Both the Passau Museum Catalog, Band VI, and the Truitts' second volume (page 69. 3-4) show small vessels in bubbly glass ("Pulegoso") with a most interesting story.
In 1941, Emanuel Beranek and his three brothers decided to defy the atrocious conditions of their country, where the Nazi invasion had all but paralyzed glass production. They created a small glass manufacture, utilizing peat for fuel and recycled broken bottles for raw materials. The story goes that the glass they produced was full of bubbles, considered a flaw, until Emanuel came up with a way of turning the bubbles into the main characteristic of their glass production. Their firm was nationalized by the communists and managed by the Center for Arts and Crafts under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Culture. It was not until 1991 that the company was returned to the Beranek family, and nowadays it is one of the Czech Republic's preeminent glass making centers. Contemporary Beranek glass is much sought after by collectors. See "Useful Links" for access to the present day Beranek works. Given the historical data, the vases I have been collecting belong to the first wave of exports out of Czechoslovakia after WW2. It also may explain their rather small sizes. The largest are barely 6.5" tall. Some of them have an oval paper label marked "Made in Czechoslovakia". The presence of "Made In" points to the very late 1940's or even early 1950's as an export date:  1. PROVENANCE LABEL
However, one of my pieces has a second label with more elaborate information:
 2. ID LABEL I can only make out two letters, "O" and "R" in the first line. But the rest of the label is legible: "Present/Arts & Crafts/Masterton". What I find most intriguing are the words "Arts and Crafts", since it was precisely the Arts and Crafts Center at the Czech Ministry of Culture which was managing the company at one point. If anyone has a Beranek piece with a legible ID, please get in touch with me ASAP! This is the piece with the labels:  3. PMC VI.72, 3.5" These two other vases are also in the PMC VI:
 4. PMC V1.70, 3"  5. PMC V1.71. 6.5" The vase above also appears in the second volume of Truitts' BOHEMIAN GLASS, together with the one below:
 6. TRUITT II, 69.4 , 6.5" I was lucky enough to find a larger piece--9" tall and 8" wide--with the characteristic "Pulegoso" surface and paper provenance label. I'd say from the 50's.
 7. LATE BERANEK PULEGOSO Finally, a group picture:
 8. BERANEK FAMILY PHOTO I bet you are wondering about price. I just found a pair of these being offered on eBay for $900!!! A bit overly excessive. I am sure you can find them for a fraction of that particular asking price. To me, the true value of these pieces resides in the history of artistic resistance they embody. They should be represented in every Czech glass collection.
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