Gablonz ornament
Material: Glass beads, glass, wire, goose feather
Size: 13 cm high, Ø 4 cm
Age: mid 20th century
Origin: Czech, Gablonz
Condition:
Very good used condition.
Describtion:
An intricately crafted Gablonz ornament featuring an elongated, silvered glass bead at its centre. Silver-coloured glass beads and gold-coloured decorative beads frame the central glass element, arranged on wire to create a delicate structure. Green goose-feather embellishments at the base, a freely suspended glass bauble, and a hanger decorated with a glass tube and beads complete the charming design. A delightful collector’s piece of vintage Christmas decoration. Please refer to the photographs for condition and details. Guaranteed vintage – 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.
