A Study Of A Czech Glass Basket Shape & Fabrication Used As Decor

Lots of controversy came along when I posted two glass baskets, with a Butler Brothers Monograph image of the catalog ad. Frankly, those images represent a specific date, and it does not suggest that all baskets that seem the same or similar are.

As Czech collectors we have seen glass products metamorphose in all kinds of ways. An already difficult trial of identification can be made even more challenging, it also means that possibilities in the hot furnace glass production can be endless, and taking personal offense at different opinions about it, is ridiculous.

Baskets for export from Bohemia/Czechoslovakia from 1900 to 1940 were a very big chunk of the decorative glass that was produced during that period, I think that country was the most prolific in their variety and quantity. Even BB and Truit Volume II show a nice series of examples.

A recent post of mine about a little booklet published by an American collector during the 1980s stated that the glass decorative basket category he was focused on were all American, I found that 90% were Czech. He stated it was impossible to identify them, we feel a similar difficulty. Using old catalog pages can help, but even then, we can be looking at small black drawings, or faded small images.

I found the two baskets I have very different, my previous statement was that I felt they were Kralik, now after many comments and other examples shown, I have changed my mind. Can I pin point a producer we know? NO.

Images illustrate the two small baskets side by side, the handles are textured clear crystal and the same, The mold could be the same but because of the different amount of glass layers, does not quite look the same. The tooling of upper rim is quite similar, except, due to the heavier thickness of the glass, it does not have as crisp a detailed surface.

Two more details about the red basket, the interior's bottom has an orange color on top of the red color..... can't say this is typical. The other important difference, the red basket is marked with a CURVED arched Made IN Czechoslovakia, in a small font with a white acid, and Capital letters for each word, as I typed it. I used a black crayon to help highlight the words for the image.