Red  Ashay Car Mascots

We receive many enquires regarding this company and the history surrounding this line of car mascots. I hope we may be able to answer some of these questions in this guide. In writing this guide I would like to thank David Kay, Michal Jadrny and other dealers in the car mascot world. Also Janet Currie, the grand daughter of the founder of the Company, Herman George Ascher

Mr Herman George Ascher arrived from Bohemia in the 1920's, he eventually set up home and married. The family resided in Manchester. He later set up a Company Called H.G. Ascher Ltd, there premises were at 4 , 8, Acomb Street, Chorlton on Medlock, Manchester.

He obviously had contacts in the Jizera Mountains in the now Czech Republic, situated in the North of the country near to the Polish border. This area was a well known area for high quality glass production. The largest and most famous producer of glass in that area is the Desna factory owned by Jablonex a.s. This factory can trace it's history back to 1847 and was eventually purchased by Josef Riedel. Local artists and glass designers were encouraged to produce a range of stunning and beautiful items. These designers included Heinrich Hoffmann and Curt Schlevogt, who's products are still produced under the Desna Classic label. Below is one of the most famous and expensive of his range, "Night Butterfly", also known as "Butterfly Girl" and "Dancing Girl". It is thought that Hoffman designed this after a famous German nightclub dancer of the 1920's. It's original 1930's price was £5. 10 shillings, a considerable price at that time and probably only attracted customers who had a large income and car !  

Herman Ascher soon became involved in the lucrative business of importing and selling of high quality glass car mascots. He must have known Hoffman because the majority of these mascots were designed and produced by Hoffmann at the Riedel factory. Ascher named this range of over 30 car mascots as  "Red Ashay" illuminated motor mascots. In 1930 Ascher started to sell this range throughout the UK and advertised in several national trade and motor magazines. An early example can be seen below, the car mascot named "Acceleration" is still produced by Desna under the name of "The Future", this item together with Night Butterfly are now sold by Crystal-Art-Glass :

Sales took place at the major motor exhibitions in London and Edinburgh, also at the Manchester premises and later at outlets in London and Glasgow. The advert mentions items for sale at the famous Jenners store in Edinburgh, now a John Lewis store.
The London outlet at Holborn Viaduct was destroyed in the blitz, it is thought that the Manchester base on Acomb Street was also damaged by bombing during 1940.

As the firm grew we can see that the adverts began to name Ascher's sales outlets as belonging to the Company and also that he had started to sell other glassware. This 1931 advert still features "Acceleration", it must have been his favourite car mascot :

Readers will be interested in the mention of "illuminated Motor mascots" . Ascher used to sell mountings for the mascots, which could be mounted on most of the cars of the day. It comprised of a nickel silver or chrome plated mount that contained a 6 or 12 volt bulb from which the interior of the mascot could be illuminated. A novel and interesting feature was that by means of a cylinder of multi coloured glass surrounding the bulb the colour of the illumination could be controlled. Some had a small hand control, other more elaborate mount that had a small fan or propeller at the front. This started the colour change at speeds above 15 to 20 mph. Again these mounts were relatively expensive ranging between £1 and £5. The mounts and electrics were produced in Manchester at the firms Ducie Grove works. Sadly the Acomb and Ducie Grove works no longer exist due to the post WW2 developments in that area, which includes the Manchester University.

Ascher continued with his sales of Red Ashay mascots, however tastes and vehicle design changed in the period leading up to WW2, in a rare and interesting advert below, it can be seen that the standard of advert and also a more primitive screw mount was evident. The car mascot which depicts a mans head with a crown motif is an unknown piece. However the "Mistral" or "Spirit of the Wind" is one of the most exciting Red-Ashay car mascots, still produced in very limited numbers by Desna and sold by Crystal-Art-Glass.

Following the WW2 all glass factories in the now Czech Republic were nationalised, this included the Josef Riedel factory. Ascher must have found it harder and harder to obtain the high quality items he needed to sell. In 1952 H.G. Ascher Ltd was dissolved.

However thanks to the enthusiasm of collectors and dealers around the world the interest in Red-Ashay mascots remain, Several dealers and auction have still have a small number of original items. Crystal-Art-Glass continue the tradition of importing and selling these fantastic pieces of art. They are produced from the original moulds used by the Josef Riedel factory.

Crystal-Art-Glass also works closely with Desna in discovering more of the original moulds and producing a larger range of car mascots. Some examples can be seen below ;

We would be very interested in comments on this guide, also we are looking for a 1930's catalogue on the Red-Ashay range of car mascots. If you have found this guide useful please click on the link below. Thank you.

© Crystal-Art-Glass 2008