Description
A stunning double candlestick holder made in France. It is crystal and signed on the bottom. Fine quality Vannes. It measures 11" tall and 9" wide. Beautiful Design. No damage of any kind.
The majority of my collection of 1960’s clear lead crystal art glass comes from the Vannes Le Châtel glassworks. It was founded in 1765 in the Lorraine department of France, like many other glass works across Europe the site was chosen due to it’s proximity to a large source of wood, the main fuel used in glass furnaces during this period.
Several owners later and after a lot of expansion, notably between 1900 and 1950, Vannes Le Châtel was one of the most important producers of glass in France. In 1960 Vannes merged with Bayel, Portieux, Vallerysthal and Fains to form the Compagnie Française du Cristal.
Starting out by producing tableware Vannes moved into decorative glass in the 1930’s before they began the production of glass (lead) crystal from 1963. It is crystal from this period that this blog will focus on.
As well as pieces signed Art Vannes France they also used the names Cristal de Sévres and Daum. To add to the confusion many pieces were not signed or acid marked but were simply given paper stickers.This has led to certain pieces which have been attributed to Daum, Sévres, Vannes, Bayel, each with varying different values given depending on signature or indeed absence of signature. An otherwise identical piece signed Daum is worth perhaps twice the value of an unsigned piece despite the fact they have been produced at the same factory using the same moulds and equipment!
The factory continues to produce some decorative pieces today under the Daum name but production is a small fraction of the 2 million pieces that were produced during the 1960’s and 1970’s.
