Gablonz beaded ornament
Material: Glass beads, wire
Size: 20 cm tall, 9 cm wide
Age: um 1930
Origin: Gablonz, Czech
Condition:
Good condition. with normal signs of age.
Description:
An intricately crafted Christmas ornament made of glass beads and glass tubes assembled on wire. Gold-coloured glass rods and silvered beads form a diamond-shaped frame. White glass tubes and two green silvered glass balls add decorative accents to the centre. Three freely suspended silvered glass drops complement the delicate design. An elongated hanger consisting of a white glass tube, small beads and wire loops completes the ornament. A lovely collector’s piece from Gablonz, dating to the 1930s. Very good, undamaged condition with age-related patina. Please see photographs. Guaranteed antique – not a reproduction.
History of the production of Gablonz glass bead jewelry
The production of Gablonz glass bead jewelry has a long tradition. The historiography began around 1550 in Gablonz / Sudetenland (today's Czech Republic) and developed in connection with the jewelry and glass industry. At that time, the first glassworks were built and from these, glass grinding shops. In the countless Gablonz family businesses, the beads were blown up from glass tubes in front of an oil lamp with bellows reinforcement, or later with a type of Bunsen burner. This is how the "freehand beads" were blown up by hand without any shaping aids. Later, the glass tubes were blown up into "shaped beads", again in front of the "lamp", using a bead forming machine developed in this region. Father and grandfather were usually responsible for blowing up the beads. Mother and grandmother's busy hands then strung this bead material on wire in certain formations.
