Otto Prutscher Goblets by Bakalowits

Appraised on: June 30, 2007

Appraised in: Orlando, Florida

Appraised by: Arlie Sulka

Category: Glass

Episode Info: Tasty Treasures (#1520)
Orlando, Hour 3 (#1206)

Originally Aired: February 11, 2008

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (2:39)

GUEST: My grandma, who was living with us at the time, passed away, and she was a big collector of glass. She used to live up in Boston-- Brockton, actually. Used to shop around at the Cape, go to antique stores and collect glass. That was like her thing. And she actually has eight of these. My aunt has four and we have four. And she didn't really remember exactly how she got them, but she always was collecting glass.

APPRAISER: And did she ever tell you what they were?

GUEST: Um, no, she couldn't really say. One day I was looking at a book and there was a picture. It didn't say a price. It just said "Otto Prutscher wine glass or goblet" and so I was, like, "Well, these might be valuable. I'll bring these in."

APPRAISER: Okay, well, you're absolutely correct, because they were designed by Otto Prutscher...

GUEST: Okay...

APPRAISER: who was from Austria, and he was a very important designer during the early 20th century.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: He was a member of the Wiener Werkstatte, which means Vienna Workshop. It was founded by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser. And he was a student of Josef Hoffmann and then he went on to teach.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: But not only did he design glassware, but he also designed furniture and some very fine silver...

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: and other decorative arts. Now he designed these glasses circa 1907, and they were produced by a company called Bakalowits, which was also an Austrian-based company. They had been in business since 1845, and first they were just a retail glass store, but then they started to commission certain artists to make glass.

GUEST: Oh, really?

APPRAISER: And to design for them. And they won many awards in world expositions. These are very difficult to make. There are two colors, and the color on the outside was the bolder color, which in this case is green. We have a ruby, a yellow and a cobalt. And you had to actually cut away after the glass was made to make these designs. And it was very painstaking to accomplish this.

GUEST: So he didn't make it. He just designed it and then somebody else...

APPRAISER: He designed it and then Bakalowits, which was a very fine firm-- the technicians were very skillful-- made these. They're really quite rare. Oh, really? And they're unsigned. I've seen them at a number of shows and they have been selling for anywhere from $6,000 to $8,000 each.

GUEST: Each? Wow.

APPRAISER: Yes, each. Thank you for bringing them. This is a treat.

GUEST: I'll keep the cat away from them.

APPRAISER: Thank you.

GUEST: Yes!

APPRAISER: Don't let anybody drink out of these.

GUEST: No, no way.