Loetz Decor Names...

If you are a collector of Loetz art glass and want to learn more about the various decors that were created by this glass house, one of the best references is the Loetz. com website created by Eddy Scheepers. This site will give you a pictorial tour of the various decors that were created by Loetz. As you tour this site, you will begin to understand the various patterns and names of the Loetz decors. Loetz was VERY specific about its decor names. Take the "Argus" decor for example(2nd vase from the end). The Argus decor is also known as Phanomen Genre (PG) 2/351. To be called "Argus" the piece must exhibit a specific pattern of silver blue veined dots over a base color known as "spreading chestnut". I know this will seem confusing but even though you find a piece that exhibits the same dot pattern as the Argus decor, as soon as the ground color (base glass color) changes from "Spreading Chestnut" to any other color like Metalic Yellow or Red, the decor name changes as well. The yellow example on the end looks similar to "Argus" but it is actually known as PG 3/430. To make things even more confusing there are some pieces, like the Loetz clear vase with silver iridescence that has the golden "silberiris" branches shown in the first photo, that look like a known Loetz decor (in this case "Astglass") but have no known official decor name. In these situations the piece is either an example of an unknown "Ausführung" (unique decor execution) or not Loetz at all! In this example the vase can be found in the Passau Museum as Loetz but the official decor name is not known. Bottom line...while there is much to learn about the glass created by this amazing glass house, the good news is there are many references available to study as well as a lot of great people that will help you identify your glass along the way like the, "The Art Glass Discussion group" on Facebook which has over 430 members! Check it out! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Art-Glass-Discussion-Group/159309037417058