Glass statuettes from the Preciosa Ornela plant in Desná are often used as valuable trophies for winners of various awards and the same is also true in the case of the Fleet Awards questionnaire.
Glass statuettes from the Preciosa Ornela plant in Desná are often used as valuable trophies for winners of various awards and the same is also true in the case of the Fleet Awards questionnaire. The winners of the Fleet Awards are entitled to use the Fleet Awards logo on their products throughout the year. The winner’s trophy is the so-called Fleet Muse, a glass statue of a girl with flowing hair, and it is the work of the glassmakers from the Preciosa Ornela plant in Desná v Jizerských horách.
The Mistral Stauette (“Fleet Muse”) is part of the product range which is closely associated with motoring. The statuette was sold as one of many automobile radiator mascots by the H. Hoffmann Company in the 1930s. At that time, this highly fashionable item evolved into an object of passion for collectors and this remains the case to this day.
The more individual the radiator mascot, the more it was valued. And this did not only concern the shape, but also the colour finish. As well as transparent glass, mascots were also made in coloured variations and lamp tubes were even placed inside them in order to light them up at night. The most sophisticated designs involved multi-coloured lamp shades which could be “remotely” turned from inside the vehicle and thus change the mascot’s colour. According to the period reports, the statuettes were considered to be so mystical and supernatural that rural folk in particular fell into a panic and hid outside the mascot’s “field of vision” whenever a vehicle passed.
The Mistral Statuette is therefore a distinguished trophy not only due to its beauty and artistic value, but also due to the interesting history which accompanies it.
