Moser glassware proves a clear choice for fans

Ludwig Moser started decorating glass in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, in 1857.

He bought glass vases and tableware from others because he was not granted the right to make his own glass until 1892.

The early glass was known for its exceptional engraving.

Clear glass was engraved with scenes, monograms and other decorative designs.

Moser also had a decorating workshop, where employees put enamel decorations in gold and bright colors on the glass that he bought from nearby glassblowers.

He soon had sales outlets in many countries.

The company made tableware, vases, bowls, jardinieres, ashtrays and other decorative glass.

Ludwig died in 1916, but the Moser Glassworks is still operating in Karlsbad, Czech Republic.

Many American glass factories of the 1920s and ‘30s copied the pieces made with acid-etched metallic colored bands with classical designs. Glass was made in colors ranging from deep amethyst to Vaseline to red.

Q. I have a set of dishes with different marks. Some pieces are marked “RS” in a wreath with the word “Germany” below. Others are marked with the same “RS” and wreath, but have the word “Prussia.” Who made them?

A. RS Prussia and RS Germany marks are very confusing. Erdmann and Reinhold Schlegelmilch, who shared a last name but apparently were not related, both started making dinnerware in central Germany in the 1860s. There were soon five different Schlegelmilches, some related to each other, in the pottery business. Your wreath mark with “Germany” was used by Reinhold from about 1917 to 1945. The “Prussia” mark was used, also by Reinhold, from the late 1880s to 1917.

Q. How is a “baby Boston rocker” different from a “Boston rocker”?

A. A Boston rocker is a rocking chair with curved wooden arms and a wooden seat that rolls up the back a few inches and down over the front a few inches. This makes it more comfortable to sit in than a Windsor chair, which has a shaped seat, or any of the many rockers with flat seats. The first Boston rockers were probably made before 1840. The baby Boston rocker seems to have been introduced about 1850. It is smaller and does not have arms. It usually has five spindles in the back, less than the larger Boston rocker. It was a popular style from about 1850 to 1900 and is often found with painted decorations.

Q. I just bought a framed jigsaw puzzle that’s signed “Milton Bradley Co., Springfield, Mass.” The puzzle pictures a group of children playing ring-around-the-rosy. It looks like a scene from about 1900. Can you tell me about it?

A. Milton Bradley started a lithography company in Springfield in the 1850s. One of his first projects was a lithographed picture of Abraham Lincoln, the next president, that showed a clean-shaven Lincoln. It sold well, so Bradley printed more pictures. But President Lincoln soon grew a beard, making the pictures useless. Bradley lost money and began to make lithographed puzzles and games instead of pictures. One of his early successes, in 1860, was “The Checkered Game of Life.” By the late 1860s, his company was making “dissected” puzzles. They were printed on cardboard and cut by band saws. Special puzzles were made of wood. Chromolithography was used by the 1870s. By the 1920s the company die-cut some puzzles, and by the 1980s there were no more hand-cut puzzles. The firm went through several mergers and acquisitions and is now part of Hasbro. A puzzle picturing children of the early 1900s was probably made about the same time.

Q. I just purchased a silver silent butler at an estate sale. It has a flip-up lid and handle. The bottom is marked “EPC.” What does that mean?

A. The initials EPC stand for Electroplate on Copper. Electroplating was introduced in England in the late 1830s. Within a decade, silversmiths here had learned the technique, which involves using electric current to deposit a layer of silver on copper, nickel or some other base metal. If there are any other marks on your silent butler, you might be able to figure out who made it and when. Silent butlers were popular in the 1920s. They were used to collect ashes and cigarette butts from ashtrays.

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