NEW YORK (ACNI) – The International Asian Art Fair, which was to have taken place March 11-15 at New York’s Park Avenue Armory, has been called off. The event’s promoters, London-based Brian and Anna Haughton cited the current economic slump as the reason for the cancellation.
An announcement on the Haughtons’ Web site states: “Due to the present global economic situation we have regrettably taken the decision to cancel The International Asian Art Fair for 2009 … Many of the dealers who had contracted to take part are not in a position to go forward in the current climate, and as such we have decided a fair would put an untenable strain on their resources.”
This champagne glass was sold by Garth’s Auctions in Delaware, Ohio, for $40. It may be by a relatively unknown glassworks in Vienna in the 1920s or it may be by a similar, less important and newer company.
Educated collectors find bargains. The more you know, the more likely you are to find a sleeper at a house sale or auction. And it is also important to handle a piece to judge weight, texture and quality. Recently a group of five blown-glass champagne glasses were offered at auction. Each glass had a transparent “globe” on the stem with a tiny colored glass bird inside. The bowl and base of the glasses had lines of color swirled in the glass. They were in the style of Bimini glass, a relatively unknown but expensive collectible glass. Fritz Lampl (1892-1955) made hand-blown glassware, often with tiny lampwork figures, at his workshop in Vienna in 1923. Lampwork is a special way of sculpting thin rods of glass heated over an open flame. It’s a method often used by today’s artists to make beads. In Vienna the Bimini factory made glasses, cocktail sticks, figures (especially ballerinas), lamps and vases. The glass was marked with paper labels. In 1938 Lampl moved to London and started the Orplid workshop that specialized in glass buttons. The company was out of business before Lampl died in 1955. Others copied his style and made similar glasses, decanters, perfume bottles, swizzle sticks and tiny animals. An expert who handles glass can tell the difference. It would be difficult to be sure in an online auction. Glass objects by Bimini are very lightweight. The shape and posture of the figures are accurate but lack details. Swirled green lines and birds are both found in glasses by Bimini and imitators. The auctioned champagnes identified only as Art Deco, not Bimini, sold for $40 each. The glass price guides show similar Bimini glasses with birds at $300 each. Were they an unrecognized bargain or were they just attractive glasses? Careful examination by a glass expert will tell.
