Chalet “ribbons”

Clear crystal and sommerso colour – sound familiar? Well, it is and it isn’t. The Chalet “ribbons,” a phrase coined by collectors not a company name, are quite distinctive and not to be confused with the “colour rimmed” Chalet.

Colour rimmed” swan centerpieces at rear with the Chalet “ribbon” swan centerpieces in foreground. This incredibly lovely photograph showcasing stunning Chalet “swan” centerpieces from the flock of 50 Shades member Reg Lennox.

To create the “ribbon”, a Chalet artist would start with working molten clear crystal gather only. When he was about half-way finished with the piece, he would then introduce coloured gather (from another crucible) into the body of the piece. The artist would manipulate the glass until he had the ribbon of colour placed where he wanted it and then more molten clear crystal would be added and the piece worked until finished. The ribbons are not always on the surface nor are they always totally encased - note the differences in the next 2 pieces. The ribbon in the centerpiece directly below is very different from those in the bowl that follow it. No pieces were ever the same from one to another.

This ribbon centerpiece (Chalet # 180) from the collection of member Karen Gee shows the end result of this technique most beautifully.

The “ribbon” line was quite limited - produced in 4 ashtray styles, 4 different bowls, 6 centerpiece designs and 6 vases of various design. To date, we have not discovered “ribbon” animal figurines or “minis” nor “basket’ or “long-arm stretch” pieces. No cigar bowls as well.

The “ribbon” colours in pieces found have been light and darker blue, red, orange, olive and emerald-greens and honey gold. Only one colour per piece, as shown above, is typical. However, there are 2 exceptions to this that I can show you:

This bowl just makes me happy. An amazing piece from the collection of Bob Burgess.

Photograph contributed by Jeremiah Shaver.

The bases on all the pieces found, with the exception of 1 ashtray style, have been the flat crystal twist. It is typical that the bases of these pieces show wear – especially fleabites and chips.

2 ashtrays of the same form and in same colour. Photographs from Alex Wicks (top right and bottom left) and from Wallace Addison White.

This ashtray style is the base exception found – there is no swirl of crystal from the piece into the base. Photograph taken by Sabrina Brunetti.

To date, their only brandings of which I am aware is the etched “Chalet Canada” signature, the small gold “Handmade in Canada” Chalet sticker and the “big black” Chalet label. “Ribbons” are not shown on any of the Chalet catalogue reference pages that we have presently. However, I do have some inventory/production numbers that I will share.

The ashtray styles:

A remarkably familiar form as this 2-butt style is also commonly found in solid colours – A 41. . I am unsure if the “ribbon” version was given a different production number. I do have an inventory sheet but it has no number listed. Photograph at bottom left courtesy of Alex Wicks. Others contributed by Deborah Patterson.

A second style is # 184:

This 3-butt is less often seen than the ashtray directly above. I love this style - especially this style in the olive ribbon.

Another style – #185. A 4-butt.

I am not lucky in finding “scores” very often. However, I did find the etched “Chalet Canada” piece at left at the Sunday Toronto Antique Market for $5.00! Ashtray at right from the collection of Troy Danby.

And the 4th ribbon ashtray style of which I am aware:

Some lovely bowls. Note that a bowl form has a continuous rim unbroken by indents (cigarette rests). The ribbon bowls were produced in different diameter sizes.

Style # 224 has a curved and fluted rim:

This form is another which really highlights this technique.

Top view down:

Courtesy of group member Nick Mucciante.

The Chalet “circle” ribbon bowl:

A closer view. Preceding 2 photographs contributed by Bradley Atkinson.

Inventory #183. The “square ribbon bowl” style:

Photographs top and bottom left contributed by Dwain Robertson.

And lastly, a higher base “triangle ribbon” bowl: # 182.

A red ribbon “triangle” bowl from the collection of Cathy Antonyshyn.

The “ribbon” centerpieces were produced in 6 different designs:

Starting with # 177:

Piece from collector Troy Danby at left and Deborah Patterson at right.

Inventory piece # 178:

From the collections of Kent Newson (left) and Dawn Tolhurst (right).

Style # 179:

#180 – as seen above:

From the collections of Robert Stewart (left) and Troy Danby (bottom right). Photograph at top right courtesy of Deborah Patterson.

A familiar design:

The Chalet “gondola.”

And the iconic “swan” centerpiece was also produced with the “ribbon” technique:

Photographs contributed by: Cindy Bishop-Laughlin (top left), Troy Danby (top right), Deborah Patterson (bottom left) and Bradley Atkinson (bottom right).

There appear to have been 6 assorted styles of vase:

I do not have a production/inventory number for this design:

Courtesy Bradley Atkinson.

It has also been found in red.

#174:

Photographs courtesy of Bradley Atkinson (left) and Cindy Bishop-Laughlin (right).

And # 175:

Photographs courtesy of Bradley Atkinson (left) and Deborah Patterson (right).

Once again, I do not have a production number for this style:

Nor do I for this design. I think it’s my favourite of all the ribbon styles:

Photo credits – at left taken by Sabrina Brunetti and at right by Bradley Atkinson.

I have an interesting variation of this style in my personal collection’

What it looks like in clear crystal without a coloured ribbon. Note where the colour would be placed, there are ribs of clear crystal.

And lastly – the multi-coloured “ribbon” vase shown earlier:

If one is good – more are even better!

Displayed by Troy Danby.

Deborah Patterson.

Kent Newson is off to a great start with this pair.

A glorious melange of shapes and colours.

Roy Prins has some gorgeous greens. Ribbon greens - not for his salad.

Playing well with others.

A Lorraine Glass Industries “ribbon” version:

This breathtaking trio is from the collection of Malla Birns.

And now for the EDAG version:

Stunners! Photo credit Brad McGillivray.

From the collection of Cathy Sangha.

A very consistently asked identification question with regard to these particular pieces is: “Is this a Chalet ribbon?”

The answer is “No.” They are vintage Chinese reproductions by Crystal Brand. Commonly mistaken for Chalet pieces. Photograph of bowl with green ribbon courtesy of Kent Newson.

I bought a few myself when I was a new collector. The green basket above was mine and so was the bowl shown with these Chalet “ribbon” pieces:

While the small Chinese-made baskets shown above are quite heavy, the bowls are very light-weight which is a particularly good “tell” that they are not Chalet made.

A Czech-made vase:

Photograph courtesy of Harry Hilton.

Let’s end with a Chalet “ribbon parade!”