Once ignored, Czech glass lamps back in spotlight

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, December 7, 2005

The glassmakers of Czechoslovakia made many types of glassware from 1918 to 1938, including candy baskets, chandeliers and lamps, jewelry, novelties, art glass, iridescent glass and colored glass, especially orange. Many of the glass pieces were copied from glass made in other countries. The variety and quality of Czech cut and pressed glass perfume bottles made them popular around the world.

A tray of fancy perfumes with tall stoppers was a “must” in every 1940s dressing room.

A more unusual, perhaps unique, design created in Czech glasshouses was a lamp shaped like a basket of fruit. A metal frame held strings of clear glass beads to form a basket. The top was filled with individual pieces of glass fruit or flowers. A light bulb was positioned at the bottom of the basket. When it was turned on, the basket and fruit glowed with a faint light. These baskets were totally out of style in the 1950s and were not even offered at antiques shops. By the 1990s, they were rediscovered, and today a glass basket-lamp of fruit or flowers sells for $500 or more.

Through the years, I have inherited two Roos cedar chests, but their marks are not alike. One is marked “Roos Chests, Ed Roos Co. of Forest Park.” The other, a plainer and older chest, is marked with a rooster outline and the words “Original Roos, Est. 1871.” I learned from my research that the Ed Roos Co. was in business from 1916 to 1951, but I can’t find any information on an “Original Roos” company. Can you help?

A man named Edward Roos arrived in Chicago in 1865 and founded his own lathe works there in 1871. By the 1880s, his factory was manufacturing cabinets, tables, curtain poles and cornices. This was the Original Roos company. That Edward Roos was probably related to another, younger Edward Roos, who in 1916 founded his own firm to make cedar chests.

When my aunt died in 1936, she left me a light-orange teapot with a lid. The teapot is oval with vertical ridges and stands a little over 5 inches tall. The mark on the bottom is an oval surrounding the words “Fraunfelter China” and “Ohio.” What can you tell me?

Fraunfelter China Co. operated in Zanesville, Ohio, from 1923 to 1939, although it closed for a time in the early 1930s. Charles Fraunfelter opened the business when he purchased the Ohio Pottery, where he had worked since 1915. The mark on your teapot was used beginning in 1924. Fraunfelter China Co. manufactured china dinnerware, cooking ware and laboratory ware. We have seen teapots like yours for sale at prices ranging from $15 to $50.

I have a 1940s silver-plate platter. Should I polish it, or leave it with its dark patina?

Tarnish on silver is caused by oxidation. Unlike the green patina that develops on copper, silver tarnish is not desirable. Wash your platter with warm, soapy water before you polish it. Buy a commercial silver polish. Use a soft cotton cloth and rub hard. Work the polish into crevices with either a soft toothbrush or cotton swabs. Don’t worry if you can’t remove all of the tarnish from crevices. Rubbing your silver with the cloth helps to build a desirable patina. So does using your silver. Be sure to wash and dry it as soon as you can after you use it.

About 30 years ago, my aunt gave me a three-octave xylophone made by the J.C. Deagan Co. of Chicago. Her father used it in his band in the 1920s. The keys are rosewood. The patent dates on it range from 1888 to 1918. What is it worth?

Although he was a trained concert clarinetist, John Calhoun Deagan (1853-1934) spent most of his career perfecting mallet percussion instruments. He started by inventing the first scientifically tuned glockenspiel, which he began manufacturing in 1880. He moved his business from St. Louis to San Francisco, then to Chicago. His company eventually developed and manufactured percussion instruments, including xylophones and marimbas, for world-class orchestras. Most Deagan instruments were custom-made. Your three-octave Deagan xylophone could sell for more than $1,000.

My grandparents left us a large lithographed print that’s a mystery. In the center is a woman holding a red shield decorated with a white cross. All around her are historical scenes, some showing battles. At the bottom of the print, there’s a list of names and dates, including “Naefels 1388,” “St. Jacob an der Birs 1444” and “Marignano 1517.” Across the bottom are German words that suggest the print was meant to honor a memory. In tiny print in a corner is the statement: “Copyrighted 1891 by L. Baumann, Louisville, Ky. Lithographed by the Henderson-Achert-Krebs Litho. Co., Cincinnati, O.”

Although the words on your print are German and the lithographer is American, the theme of the picture is the triumph of the Swiss on battlefields in Europe. The red shield with a white cross is a symbol for Switzerland. The German language is used because it was then (and is now) the most widely spoken language in Switzerland. About 61,000 Swiss immigrants arrived in the U.S. between 1880 and 1886, and 80 percent of them spoke German.

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