Some glassware has spent years in the back of cupboards. It could be valuable

Glass is part of creative artist Hedy Ritterman’s DNA, with her Melbourne home filled with glassware inherited from her mother – champagne flutes, wine goblets, vases, ornaments and even centrepieces, including a set of glass figures wielding their swords.

Some pieces spent years in the back of cupboards, and others were once sold in her mother’s store, Picasso, in Malvern, from the 1970s through to the ’90s. Others were part of the display in Hedy’s own store in Melbourne, also called Picasso, which operated from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.

“They give me moments of joy. Each piece changes during the day depending on the way the light falls,” says Ritterman.

In 2021, Ritterman used hundreds of glass pieces on a dining table in what was formerly her late parents’ home – with this exhibition titled In My Mother’s House, Nochturns. Some of the pieces, such as those by French glass artist Rene Lalique, were valuable and others, such as a chunk of glass fashioned in the shape of a wedge of cheese and dating from the 1980s, were more whimsical rather than valuable. While some pieces by Lalique are worth several hundreds of dollars, others can be found for less than $100.

Esther Surijan, who has been selling vintage glass from her store at the Dirty Janes market in Bowral, NSW, has a signed Lalique vase for $8000. Her business, Marple Antiques & Vintage Glassware, also includes more affordable glass, including Depression Glass and Carnival Glass, the type that was received as a prize at carnivals during the 1930s and ’40s. Others on display include a vintage glass dolphin by Murano from the 1960s with a price tag of $270 (includes GST).

“I generally advise people who are starting a glass collection to buy one valuable piece by someone like Lalique rather than buy several pieces that have little value and are unlikely to increase in price,” says Surijan, who also suggests looking at glass by Moser from the 1970s, which she says is collected by the Danish and British royal families. It could be a goblet or vase starting at about $250 and head north to a bowl she currently has for sale for $2850.

Much of this glass was shoved to the back of the credenza in a family’s home, becoming less used and hence less valuable as the art of fine dining at home disappeared over more recent decades.

While Ritterman does still entertain, many of her glass items are displayed in glass cabinets. With her mother, Ritterman went on buying trips to some of Europe’s key glass destinations in Denmark and Finland that had developed a strong reputation for glass in the post-war period, particularly in the 1960s and ’70s.

‘I generally advise people who are starting a glass collection to buy one valuable piece by someone like Lalique rather than buy several pieces that have little value and are unlikely to increase in price.’

Esther Surijan, Marple Antiques & Vintage Glassware

One of her key glass objects is an oversized glass vase in the shape of a clam shell from the 1970s. Produced by Swedish company Pukeberg and then priced at about $400, it’s now worth considerably less – with many items selling under $100.

“It’s not about the money and more about the memory of seeing it displayed in my mother’s home,” says Ritterman, who now uses the piece as everything from a vase/centrepiece for the table to an ice bucket.

“Glass should be used and enjoyed.”

Other pieces, such an over-scaled giant goblet designed by glass artist Mark Douglass in the 1990s as a present, would cater for an entire crowd of guests. And as the ’90s returns to fashion, some of these pieces are becoming more difficult to find.

“Glass by Lalique and Galle will always remain a good investment, but so will glass by Orrefors and Iittala from the 1960s and ’70s. You might even spot a piece in a second-hand store if you know what to look for,” says Surijan.

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