The Netherlands is the world's leading producer of daffoldils, crocusses and of course tulips! So it's hardly surprising that the tradition of 'forcing' the bulbs on a window sill during the late winter and spring is still popular in dutch homes.

A traditional German 'column' vase design from about 1888 became quite popular in Holland. These examples are probably replicas by the German company Querbeet (1985-). www.querbeet.de

In some contemporary catalogues the hyacinth glasses (or 'vases') appear next to the laboratory glassware, chamber pots and storage jars. There were probably lots of local factories who produced the design in some form at some time At the beginning of the 20th century they were hand-blown to a standard height of about 18-21cm and the endless slight variations in colour, size, optic and finish make it virtually impossible to identify them specifically.

Collectors have been hard at work trying to identify the various factories involved with the items they produced, but this an arduous, and somewhat unproductive task, since the products are very similar and the precise origin is not a factor in price. It is known that they were made in various colours (amber, clear, fumée, grey-violet, anna green, and amethyst are most frequently found), by various factories in the Benelux, over a long period (1920-1970), sometimes provided with a vertical optic, produced by hand, by mould, and later by machine-blowing. It is almost impossible to distinguish the Dutch 'Tall Glass' from those made by factories in Germany, France or Switzerland.

Early Leerdam 'tall glass' hyacinth vases are very similar to those made at the Stella factory in Maastricht (1902-25) have medium thick glass with a ground rim. The bowl of the vase tends to look rather square compared to vases from other factories. Almost identical shapes were blown at Maastricht, and both factories went through a period after WW2 when they made them by machine blowing (resulting in a thinner vase of the same profile). It is notable that (like Maastricht's jugs and tumblers) there is often a sign that the internal base profile is 'sloped' from one side to the other) inside the vase. This may be symptomatic of the machine-blown process in that period.

Rozendaal also designed a few hyacinth vases including four very collectable ones shown here. Rozendaal's first design for a Maastricht hyacinth vase was Lisse (126mm) in 1933, clearly a modern form intended to fit with the modern interior, just like Radio with seven horizontal ribs, designed in the same year. The amber vase in the picture left is NOT radio but a later version (created by Hakbijl?) but the anna green vase is a genuine original. It was followed in 1935 by Norma, a traditional 'pot-bellied' glass measuring 165mm. In 1937 he added two new designs Hillegom and Sassenheim (126mm) which, like the standard Tall Glass ('Hoog model'), remained in production through to the 1950's. In the late 1960's (by which time the two companies were fusing) Lisse was briefly in re-production at the Leerdam factory, although the items are in a different range of tints, rather heavier, and the bowl is slightly shallower. The standard Tall Glass ('hoogmodel' 195mm) (made at Leerdam, Maastricht and elsewhere) is shown above.

Leerdam's 'Garlic' vase (left) was usually produced from brown bottle-glass and the rim is especially designed for a bottle-making machine. It was the cheapest version of the pot-bellied form, and competed against Rimac Super Rimac made a vase very similar to Copier's 8-ribbed flask form and called it Olivia.

Using the same basic form as the Tall Glass, Maastricht also produced Rozendaals's 'Tall' crocus vase in a 100mm height. The original design indicated 75mm but this size had not been verified yet. It is pictured here with the Rimac crocus vase Jolly (87mm)

Please contact us by email if you have hyacinth vases you would like to sell, or would like to swap colours with us!!