Boda Kallenberg Skogsrå, Engraved Swedish Crystal, Seven-Sided Rose Bowl Vase, Nude Mythical Female Forest Creature Feeding a Fawn, 1950

This amazing vase is about 75 years old, and it sparkles like new! It was made by the Swedish glass company, Boda, long before they merged with that other Swedish glass company, Kosta, and likely designed by Fritz Kallenberg. As a math nerd, I love the fact that this vace has seven faces (it is heptagonal!). From an optics perspective, it means that when you look into a flat side, you see the edge opposite it, not another flat side. This maximizes the play of light in the crystal - clever and beautiful!

The figure on the vase is not a woman, it is actually a Skogsrå, a seductive forest creature found in Norse mythology. Her name derives from a word meaning "covered" or "secret". In Norwegian folklore, she is known as huldra. She is known as the skogsrå "forest spirit" or Tallemaja "pine tree Mary" in Swedish folklore, and ulda in Sámi folklore. She appears like a woman from the front, but seen from behind she often has a hollow back and a tail. (Painting from Jan Bergh Eriksen’s Trolls and Their Relatives, illustrated by Per Aase. Dreyer Bok-Stravanger, Norway, 1983.)

The vase is a perfect size for displaying on a shelf or table where it can catch the sunlight. It is about 5 inches tall and it weighs 4.5 pounds! The design was made by pressing the glass against a copper wheel, spinning like a fixed Dremel tool. A slurry of oil and grit would coat the wheel, cutting into the glass. Different sizes of wheels made different kinds of cuts. This technique had widespread use in Sweden until the 1950's, when an engraving pen, based on a dentist's drill was invented. Because it was easier to master the use of the engraving pen, many companies switched to using it. Cool stuff.

Boda glassworks was built in 1864 at Förlångskvarn, on the border between Madesjö and Algutsboda parishes, at the site that later became the town of Boda. It was founded by glassblowing masters Reinhold Viktor Scheutz and E. Vidlund from Kosta. The community of Boda Glassworks grew up around the mill. Fritz Kallenberg worked at Boda from 1916 to 1968 - whoa!

Pieces of this quality and sophistication are getting harder than ever to find. It is true that they really don't make them like this anymore.