of Gablonz 250 ctr., also 250 ctr. from the area of the dominion of Morchenstern, from the city of
Liebenau 70 ctr., and from the dominion of Rohozec 40 ctr. In the Glasshouses of Antoniwald,
Christianstal and Tiefenbach, the amount produced in that same year was: 1090 ctr. ofsqueezerods
and 1020 ctr. of chandelier stones, of which Antoniwald produced 600 ctr. squeeze-rods
and 400 ctr. chandelier stones; Tiefenbach, 90 ctr. squeeze-rods and 220 ctr. chandelier stones.
The value of the turnover amounted to 458,312 fl. 39 kr. in Convention coins (‘Konventions-Münze’);
the workers’ wages amounted to 137,510 fl. K. M.”
One of the oldest printed sources describing the production of Bohemian “composition” is
Schreyer’s handbook on “Commerce, Factories and Manufactories of the Kingdom of
Bohemia” (Kommerz, Fabriken und Manufakturen des Königreichs Böheim) from the year
1790. According to Schreyer the “Bohemian composition stones” were made in the
following manner:
“The composition these stones are made from consists of gravet pulverized to dust, minium and
saltpeter; the well mixed mass is placed in a melting crucible with a mouth that is narrow like a
jug; the lid placed upon it is smeared with clay, it is put into a kiln for 13 hours at constant heat
and made to melt. When the fire is put out, the crucibles are left in place until the whole kiln is
cooled off, then taken out, the clay around the mouth knocked off and the composition removed
and stored for further use and for finishing Bohemian composition stones... Instead of saltpeter,
borax was also used to give the composition paste greater hardness”(Schreyer 1790, p. 92).
On July 7, 1835, a privilege was granted to Joseph Jäckel and Sons, Composition Stone
Maker in Neudorf, in the Bunzlau District of Bohemia, “for the invention of a paste named:
Venetian Paste for making all kinds of stones and beads for jewetry and Ornament work;”
it expired already in 1836 because of “deficiencies in the description:”
“The patentee prepares the above mentioned paste in a double hot-blast furnace from a mixture
ofpottash, rockcrystal, minium, saltpeter, burned bones and such, in unspecified amounts. - For
coloring he uses, according to the demands each particular time: mountain blue, chrome yellow,
goldoxide, manganese dioxide, etc.”(Patents 2/1842, p. 230).
In 1854 an address book names Pfeiffer & Comp, as the owner of a paste, enamel and
glass factory (Gottfried-Pernold 2/1854, p. 78); in the environs of Gablonz the Weiss
Brothers in Neudorf (“Glass Compositions Beads”) are named, also Anton Zappe with
“Composition Glass Beads” (Gottfried-Pernold 2/1854, p. 79). Of course, the composition
glass producers named here can also be taken as being representative of many others; Lilie
lists the centers towards the end of the 19th Century as Gablonz, Albrechtsdorf and
Josefsthal (Lilie 1895, p. 162).
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