Historical Reproduction Desk Set, “Friedrich Schiller”
Original Thuringian Forest Glass

This historical desk set has been hand made in the manner of an historical original. It is available in the two colors of glass available in Goethe and Schiller’s era – “Forest Glass” and “Clear Glass”.

Now available as an attractive writing desk decoration and as an exceptional gift for your clients or for any ambitious collector.

The desk set consists of 5 pieces:

• 1 ink well
• 1 sand container
• 1 glass tray
• 1 goose feather quill
• 1 bag of blotting sand

Goethe Barometer
(without wooden plaque)
Original Thuringian Forest Glass

This historic weather glass, also known as the Goethe barometer or thunder glass, is named after the famous German poet, and much less well known, scientist, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. After Goethe’s death, a barometer exactly like this one, with its distinctly baroque character, was found at his main residence in Weimar, located on the street named Frauenplan. Replicas of this decorative and functional wall décor have been named Goethe barometers in Germany ever since. In Holland, this style of barometer was very popular, and has been documented to have been made there since 1619 by the company G. de Donckere where it was referred to as a “Thunder glass”. Since the beginning of the 17th Century, this type of barometer was used by coastal inhabitants, fishermen and sailors. The barometer that was in Goethe’s house can still be seen in the Goethe National Museum in Weimar. In the Farbglashuette Lauscha, this replica is made by highly skilled craftspeople, in high quality painstaking handwork. The Goethe Barometer is available in both the historically accurate colors – clear glass and also Original Thuringian Forest Glass, the pale green traditional glass from this region with the small inclusions of sparkling bubbles, made during Goethe’s era in this region of Thuringia, mainly for scientific or technical purposes.

Inkwell
Original Thuringian Forest Glass
Our Schiller Ink Well has been made to replicate an historical example. It is available in Original Thuringian Forest Glass, the glass that was typically available during the time that Schiller lived. Engraving is also available according to your wishes. The inkwell is approximately 14cm high.

J.W. von Goethe Tumbler
Original Thuringian Forest Glass

Our Goethe Tumbler is a copy of a glass in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s possession when he died. The glass was found in his house in Weimar after his death. The house was built in 1709, and Goethe lived there for almost 50 years of his life. Our tumbler is produced using exclusive hand work, using the typical glass from Goethe’s era, Thuringian Forest Glass. This pale green glass got its color from the high iron content in the local sand and has small air bubbles encased throughout the body of the glass, a result of the wood fired melting furnaces of yesteryear. These bubbles, called “gispen” which were a very typical feature of historical glass, have to be added to the glass in our modern day. Goethe, lover of the simple, especially rejoiced in this simple form, with the rand gently flaring outwards.

The Shoemaker’s Ball with metal stand The Shoemaker’s Ball is a clear hollow glass globe, carefully and finely hand-made, from before the invention of electrical lighting, designed to magnify the available light in a work area. The globe is filled with water and amplifies the light at the work area where one is doing handwork. In this way, a small amount of light could be made to go farther – a single candle allowed one to work into the darkness of the evening hours. By placing the water filled globe between the worker’s hands and the light source (and therefore heat source), the water shielded the work piece from the heat of the candle allowing one to work with temperature sensitive material, nearer to a stronger source of light.