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Original Message:   Re: Bead sample cards A. Sachse & Co Venice
Ah, you were one of the people bidding against me..... Had not bid on Ebay for quite some time, but this one is indeed very interesting. Looking at those cards, I believe they are most likely a mix between Czech and Venetian production. There is a book on this company and their collection: Jirouskova, Jana. Albert Sachse's collection in the National museum. National museum Prague, 2011

Here is the info in my book on Beads from Jablonec on Sachse: One of the masters in 'pleasing the overseas customers' was Albert Sachse (1851-1921). His first business was with a partner, Franz Assam. Their company Assam & Sachse was founded in Jablonec in 1876. One of the main products of this company were glass bangles that were exported to India. These bangles were rings, cut from large glass tubes and were decorated by cutting and guilding. Later on, bangles were also made by lampworkers shaping thin rods of glass into a circle.

In the late 1800's, Sachse set up his own export company by the name of A. Sachse & Co. This company quickly gained momentum (22): 'As early as 1895 he set up a branch in Venice. (…) At the beginning of the 20th century the company Sachse ran workshops in Berlin, Hamburg, London, Moscow, Paris and Vienna and beside Venice, it took its share in the production of glass pearls in Bayreuth, Germany. In the Jablonec headquarters alone, almost one hundred people found employment. (…) Before the First World War it had branches in Lagos (today's Nigeria), Porto-Novo (Benin), numerous business partners in Abidjan, Grand-Bassam (Ivory Coast) as well as in Accra and Cape Coast (Ghana).'

As said, one of the things the Sachse company was good at, was documenting local beads and objects, to be made into glass in Jablonec. (22) 'He managed to place his employees in German expeditions, which revealed the secrets of the Black Continent and helped to cover the costs of the expeditions. The Sachse's salesmen could study the taste and demand of native people and, by way of exchange, gain artefacts from them, which then served as models in the jewellery production.' Not only did Sachse gain great insight into local demands, he also gathered a great collection of African and Asian artefacts, which is currently owned by the Naprstek museum in Prague and the Museum of glass and Costume Jewellery in Jablonec. 'The focus on exotic markets brought the firm high profits, but it was also the cause of its fall. During the First World War, Sachse suffered big financial losses. Far-away markets were lost and new ones impossible to find.' In 1920, his business was sold to the Venetians. With his money from the sale, he invested in the production of German wax beads, but the fall of the German Mark made him lose his investment. Albert Sachse died in 1921.

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