bugles and canes (smooth and twisted, in filigree and network pattems) come to us along with 
sample charts and sample books. 
Extremely delicate Viennese blown glass and wax beads, Venetian glass bead sample books 
with hundreds of embroidery beads, bunches of Bohemian Biedermeier beads, Riedel’s “ballotini” 
from the turn of the Century and the necklaces of blown glass beads are impressive in their many 
colors and techniques, with and without “belts” (smooth or in a broken line), melon-shaped mold- 
blown or hollow wrapped. 
Solid glass beads with stepped or rhomboid cuts belong to the high art of the glass cutter. 
Sophisticated coloring techniques (color in the batch; overlays; color, silver and gold linings) 
make subtle shadings possible. There are many variations to the beads with metallic finishes, the 
copper colored beads, the interior ribbed golden beads, the iridizing and lustering. We have the 
lampblowers or “glass Spinners” to thank for the wound beads with decorative trailing from fine 
glass canes melted onto them. In the “Factory Products Cabinet,” special attention was always 
given to technology, to a representation of the individual stages of the work involved, so that even 
today the creation of a bead can be followed in several stages: from the cane to the drawn bead, 
from the cut to the polished Bohemian bead. Semi-finished items, “squeezed” in molds, and metal 
mountings for the glass portions of rings, pendants and earrings are also preserved. 
If I succeed in following this work with other publications, it will only be possible with the 
assistance of many people and institutions. Interest in a common subject led to the formation of 
working groups from which friendships grew: the fascination of glass and porcelain beads had 
drawn us into its spell. 
I wish to thank all of them here: those who obligingly placed their knowledge and their private 
bead-treasures at my disposal; those who helped untiringly to solve difficult problems and those 
whose enthusiasm contributed to coping with the immense volume of the material they 
themselves helped create. My gratitude also extends to all the people and institutions mentioned 
below, who have thus far supported me in my research in every imaginable way: 
- Thomas Werner (Director of the Technical Museum, Vienna) and his staff 
- Alfred Lechner, the founder and former director of the University Archive of the Vienna Technical 
University 
- Erich Jiresch, head of the University Archive of the Vienna Technical University, also Juliane Miko- 
letzky and Johann Axnix 
- Ingrid Weidinger (Director of the Library of the Austrian Patent Office, Vienna), her associates (Bri 
gitte Reicher, Walter Amstötter, Helmut Hammel, Wilhelm Korinek) 
- Heinz Kleinert (Gablonz Archive and Museum e.V., Kaufbeuren-Neugablonz), his associates 
- Susanne Rössler (Neugablonz Industry and Jewelry Museum e.V., Kaufbeuren-Neugablonz), her 
associates 
- Walter Dürr (Director of the Museum for Nature & Urban Culture in Schwäbisch-Gmünd) and 
Monika Boosen 
- Klaus Breit, Schwäbisch-Gmünd; Mario Coressi, Vienna (M. Hurtz & Sons, Vienna, “Goldperle”); 
Heinz Fitschek, Steyr-Gleink; Adolf Glaser, Schwäbisch-Gmünd; Artur Kratzmann, Enns; Alfred 
Mantel, Sr. and Jr., Mauerstetten-Steinholz; Maria Reiter, Vienna 
- Prof. Ludwig Neustifter for designing the dust-jacket and binding for this book 
My wärmest thanks also go to Fritz Kaltenbrunner, Alfons Pessl and Joschko A. Buxbaum 
particularly, for their unstinting efforts and their active Support for the book and the exhibition 
project; Fritz Kaltenbrunner even undertook the arduous work of correcting the manuscript with 
admirable patience. 
Ann Dubksy devoted herseif to the subject and its difficult terminology in the English translation 
with special dedication; there is no doubt that she performed pioneer work in doing so, chiefly in 
dealing with highly speciaiized problems which - although appearing to be untranslatable at first 
- she mastered with bravura. 
Vienna, October 1994 Waltraud Neuwirth 
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