Swedish Crystal Collection

I started collecting Swedish art glass as a way to become well enough off to venture out on an all-the-things-a-ma-should-have-done-project, but halfway through the project, I was captured by the beauty of Swedish Crystal, and I even wrote a book about it (Svenskt Konstglas). It was fun when I tried to challenge Birgitta, the biggest actor on the market, by obsessively pursuing my desire to create an excellent Orrefors collection during the 1980s. Of course, I failed – she was a billionaire, and I was a pauper, at least relatively speaking – but I still managed to put together a seriously good collection. However, I felt sad the day that I realized that I would probably never be able to afford to complete my collection, donate it to Moderna Museet, and maybe get an “Andres Laszlo, Jr., Collection room” named after me; something I believe my father would have approved of and appreciated (and even been a wee bit jealous of). Though I love Swedish art glass, especially Orrefors 1920 - 1940, I have started to sell off my collection.

Unique Fishgraal

“The Paper Weight Fish Graal” is a bit of a conundrum, and it is so for two reasons. [1] Fishgraals were normally made as spherical or drop-shaped vases, occasionally as ashtrays, and, very rarely, as dishes; this is a unique or at least extremely rare shape. [2] In 1944, when this Graal allegedly was made, 1499 other thick Graals had been made before it, and the technique had “improved” so it was then quite easy to produce much clearer/sharper contours than this. This Graal looks as if it had been made among the first hundred or so. Why? Look at these fish. The contour is so vague, lacking all the sharpness that now (in 1944) was so easily achieved. Is it because the material was thicker than normal? Is it because they had used an old "ämne"/"cartridge"? or was it The result of an attempt to imitate “the technique of yesteryearʼs”? More

Kraka Collection

Four Kraka pieces - "a maybe the best Kraka though not unique," "a maybe the best standard Kraka", "a maybe unique" and "an interesting early experiment" - that together could well make up the most complete "small" Kraka collection there is. More

Super Fish Graal

This is probably the most attractive Fishgraal ever made. The shape, size, mass, and the wonderful way the fish swim make this vase stand out not only from its relatives but even from its contemporaries. The Fishgraal was eventually to freeze into the shapes of “drop” and “ball”, but this was made "long before that"; in the late 1930s each Thick Graal was a unique piece of art, and much as 1939 was "the year of the Ariel," 1937 was "the year of the thick Graal." Thick Graals from this time should thus be seen as exactly that - Thick Graals - and not Fishgraals with all its negative connotations to technical over perfection & mass-production. This piece shows fish that really do swim. More

Stunning Ravenna

This huge "double" Ravenna speaks for itself, and you are probably tired of listening to somebody, one who is not even an art major, describing his stuff (sorry, artifacts). I have been extremely lucky to be able to acquire these four great Ravennas, and to try to go "one better" and show even more exuberance about this piece would simply be beyond my vocabulary and show me off as an even greater admirer of Swedish art glass than I would like to be seen as. When it came to object numbers like 999, etc. Orrefors often took an old "ämne"/"cartridge" and this could well be an example of this practice. More

Early Orange Hald Graal

Hald has designed so many Fishgraals, that when seeing a Graal-piece signed “Hald” and with seaweed “in it”, one more or less automatically assumes “a Fishgraal.” However, this piece is not a Fishgraal. It is a Thick Graal, and though it might well be seen as a predecessor to the Fishgraal... Let's take a closer look; [1] It is from the first year of thick Graal making [1937], and is technically excellent. [2] The glass is frosted [it has been dipped in acid] which is very unusual. [3] Graal colors varied a lot, true, but orange and lilac/blue... Unheard of! [4] The shape of the vase is, if not unique, yet rather unusual. [5] Hald wasnʼt much given to put air in his Graals; this is a very rare exception, and it could well have been signed "Ariel". More

Modernist Ravenna

“The Modernist Ravenna” from 1953 represents a deviation from traditional Ravenna pattern and form. In a pattern, it is modernistic rather than of the time/traditional, and the opaque layer of white glass is, if not unique, very rare. In shape it is slicker, smoother, and more “internationally modernistic” than what was common at the time, especially in Sweden; it very much departs from the traditional Swedish "form language" of the early 50s, and it thus so in very interesting ways. This boat shape was common among the earliest Ravennas, and it may be in these early boat shapes - semi-figurative motif, with a clear base and a matching rim - that Ravennas reached itʼs highest level. The opaque outer layer is very unusual, note the rim of clear glass that appears orange as it reflects the color of the background. When I - in my books - talk about the best Ravennas combining technique and artistry to read world-class, this is the sort of object I think of. More

Öhrström Picasso Graal

This Thick Graal from 1948, if "it" really is from 1948, represents one of the few times somebody managed to sneak a design past Edward Hald and into the “Graal studio”. However, as this piece (i) Was purchased together with two Ariel vases from 1939 and (ii) Looks much more like something from before the war than after, it is likely to be one of rather few "cartridges"/"ämnen" that survived the war so as later to be blown into something. I.e., this is probably a pre-war design completed (or signed) in 1948. Strangely, Öhrström was much more likely to be inspired by Picasso in his very limited Graal-designs, than in his much more numerous Ariel designs - maybe he used Thick Graal for experimentation... In this Thick Graal, Öhrström most certainly got things right, and had it only been a size or two larger, it would most definitely have been a best-Graal contender. More

The @ Ravenna

This boat shape was common among the earliest Ravennas, and it is maybe in these early boat shapes - often with semi-figurative motifs, a clear base, a matching rim, and a double layer of glass plates - that the Ravenna reaches its highest level. When I - in my book - talk about the best Ravennas combining technique and artistry to reach world-class, this is the sort of object I am referring to. In later Ravennas the colour-powder was often forgotten or seen as an unnecessary nuisance. In the early Ravennas however, the colour-powder was an important ingredient, and this very early Ravenna illustrates this very well. Having the rim in a different color than the background, particularly in the same color as the motif, was not unusual for the early Ravennas. We all know that Sven Palmqvist was a great technician - that he allegedly invented Ravenna, Kraka, Fuga, Selena, etc. - but few, if any had realized that, as this piece proves, he was thinking about inventing the internet. More

Autumn Leafs Ravenna

This boat shape was common among the earliest Ravennas, and it is maybe in these early boat shapes - often with semi-figurative motifs, a clear base, a matching rim, and a double layer of glass plates - that the Ravenna reaches its highest level. When I - in my book - talk about the best Ravennas combining technique and artistry to reach world-class, this is the sort of object I am referring to. In later Ravennas the colour-powder was often forgotten or seen as an unnecessary nuisance. In the early Ravennas however, the color-powder was an important ingredient, and this very early Ravenna illustrates this very well. Having the rim in a different color than the background, particularly in the same color as the motif, was not unusual for the early Ravennas. More

Blue & Red Rider

When two colors were combined in an Ariel piece, they were normally contrasted; never have I seen two colours so harmonizing, melting into one another like this. “The Blue & Red Rider” is - in my opinion, taken for all in all - the most attractive Ariel I have ever seen (beware, the photos do not make the piece justice). In my opinion, and probably in Gustaf Berqvist's, as well, as he was the one to select it. More

Hald Ariel

Read the books written on Orrefors and its history [including mine], and you will learn that Gate and Hald stayed away from Ariel-making, sort of leaving this “new technique” to the two new guys on the block [Lindstrand & Öhrström]. This little bowl proves us all wrong. Though this, is not all that beautiful a bowl, it carries the name of Edward Hald, and it is, as far as I know, the only Ariel by Hald ever to reach the market and possibly the only ever made. The bowl, in the base, has an uncolored line right across it, something that can hardly have been put there intentionally. More

Heaven and Hell

“Heaven and Hell” was designed for the Paris Exhibition in 1925, and it is one of the few main engraved pieces that can actually be identified from the photos from the fair. Other examples of this model can be seen in “Simon Gate, Edward Hald” p 80, “LʼArt d ́écoratif modern en Suede” p 25, and in The Brilliance of Swedish Glass p 212. This piece, as far as I know, is the only example of “Heaven and Hell”, having reached the auction houses. Thus, if it is so, and if one holds Orreforsʼ engraved pieces above the colored - and "Heaven and Hell" above the “Bacchus Bowl” and “Girls Playing Ball” - then this is arguably the best piece of Swedish glass ever having reached the market. The dish is of a later date, and not of a corresponding quality (actually, I threw away the dish). More

Early Graal Experiment

The first properly signed thick Graal, Orrefors is not believed to have been produced until 1937. Before that - before Thin Graal was turned into Thick Graal - some experimenting had been done. Such transitional pieces were not signed “Graal”. This is such a piece. More

Gate Portrait

This portrait of an unknown man was made from a drawing by Simon Gate. Both Simon Gate and Edward Hald are known to have made such portraits, though their numbers are extremely limited (try to enter Orrefors, Gate, engraved, portrait on Google). Their main use was as exclusive presents, given as presents by Orrefors, the Swedish government, or by the artists themselves. An engraving like this gives the engraver an opportunity an excellent opportunity, quite possibly the best, to show off his skill. Gösta Elgström - Simon Gate's favourite engraver, upon seeing this portrait - claimed responsibility for the engraving; A portrait like this tests the engraverʼs skill like nothing else, be it a “Heaven and Hell”, “The Paris Goblet” or “The Bacchus Bowl”, said Gösta Elgström to me. However, though Gösta Elgström recalled having made the engraving, he did not remember who the depicted man was. When this piece was exhibited at Orreforsʼ' showrooms in Malmö much effort was given to the task of identifying this man and though none succeeded, there were several suggestions, varying from a Norwegian king to a taxi driver with whom Gate ran up a big tab. More

Aqva Graal

This “Aqva Graal” in the shape of a pear is one of rather few relatively pleasant-looking objects made in this technique that is sort of a mixture of Thick Graal, Ariel, and Ravenna. The pear shape was occasionally used when making “Slipgraals”, and the Aqva-Graalʼs closest living relative indeed is said to be the “Slipgraal”. Yet, this piece has a pattern resembling that of a Ravenna, the thickness of a Thick Graal, the air bubbles of an Ariel, the shape of an unusual Slipgraal, and the look of a thick Graal: a strange piece. More