ANTONIN RÜCKL & SONS 1919-1939
Including WILHELM KRALIK & SONS Czech Glass
Published in April 2019 Published in January 2019
- A retraction due to a conflict with Mr. Orkney, published in AAG's issue of April 2019.
Mr. Orkney deemed completely inappropriate, hence his demand to the editor Tom Felt for a retraction in the next quarterly issue was acted upon, in spite of Mr. Felt's lack of understanding about this unusual request. This was not revealed to me.
I fear that if I had not given Mr. Orkney credit, since I broached the same subject he had in April 2016 in the AAG issue, he would have found fault with that omission, even if there was very little said about the Welz connection, to my Kralik article Part II. I followed several article's content from a German source, my aim was not to delve any further in the Welz history, but rather bring to light details that were not generally known.
The type of character assassination, that has been ongoing for five years by Mr. Orkney is rare and hard to believe. I have the means to keep the record straight here on my site and I will. Mr. Orkney would prefer I did not, of course, but after the damaging public statement on another site a few weeks that was removed by site management, and an email that was unpleasant to say the least from Mr. Orkney, I have had enough of his self serving and delusional rants about HIS credibility and HIS high standards.
My reply to his post about his AAG 'retraction' on another public site which was also removed.
"I can't believe you felt this way and believed this was some kind of slur against you. After years of accusing me of stealing your ideas from the CW forum, and pretending they are mine. Failing to give you credit when I should have as the originator of the idea then.
I felt it was a fair thing to do in the article, to give you credit, especially in the historical context on my article, due to the posts you have created on CW about the Welz family and the post you did about your own article in the magazine, which was also historical in nature.
Only a small segment of my part II was about Welz, the information was maybe familiar to you, but not to the audience this magazine is distributed to.
It was a fact that mattered to me, that Franz Welz traveled with his daughter and son in law to Hungary soon after their wedding to visit a glass plant owned by Schreiber. Maternal grandfather of Franz's daughter.
If you publish an article which has been broached by someone else, or has provided facts that were useful to you and your understanding. For me that deserves a credit, how I feel about the person has nothing to do with it.
You are mistaken in your assumption that it indicates some kind of relationship, or direct connection to the article.
Ask published authors like Deborah Truitt if this was appropriate or not.
For you to take it as an insult and liberty on my part is completely the reverse of my intent, and most people who write reference books understand that.
They will add several pages sometimes of credits to previous publications and researched information by other individuals, that does not mean they even know them. It's a means of providing additional avenues of research, and one that is appreciated in the literary world.
Frankly, I am totally shocked by this post. If I did offend you in this matter in anyway, I apologize, I had not heard one word about it. "
Afterwards, his hostile reply by email, under the name Franz Welz.
"I read your comment, sent to me in an email I received after the post was deleted. It was laughable.
You have spent years posting bald faced lies and misinformation about me, both directly and indirectly on the internet. CW, ebay, Pinterest, your website..... I do not want your apology, and will never accept one. I want you out of every aspect of my life online, and for good.
I was going to send you a list of about 15 of those lies, insults, and false innuendos I could think of off hand quickly, but I opted to simply send you this instead. I do have them typed up though.
If you do not remove references to me from your website and cease and desist with any future public references to me, my website, or my research, I am going to start a public relations campaign across the glass world that will put you and your activities in an accurate light that will not reflect well on you. I have accumulated your public insults and lies about me for the last several years.
There is a short list of people that have tried to make me look bad publicly as you try to do, and yet they all have ceased that activity.
Alfredo is at the top of that list.
You may want to ask yourself why it is they all stopped.
I am done with your crap. Forget about me and move on.
Do the smart thing.... "
Call it Intimidation 101, several people have received these kind of emails from Mr. Orkney, I was sent copies of them, some of them are a lot worse. He also uses legal action and the loss of assets as a threat, I suppose you would think twice before having to hire a lawyer. I don't think in the end he would enjoy losing a court case due to his own lies and fabrications against me. I'm Ready. In fact I would love to be vindicated in open court, and see Mr. Orkney and his close pals take a few steps back.
You have heard this sentence in the USA political arena since 2016:
"If you tell a lie often enough, people will eventually believe it".
Mr. Orkney has no trouble creating his own version of past events, a smart approach when nobody can prove otherwise. As he makes sure there are no loose ends and deletes the evidence.That is why his posts come and go,has nothing to do with me. He caters to the new members, they will believe and have no reason to be suspicious.
Here is what he implies today, again in reference to me, instead of the real reason he deleted some of his contributions on the other site:
More LIES past week by O:
"This article, along with some others, were removed when some examples of my research and the resulting findings started appearing on a website without any credit being given as to the source, but was being claimed to be the work of the individual posting it".
Total fabrication, and a deep irony, since when I did give him credit in my published article, which he found to be insulting.....
I have decided since Mr. Orkney has declared since I did not follow his directions, he is now on the warpath via public internet communications against whatever credibility I have left. This page will become my documentation of his lies about me and other matters.
There is a pile of documentation regarding him and his public comments that is a foot high on my desk. An easy matter to convert into internet usable files. So, this is MY warning. I will not be silent or allow any more destructive public activity towards my character, and reputation without reporting it here. I am sure, it will still continue, in closed groups, and interpersonal email communications.
More LIEs by O:
"I was hopeful that the forum member in question would simply pull down a personally insulting multi paragraph rant about me on her website and leave it alone, while at the same time moving forward, she would refrain from using my name on her website at all...... but apparently not --------- This has been an ongoing practice by this individual for many years now. -------------- I would clarify that the reason for requesting a retraction (aside from it being my right to do so, if my name is used in a manner publicly which I deem to be inappropriate) is due to my ongoing issues with the individual, and my resulting total lack of interest in even the most remote possibility that my name/research would be associated in any manner with the author of the article. We now have a new public statement on her website about me. This new rant alone speaks volumes to the reasons behind my desire to have no association with this member in any manner, in any forum or publication. ---------- Personal insults such as these have occurred for several years on her website, and yet this individual is then offended by my publicly expressed desire of wanting to have nothing to do with her when she uses my name in association with an article she wrote......"
Another lie follow up - Why would someone write these kinds of insults and post them publicly for years, and then use the name of the years long "target" of the insults as a "credit" on an article???? Escapes logic...... What also escapes logic is the use of one's "educational" website as a public bashing forum to rant and rave about someone they do not like...... I guess the public credibility of their website is not an issue any longer..... which is likely a good thing.
The truth is that Mr. Orkney has made a practice of harassing me on another site to the point of my being removed. Over the span of five years it happened three times. My only choice left was to use my own site and space paid for by me, not a benefactor like Mr. Orkney's, to show how Mr. Orkney was manipulating this outcome, I could prove he spent more time on my site than anybody else in a monthly period, worldwide. Does that sound like an innocent victim of my poor behavior? Rather the contrary, gathering information to ridicule me.
My paragraphs discussing Mr. Orkney were removed after a few months. This was in the Spring of 2017. I have since returned a year ago as a member of the collector site and have been asked by management to settle my differences with CEO somewhere else....
Mr. Orkney has taken every opportunity he gets on Facebook to destroy my reputation and credibility, this has been going on for years too. The facts that he threatens to do so in his recent email is a joke, (my reaction to that statement was -what else is new?-). He accuses me of doing the same thing, difference is I believe what I state. It is a lot easier to assemble a group of like minded people, who support you as you require, and pursue a mission to destroy someone else that is deemed a threat to your great achievements (in your own mind).
In every field of knowledge or expertise, there are conflicts of this sort. It's nothing new that some people feel more insecure and cannot deal with disapproval. But to invent and fabricate highly exaggerated situations, in retaliation towards any person that disagrees with you is pathetic. In the end, none of this is going to matter 20 years from now. In the meantime, this is my effort to keep an honest record about me, for all to see and judge.
Why do I bother acknowledging this circumstance, only to suffer more retaliations? Because the truth matters. If this is the only place on the internet which allows a person to have their say against multiple accusations and false commentary about them and their actions on the internet, so be it.
The latest status of my being shunned by many art glass collectors is about the same. If you keep in mind that I never made any claim to be more than an amateur sleuth in the identification of Czech era interwar decorative glass exports, starting with A. Ruckl & Sons, right from the start. I made my own credibility based on that. If other interested parties do not feel comfortable with my opinions and conclusions, that is expected.
My only hope all along was that I may further the mystifying origins of this Czech glass, and add more information with my own personal approach. There is little glory to be had with this endeavor, even for the most and best researchers and collectors focused for many more years than I. My belief is that we all bring something to the table. Keeping an open mind should be highly valued.
The cold war continues in all it's forms, some hidden, some flagrant, some amusing, some friendly only to get a harsh reversal to leave you off balance. I know all the different ways he has to pursue his mission, it's a skill he has honed to be highly efficient for many years against several people. Proud of them too, with his victims showing signs of PTSD for years. Unreal isn't it.
Nowhere do I state that the PTSD has affected me, I am made of sterner stuff than the norm. From a family who were experts at manipulation, and blaming others when they were the culprits. Sound familiar?
There is another older email from Mr. O. to me, that spells out his accomplishments toward getting rid of the people that disagreed with him on that public website. He names them, and gloats to me that I am next, as he is such an efficient and successful bully in the virtual arena. I made a point of forwarding it to the people involved.
Another of his proudest virtual roles, is being asked to be an administrator of a glass group or two or three on Facebook and elsewhere. This makes me laugh as most people want nothing to do with this sort of policing other members, and laying the law, or the group rules with vigilance. I was asked too and refused politely. I can't think of anything more unpleasant than following what other people do, and letting them know what's what. I would rather deal with difficult issues one on one, as I am doing here.
July2019
My adversary is beside himself with his failure this time to not be able to either make my site membership intolerable, so that I leave, or making me lose my restraint enough that I am removed from the site with all my posts. CO never mentions that when I joined CW it was the Spring of 2014, after being asked repeatedly to become a member. He had been booted out himself.
At that time his ID was Obscurities for a few years, his continuing poor behavior towards other members in 2013 became intolerable. I was not aware of the feud that had been going on. His friends tried to recruit me into following their group even if he was not on the site at that time.
Here is the latest tantrum he has posted this month of July 2019 under his ID profile, naming me fully with his usual old slew of accusations. I am proudly still a member after a year and 3 months, the longest stay so far.
"I have reached the point in this forum where I will no longer respond to or deal with the illogical rantings and meaningless random comments on years old posts, left by a forum member by the name of ..............., also known in this forum as ............ . This has gone on for over 5 years now, and is simply a continuation of what many watched occur here previously, initiated by a group referred to at the time by many forum members as the "Glass Thugs". Any and all comments made by ............. on any of my posts will be deleted immediately. Her "educational" glass website now contains an ongoing 26 paragraph rant about me, invoking my name about 18 times. It holds me responsibility for the perception that she has no credibility, and discusses how her credibility has been systematically destroyed by me in this forum and other forums to include facebook (a forum I actually have her blocked in, and have since the first day I became aware of her presence there). Her website rant includes claims of her being booted from this forum 3 times in 5 years because of me. ("The truth is that Mr. Orkney has made a practice of harassing me on another site to the point of my being removed. Over the span of five years it happened three times.") In reality, members are booted for their behavior, and not the behavior of others. According to her website rant, she has also been told by forum admins to "settle her differences with me elsewhere", a concept she does not seem to understand well. Her rant also contains claims about how she has been "persecuted" on the internet for many years by me and my "followers". The rant "project" on her site was set off by my requesting a retraction disavowing any connection with her or an article she wrote in Jan of 2019. My requested retraction was printed by the publication in April of 2019. I will no longer argue with or interact in any way with this individual, who in my opinion, should seek some serious professional help. "
The level of frustration is very high again and I don't believe a word he says. This type of announcement is usually followed by an avalanche of comments on my posts, with the direct purpose to annoy me more, when he has been told over and over again not to. It usually starts with - I am curious.......
As far as his advice of my seeking serious professional help, when I stop choking on my roaring glee, I would answer: YOU FIRST! Then cry me a river.
August 2019. Of course the insults and pejorative name calling is continuing, as expected, as well as my so called predictable responses here. It no longer matters how long this will go on for, I am not backing down, and for the sake of the many who have been browbeaten and traumatized directly or indirectly by this man since 2010, I will continue to leave this testimony here on my post. The fact that he keeps referring to it on another site and probably in private, only helps my cause, getting as many people as possible to consider who they are dealing with.
Thank you for visiting this website.
If you wish to contact me please use this email address:
contact@rucklczglass.com
Look for the West Virginia American Glass Museum quarterly magazine sold on Ebay, if not a member, All About Glass will be issued this month of October 2018 where you can expect to find an article submitted by me. It will be Part 1 of a 2 Part article about the Art Deco Interwar Czech decorative glass, titled: A HIGHLY INNOVATIVE ERA. Especially focused on the Ruckl and Kralik families, their decorative glass businesses, and their fate before, during and after these chaotic years. The second part was in the January 2019 issue.
PART 1 - RUCKL PART 2 - KRALIK