Topic: A quick question about Max Verboeket / Maastricht pieces

[Niya]

Hi y'all

I've got a quick question about Max Verboeket / Maastricht pieces, namely: Are those always singed?
The thing is that I've got a vase which I strongly suspect of being such a piece, but there is no signature on it. And all pieces of this designer/manufacturer I've seen on ebay and other sites have always been signed. And mine is not :/

I'm not sure if it's ok to post pictures in this post, as that would be basically asking for an identification, but I'd risk it: I'm in the process of trying to thin down my glass collection and this one piece I could part with, even though it's actually quite pretty, but I wouldn't like to offer it up and have an incorect claim as to its designer.

The pictures are not that great though, first because of the light - the sun has already set, I believe - and second because it's quite difficult to take a pic of a transparent vase when the window is the only possible background ('cos of the light). But it does have the typical Verboeket swirly "threads" in the glass and the form, as well.

[Jay]

There are two types of signature.
mostly items say simply 'Max Verboeket - Maastricht'
Sometimes there is a number which represents a unique number for each piece usually a model number (three digits) followed by a dash, and a sequence number.

There are some records from the factory which give clues as to dates and numbers of items that were made, but research suggests that the lists are not complete or correct. (Ask me)

There ARE unmarked items in circulation and not many people that doubt they are correct, made in the factory, etc. During this period the factory was being 'wound down' and the glassblowers were NOT happy. It might just be coincidence (or not ?) that the quality of their work, sticking to the design parameters, and signing pieces properly, all seem to have become irregular habits (imagineded to be caused by lack of interest, and disillusion with the factory owners.)

Collectors still prefer signed items, but colourway is more important. Unsigned items are probably later than signed ones, but it doesn't really impact on the market/price.

FYI this is quite an unusual colour and therefore a bit more desirable than average.

[Niya]

Many, many thanks for your wonderful explanation, Jay

You probably shouldn't have mentioned that the colour combination is an unusual one: Part of what makes me an awful collector - the dragon sickness, as I call it - is the desire to possess an item not because I find it beautiful in its own right, but because others might find it desirable and valuable It makes it bothery difficult to part with an item 

[Jay]

I can only sympathise but repeat the old advice. Keep the things you like most. (as Morris said 'Do not allow anything in your home which you do not believe to be either beautiful or useful'). Describe the rest of them fully (using research) and then flog em!
Remember that possessing this vase is actually stopping you from spending the money on something that's YOUR taste, and would therefore by definition give you MORE pleasure!

My hard but necessary experience from dealing for 20 years is much the same as WJ Rozendaal (Maastricht) who designed glass for more than 30 years. A handful of (carefully chosen) objects is enough to hold all the significant memories/invocations of all the others that passed through before them. The rest is just 'also ran'.
When Rozendaal died (having stopped with glass 30 years earlier) a passing glass fan went to visit his widow and was stunned to discover he possessed (at death) only two examples of his own glass designs, and his (second) wife, didn't even know that they were designed by him (nor did she show any particular appreciation for them).

In short keep the very best and love them, and the rest can pass on (helping to increase your collection of the very best)

Just an opinion of course!

People who might buy your vase (for example) are collecting AGAINST the trend, so they're not motivated by profit, but rather by their particular, specific (rather unfashionable) personal taste, i.e. their own 'very best'?

[Niya]

Rationally, it is such a sound advice, but having grown in a household where the family motto was "what if it is needed some day", I generaly find it very difficult to apply to/in reality.
However, I still plan on selling this vase and I hope it'll find people who appreciate it It's very interesting to learn that even the designer only kept a handful of pieces and that his wife didn't even like them.
Taste is such a funny thing, isn't it? So far I haven't bought what I consider to be "a stunningly ugly chunk of glass" - though I've seen quite a lot of them - just because it is "in" with other collectors at the mo. But I have participated in bidding wars on pieces I like: I'm still thinking sadly about a Vizner ananas vase I couldn't win

[Jay]

Like many here(?!!) I'm an inveterate hoarder, trying to quit the habit.
The start of detox (I hope) is to think 'This huge(for me) pile of items which I "might want one day" is COSTING me! Not only shelving and precious space, but also it is 'absorbing' the resources needed to achieve/obtain things I want more!

Good luck with the recovery process ;-)