Dating Antique Glass Buckles from Vintage Czechoslovakia

I have mentioned elsewhere how much I appreciate the intersection of history, art and artisan craftsmanship that is exemplified by vintage beads and components.  I do enjoy discovering as much as I can about the history of our vintage supplies. These particular vintage, actually antique, glass buckles took me on a journey to Eastern Europe, to Czechoslovakia and Bohemia over 90 years ago.

These buckles are marked M. C. S. R.  The “M” is larger than the “CSR”.  Hard to see, and to photograph, but it's there.

A bit of time spent researching the history of Czechoslovakia, specifically the many names this region of the world has held over time, and I learned that from 1920 – 1938 Czechoslovakia’s formal name was Czechoslovak Republic, with the acronym CSR.  Bingo! Perhaps the “M” stands for “manufactured”. It is distinctly not part of the acronym “CSR” because it was specifically made to be larger than those letters.

We have these buckles listed as being from the 1930’s, but in fact they may be as old as 1920. In general, we like to be conservative in our estimates when we date our vintage supplies.  So in many cases, such as these buckles, the age of a particular bead, button or cabochon may be older than the date we provide.  The Bumbershoot Supplies website, www.bumbershootsupplies.com, is a good resource, because information there is formatted to provide you with the date and place of origin of each supply, as well as links to these types of history blog posts for individual items, as these posts are written. 

If you ever have questions about any of our supplies, certainly feel free to email me, Sharon at sjdurfy@bumbershootsupplies.com and  I’ll do my best to provide any information we may have.

Products related to this history can be found right here at Bumbershoot Supplies.

Bohemian Rose Matrix Glass Cabochons. History and Provenance

These pretty vintage glass cabochons have a history and a story, these are a really cool find. The original packaging calls them rose matrix, but they are more of a salmon color, with brown and white glass that together, makes each cabochon unique and gives them an organic, natural feel.

These arrived in really interesting original packaging, with the applied sticker Bohemia-Germany, the Made in Germany stamp, and the second stamp, "Released by the Joint Boycott Council". With a bit of research, I learned that after the Nazis took power in 1933, there was a wave of boycotts across Europe, eventually reaching the United States. In 1936 in the US, the Jewish Labor Committee and the American Jewish Congress, both bodies already engaged in the boycott process, joined forces and instituted a "Joint Boycott Council". This committee was one of two major organizations in the US spearheading a boycott of Nazi Germany between 1936 and Pearl Harbor in 1941. Of course, boycott efforts became unnecessary when the US entered WWII in 1941.

The original packaging thus allows us to date these cabochons to the period of time when the Joint Boycott Council was active, between 1936 and 1941.

Very pretty and rather unassuming little cabochons, but think of what was going on in the world and Bohemia when glass artisans made these - that's a story...

Products related to this history can be found right here on Bumbershoot Supplies.

New at Bumbershoot Supplies. 24 New Items Since October 1, and a Surprise!

I invite you to come on over to Bumbershoot Supplies and check out our new items.  We're over 750 vintage treasures at this time, it's really exciting.  This vintage button card is something that I didn't even know we had! I opened a box that was supposed to contain heart buttons, and found these instead. A gorgeous surprise and a lovely addition to our vintage buttons!

We've also restocked a limited number of the popular coral swirl beads from Japan, with the bead caps on the bottom, cradling the bead. These remind me of pumpkin pie and spice, perhaps since it is Canadian Thanksgiving this coming Monday and I have pie on my mind :)

We've also added two old amazing Bohemian glass items.  First, these vintage glass cabochons.  These are really interesting in terms of their history.  To see the original packaging, visit the listing at Bumbershoot Supplies.  These cabochons were "Released by the Joint Boycott Council". After the Nazis took power in 1933, there was a wave of boycotts across Europe, eventually reaching the United States. In the United States in 1936, the Jewish Labor Committee and the American Jewish Congress, both bodies already engaged in the boycott process, joined forces and instituted a "Joint Boycott Council". This Committee was one of two major organizations in the US spearheading a boycott of Nazi Germany between 1936 and Pearl Harbor in 1941. So, we know we can date these cabochons to that time frame. Pretty cool!

And these old, old Bohemian garnet or ruby glass nailheads look magnificent in the light.  They are large, 10mm in diameter and 8mm up to the point. I think they would make wonderful cabochons, as well as beads.

That's just a taste of what is newly available at Bumbershoot Supplies.  Our next newsletter on Oct 15 will provide more details. You can sign up for it here and view past issues of our newsletter on our website.  Until next time, wishing you a great weekend, and if you are Canadian or you live in Canada, a very happy Thanksgiving to you!