  This happy story has resulted in many collectibles, but the production has mostly migrated to Eastern Europe under the umbrella of Finnish Fiskars Corporation.  Still there are horses, terrestrial and seahorses, fish, dogs, alligators, elephants, giraffes, birds, dolphins, whales, sharks, stingrays, and many others.  Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, many artists created designs in tune with the Art Nouveau, Art  Deco, and Modernist eras.  France saw the beginning of the first two movements, with Émile Gallé’s cameo pieces, the Daum family, René Lalique, Baccarat’s François- Eugène de Fontenay all leading in design and quality.  Figurines became more common in the 1900s.  There are many eastern European and Asian forgeries of Gallé’s work, as well as Daum, Lalique, and Baccarat figurines.  Most of the figurines counterfeit pieces are poorly or not signed.  Lalique and Baccarat certainly have distinctive signatures.  The quality of French art glass is incredible.  Lalique’s hood ornaments for 1920s automobiles show exceptional originality and artistry and are expensive, by my standards.  These are much copied, including an array of pieces from Eastern Europe.  Be careful, but enjoy exquisite glass if you so choose.  Selections include dogs, cats, rabbits, squirrels, panthers, turtles, owls, swans, ducks, parakeets, cockatoos, eagles, a toucan or two, a dragon (Daum), swans, angelfish, koi, a chameleon (Lalique), lions, tigers, bears, a starfish and a unicorn (Baccarat), and numerous others.  Silvestri, seemingly from Taiwan, makes an Egyptian cat almost like the Baccarat one.  Well known for its miniature opalescent fish, cats, elephants, rabbits, swans, butterflies, and such, Sabino, but also produced larger pieces.  A figurine source from 1968 on is  Cristal d’Arques, Paris, with a significant collection of relatively inexpensive animal figurines.  Belgium’s Val Saint Lambert has produced high quality crystal cats, foxes, penguins, sea lions, and others.

 To the east, glass figurines have been and are being made in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Austria.  Germany’s Nachtmann creates a number of items; cats, dogs, fish, a hummingbird, a penguin (on skates), an elephant seal, farm animals, and others.  I believe that Nachtmann makes pieces for distribution to the U.S. under Princess House.  To me, the highlight of their zoological artistry is their Wonders of the Wild collection, embossed ‘PH’; eighteen 24% lead crystal detailed pieces from bass and bull through whale and wolf.   Lenox 24% lead pieces include cats, elephants, turtles, dolphins, wolves, and Pooh figurines sometimes have stickers that identify Germany, the Czech Republic, or Korea as sources.  Moser, the most widely noted Czech firm, creates lead- and cadmium-free critters such as elephants, roosters, ducks, cats, lions, sometimes in a Malachite-style green glass, sometimes etched “Karlsbad”.  Beware the misspellings of dealers who seem to think that Moser is the same as Mosser of Cambridge, Ohio.  Yeah, NO!  Rückl glass from the Czech Republic has small birds and swans, with internal colors. Heinrich Hoffman and Henry Schlevogt (father-in-law and son-in-law, respectively), created many forms and figurines during the 1920s and 1930s.  Some were similar to Lalique pieces in their windswept appearance of classic Art Deco.  Hoffman & Schlevogt made animals such as elephants, horses, turtles, dogs, and roosters, appearing in crystal, turquoise and their “Jades,” a malachite green and an azurite blue.  World War II and Soviet nationalization halted the creativity.  However, following the fall of communism, the factory has produced a variety of figurines from recovered molds in a variety colors like malachite, azurite, and Vaseline.  A number of birds and a polar bear have been identified as “Made in Poland.”  I will only mention Austria’s Swarovski crystal, since the family was staunch Hitlerites and unapologetically slough their beliefs off as old news.  (I can still hold a grudge.)

 Scandinavia contains a number of interesting glass makers, several such as Kosta (later Kosta Boda), Sweden, and Hadeland, Norway, dating back over 200 years.  Swedish Orrefors is relatively new at 125 years and was absorbed by Kosta Boda; their factory is now a museum.  All three designed animal figurines, with Kosta and Orrefors creating many modernist animals; blocky elephants, rhinos, rabbits, and such.  Kosta employed Bertil Vallien in the 1970s and 1980s to design the Kosta Zoo, a modernist collection of nearly 50 animals, from bears to a tapir and a unicorn, many very thin.  Reijmyre Glasbruk west of Stockholm has made a number of lead-free, modernistic birds, elephants, cats, dogs, squirrels, a polar bear, and possibly a gerbil or lemming.   Also lead-free, Finland’s Iittala, some 125 km north of Helsinki, still produces very avant garde owls, shorebirds, swans, and perching birds in subtle to stunning colors designed by Oiva Toikka.  Norway’s Hadeland Glass has become a personal favorite of mine, due to small figurines of high quality at a low cost, representing domestic and Nordic wild life, including seals, a musk ox, a polar bear, an arctic fox, an arctic hare, a hedgehog, an ermine, and a sea eagle, several in crystal and opaline.

 My articles are intended to share my own interests and perhaps to pique your interest.  As always, the DeStefano family offers us a source for our passions with the Mountain States Collector.  Please come to the Front Range Glass Show on  October 5 and 6, 2024, sponsored by Jodi and Mark Uthe, at the Loveland Ranch Event Center Complex McKee Building.  I can assure you that a number of the items I have described will be for sale there.  The Rocky Mountain Vintage Glass and Pottery Club (also known as the Rocky Mountain Depression Glass Society) is always at the Front Range Glass Show.  Great glass, china, and other ceramics appear at the Show from a variety of dealers.