A Vastness of Vases
The favourite art glass form for the majority of collectors is the vase. How am I defining “vase?” A vase is typically a glass or ceramic container with only a decorative function — you would not serve a guest a big glass of lemonade in a vase. They are generally on the narrow side to support flower stems. Some vases are curvy and others are straight. Some are tiny – bud vases. Some vases have wide, open “throats” while others have more constricted openings.
Of course, all the glasshouses of the Chalet era produced a variety of vase forms and used a variety of techniques. Chalet produced completely mouth blown vases, hand blown vases and hand molded vases.
From left to right: mouth blown, hand molded and hand blown.
Many of them are iconic Chalet production pieces and we see them with inventory numbers and on catalog pages. Others are one-of-a-kind, “Never say Never, ” Chalet jaw droppers.
At left, an iconic Chalet vase. Inventory number V 29 – the “spike” vase. And, on the right, a unique Chalet vase. Etched “Chalet Canada.”
We have seen them with every Chalet branding – etchings, engravings, base impressions, hang tags and labels. They were carried by nearly all of the Chalet distributers and many, many retailers. We have seen them listed in distributors’ catalogs and featured in many retailers’ advertisements.
From the 1976 Riekes Crisa catalog. For a FASCINATION PAR C.M. catalog page, please click on this link.
A Hudson’s Bay advertisement run in the March 24, 1969 edition of the Edmonton Journal which is a division of the Postmedia Network. Prices translated from 1969 dollars to 2024 dollars: the 1969 regular price of $12.00 = $98.312024 and 1969 sale price of $6.88 = $56.37 in 2024. Alberta’s minimum hourly wage in 1969 was $1.25 hourly.
We have seen them featured in newspaper coverage about Chalet from “back in the day.”
This article celebrating the opening of the Chalet factory on September 14th, 1962 is courtesy of the Cornwall Community Museum. Chalet owner, founder and Maestro Angelo Tedesco on right with William Anderson who was instrumental in the company moving to Cornwall from Montreal.
The Chalet vases in my personal collection range from a 6 inch crystal twist “mini” to a 23 inch Don Shepherd for Chalet “mighty”
Vases were my first significant online purchases and “in the Wild” scores. I still have them 15 years into collecting.
They were produced in solid colours, 2-tones, clear crystal, cranberry, cranberry with opaline and opaline with cranberry, with bullicante and with ribbons of colour.
Some vases from collections of 50 Shades members. Vase in top left corner from the collection of Melissa Patterson, the gold bullicante to its right belongs to Steve Allen and the 2-tone crystal twist in the right corner makes its home with Cindy Bishop Laughlin. The clear crystal vase in the lower right was found by Brad McGillivray.
They can be found as what Chalet considered “seconds.”
A few cranberry were produced with the corroso finish.
Cranberry corroso vase at left. Cranberry vase on right with smooth finsh from the collection of 50 Shades member Karin Martin.
If 1 picture is worth 1,000 words…How about 203? Enjoy this sampling of a few more of the Chalet vases I have on file!
