Decor Naming

The names of many decors by Loetz can be found in the archived records for the company. Occasionally a decor is found which is believed to be Loetz, but is not readily identifiable. In most cases we will simply identify these as an "Unknown Loetz decors".

For the other companies we are attempting to document and catalog, we do not have the convenience of these types of factory records, so in many cases we have named the decors with words that simply describe the glass as it appears.

In some cases, the glass bears such a strong resemblance to a Loetz decor that we have adopted the Loetz decor name to describe glass by another company. We have tried to avoid this as much as possible, but in the instances where we apply this principle, we feel it will help to educate collectors and dealers about the similarities and differences between the companies. We call this resemblance a "Decor Shift".

In the instances where we have done this, the names of the decors will be shown in "Quotation" marks. The use of these will be an indicator that the decor name is a Loetz decor. We do this for several reasons.

1) The first reason is that the term has been generalized by collectors and dealers to describe a style of glass. Papillon would be a good example of this.

2) The second reason we do so, is that the decor is often represented in the marketplace as being Loetz, and we want to draw attention to the decors that bear such striking similarities, allowing site visitors to determine the actual origins of an item.

3) The third reason is to avoid having to describe decors as "In the manner of Loetz Papillon", or "Inspired by Loetz Papillon".

When an image is enlarged on a decor page, the names of these decors will be shown in 'single' marks, as the quotation marks can not be used in that portion of the programming. The use of these marks will be interchangeable on this site to indicate the same thing. For example:

If an image title is written as Kralik "Gloria", The program will display Kralik.

If an image title is written as Kralik 'Gloria', The program will display Kralik 'Gloria'.

As a result of this, on this site the use of double and single quotation marks is interchangeable in their application and is simply determined by the place where they are being used.

In other situations we will use the same name to describe a decor by two other companies, such as "Ribbed" being used to describe both a Kralik and a Rindskopf decor. Again, we do this to draw attention to the similarities between the houses and hope to provide enough documentation of shapes to allow visitors to determine the maker of a piece of "Ribbed" decor. This method is employed on a limited basis to avoid confusion as much as possible. In the case of applying a decor name we have developed, we will not use the quotation marks when applying the name to similar decors by different houses.

We certainly hope that our methods will not cause confusion, while at the same time we will not be forced to come up with unique names which may push the limits of "Linguistic Artistic Creativity".

As with all other things we do on this site, we welcome suggestions or concerns, and can be contacted through the "Contact Info" page.