Harrach early enameled cameo glass pieces are sometimes signed in gold
with a signature similar to the above example.
Photo's courtesy of Gary
Baldwin.
Gary Baldwin has hit on what appears to be
a positive ID method for Harrach Art Nouveau Marquerty and Intaglio work
glass. The Harrach pieces were typically marked with a letter
followed by a number as seen above. This particular piece is
also signed in gold gillt with the Harrach signature, similar to the
Harrach cameo glass vase above it.
Photo's courtesy of Gary
Baldwin.
Beautiful and rare Harrach Marquetry vase.
Harrach intaglio vase. These are
often mistaken for Moser intaglio work.
Harrach acid cut back cameo glass vase with cameo glass signature.
Marks on the base of known Harrach
designs/shapes. You commonly see dealers attribute pieces with
similar marks as above to English glass makers such as Thomas Webb and
Stevens & Williams. I believe this misinformation falls back
to the "propeller" myth. I've yet to see a positively ID'd piece
of English glass with similar markings as above, or any other maker for
that matter. It would appear that Harrach used a systematic
numbering system, which probably included the shape number, type of
glass, decoration number, and possibly the customer number and
employee/decorator number. If you have examples with similar
marks, I'd like to hear from you! I'm trying to catalog a
database of Harrach shapes with their marks so we can start to unravel
the numbering system. Two identical shapes with different glass
styles or decorations would probably share a common shape/design
number, with other numbers for the unlike attributes.
Buyer beware! The vase with the above mark was
sold to me on eBay as a Mt Washington Crown Milano vase (luckily
without the C.M. price). Of course I knew it was a Harrach piece,
and I initially suspected that the C.M. mark was just an artist
mark. When I received the vase, I noticed the C.M. ink was a
slightly different color then the rest of the numbering, so I examined
it under a loop, and the C.M. was obviously added with a ball point
pen!!
In these examples we see
a combination of the Harrach feather plume mark, with similar number as
the previous examples.
This example has the Harrach
feather plume mark, and the sole number "10"
If you have
Harrach examples with similar marks, I'd like to hear from you!
I'm trying
to catalog a database of Harrach shapes with their marks so we can start
to unravel their numbering system. Two identical shapes in
different glass types or decorations would probably share a common
shape/design number, with other numbers for the unlike attributes.
If you have a piece of Harrach with an original paper or foil label that
you'd like to share, please contact me and I'll add it to the article.
