The famous ribbed vases by AD Copier ('ribbelvazen') were first produced by Leerdam in 1953 and were quickly recognised as a popular success. In the original series there were five vases and a bowl each design being produced in two sizes. The sizes were noticably larger then typical pre-war models, reflecting a changing style in floristry as well as the falling price of cut-flowers. The vases are known by the unofficial names (left to right below); Funnel (Trechter). Teardrop ('Druppel'), Horn, and Barrel ('Ton').

The bowl was only in production for a few months before being deleted from the catalogue, but the vases remained in production until about 1962. They sold in considerable numbers, and the most common of them is still easy to locate at any antique market. The rarer designs and colours carry a high premium!
Judging by the recent availability of this range in the antique markets, the production was about 65% fumi, 25% helder, 7% green and 3% grey-violet.

Bijdrage "Ik heb van een vriend gehoord, dat de ribbelvazen een soort statiegeld hadden. Je kocht bloemen in de ribbelvaas en "huurde" de vaas. Na gebruik leverde je de ribbelvaas weer in en kreeg je het statiegeld terug: dit om de verkoop van bloemente stimuleren. (bron: Appie van den Brule) "

Correspondence "I have been told by a friend that the ribbed vases were sold with a sort of deposit-scheme. You could buy flowers in the vase and then return the vase to the shop and claim some cash back. The scheme was intended to stimulate business in floristry. (from: Appie van den Brule)

The vases are very practical and many are still in daily use. The vases are large enough to suit the scale of the modern interior, and heavy enough (when filled) to support a substantial arrangement.

Price Levels, 2007:
The large Barrel or Teardrop model, in fumi(smoke) or clear glass, fetches around 70-80 euro, and the small models about 30-40 euro.

Large Funnel         210mm      Small Funnel         160mm      Large teardrop        290mm      Small Teardrop      225mm      Large Horn            210mm      Small Horn           160mm      Large Barrel          200mm      Small Barrel          160mm      Large Bowl      Small Bowl

Collectors will want to know about the origins of similar vases which are often thought to be part of the Copier designs. Certainly a number of other factories produced designs which were intended to match Copier's design, and capitalise on it's popular success. Widows and Orphans The hyacinth glass (usually in clear, fumi or yellow glass) with similar horizontal ribs was seemingly imported in the 1970's by Hakbijl (Lelystad) from an unknown source in the eastern blok and sold through various high street chains and small businesses. It is widely misattributed to Leerdam/Copier, and though it sits nicely in the group, it has little value for collectors.

Ribbed vases in a similar style are also thought to have been made by the Kristalunie in small numbers, mostly using the darker, amber brown which had been popular in the pre-war period. So far, we have been able to confirm the attribution, and also are unable to know how many of these designs were in production at Maastricht! Vases with much larger horizontal ribs are associated with contemporary Belgian factories including Boom, Braine-Le-Comte and Doyen. As usual, we hope that our readers and collectors will be able to supply the missing photographs from this page, and assist us in identifying the remaining unkown details about competitors products.