Topic: Leerdam Copier Unica V375

[Zender]

A few days ago, whilst visiting my usual thrift stores, a piece of glass caught my eye. Very dirty, but it was rather thick glass and it had something. As one does, flip it over and check if there are any signatures on it. To my delight it said Leerdam unica and the name Copier.

Now I know this particular store uses Google Lens a lot, and is a bit of a pain when it comes to glass ware. The shop owner thinks that every piece of glass is valuable just because at least one person has it in their Etsy store for $tooMuch, and he has them stored in a display case. But this one, being very dirty, was probably not recognized. The vase has seen better days, there are surface scratches on every side, and a flea bite on the rim. The staining on the inside was also a big worry. Will it clean up? Is it even worth saving? Well, for the princely sum of 3.50EUR ($3.75), I figured why not give it a go.



I let it stand over night with 1/4 ratio water and strong vinegar, dropped in a washing machine tablet, and wiped down the inside with a curved stick with a cotton ball on the end. The outside got a good clean as well, and as I had absolutely nothing to loose, I took a small diamond polishing wheel to the worst of the scratches, to tone them down ever so slightly. Cleaned the red paint of the bottom as well.

She's not perfect, but turned out better than I expected. So now I present to you. AD Copier's V375 Unica for Leerdam, made in 1943. Now all I need to do is learn how to take proper pictures.  The vase goes from a nice smoke top, gently down to clear glass. Thick walled, and with imperfections in the glass (air bubbles and some other inclusions at random places). 32cm high, 15cm across and 2110 grams.
.
 

I have no clue whatsoever what this vase, in this scarred state would still be worth, but I think I could get at least $5 for her. Not that I'm selling. 

[Ivo]

Unica V would be produced in 1943 but numbers are out, also it should be diamond point not dremel - so unconvinced for now.

[Zender]

Waitwhut?

People forge these signatures? Given how abused this thing was I don't understand why this would be the case actually. Seems an aweful lot of work for something that you then bang up, treat like a normal vase, and then drop off at the thrift store.

Sure, it could be a forgery, I just don't see why this would be done. What do you mean with "numbers are out" ? And what do you mean with the dremel stuff. I checked various other signatures online, in the same date range, and to me, they look very much the same. For instance the multiple horizontal scratches in the "A" of Leerdam, the curls on the "C" in Unica and Copier, the downward slant of the "D" in the name, etc etc.

It has the same colour scheme as for instance V102, T246, V489, V785, W614  (http://www.leerdamunica.nl/). All simple shapes with a dark top going to clear, in roughly the same era '41-'44. It seems Copier was experimenting with that particular transition in the glass colours around that time.

Not definitive proof obviously... But you'll have to give me a bit more to convince me that this is *not* a genuine article. Style, time period of the style, signature, they all point me towards Copier in the 40's.

[Lustrousstone]

Looks like diamond point marks to me

[Zender]

You tell me 

If even better close ups are needed I could do that.

[Zender]

Contacted the guy behind http://www.leerdamunica.nl/ who has hundreds of images of Leedam Unica's on his site and knows these items well.

His conclusion is that it most certainly is real. No foul play with the signature, and the style is "of the era". It's a Copier from 1943. 

[Lustrousstone]