Soga Glass Company tall flashed/frosted glass lily vase

This lily vase by Soga Glass Company is 9.75" (25 cm) tall. It has its original Soga Japan label and also a UPC label from whichever American distributor imported it. The finish is partially crystal and partially sandblasted. For a brief period Soga made layered art glass, but eventually settled on pressed crystal, flashed and sandblasted glass, and combinations of all three finishes. This vase is an example of all three finishes.

I have been keeping my eye out for a good representative piece of Soga glass and had my eye on a couple of their signature fish plates and this vase several months ago. I made an offer on this vase which was declined and I chose to not pursue it. When revisiting the available Soga glass today, I found the price had been discounted and shipping on it was now free, so I made another, slightly higher offer and it was accepted. This is a fairly large, substantial vase and a good example of Soga's artistry. I may still add a Soga fish plate to my pile at a future date. I think this vase dates to around 1980-2000.

Soga Glass Ltd. was founded in 1907, according to their web site:

http://www.sogaglass.co.jp/en/message/index.html

"Since inaugurated in the MEIJI ERA 40 (1907), Soga Glass has established firm reliance and solid results as a special maker of tableware glass plates and bowls for long last century. We specialized to press-method glass production system in the SHOWA ERA 23 (1948) when we promoted a company, and developed sophisticated production method and technical know-how. Consequently we succeeded in building up mass production system taking initiative in this industry to develop sales for both domestic and overseas market, and have advanced into foreign market through technical assistance and business collaborations. Attributing this aggressive management policy taken in advance of the time, Soga achieved to a global enterprise and succeeded, being recognized as the worldwide brand of SOGA BRAND in glass tableware industries."

Soga still has a web site up, with some very awkward English text on it, but it has not been updated since 2006, so this company appears to be out of business. Some of the pages on the site are non-functional.

http://www.sogaglass.co.jp/en/product/index.html

Eventually, Soga began licensing companies in other countries to use their designs, China, Iran, etc. Glass made in this manner will either be labeled "Made under license by Soga", " Made under supervision of Soga", labeled "Soga (Country Name)", etc. In some cases the glass is not labeled but the box the glass came in will bear this information. This took place post 1990 when the general decline of the Japanese glass industry began due to foreign competition. Glass labeled "Soga Japan" was made in Japan by Soga.