Do you think that green sticker on the Waterford piece is a sea horse? Think again. Well, actually, it is a seahorse, at least it is these days. But it did not start out that way. It began as an abstract of a dolphin.

When Waterford re-fired up its crystal furnaces sixty years ago, crystal artists from eastern Europe were invited to come and craft, including a pair of senior artisans to lead the design group. These two created an abstract drawing of a dolphin as an organizational logo that was accepted by management. A dolphin was chosen because these aquatic mammals are indigenous in Irish waters and are always welcome sights in the Irish harbors they frequent, including that one in the city of Waterford (which, not surprisingly, is on the water). Dolphins are a common sight in the Waterford area.To emigrees from eastern Europe these dolphins must have appeared to be novel, even exotic creatures.

Seahorses, on the other hand, are nowhere to be found in or near Ireland or the Irish waters. They do not survive in the cool Irish waters; they require the warmer seas of the Philippines or Malaysia, where they are indigenous.

The abstract dolphin did appear to look a bit seahorse-like, with its curved-up tail and the multiple fins along its back that resembled scales, and eventually it morphed into more of a seahorse-appearing creature. Today it is in fact, a full-fledged seahorse. Waterford accepted the evolution, perhaps because the dolphin was considered a "common" creature at the time, prior to it acquiring the eco-friendly symbology that it has today. The seahorse instead had a more exotic, even more "civilized" context at the time; it was a natural segue from the one creature into the other.

But in the factory in Ireland, even today, they still refer to the green stickers you see on Waterford stemware as "Green Dolphins".

I learned this through conversation with the CS director at the Ireland factory. If you learned something or found this guide helpful then please hit the "Yes" helpful recommend button below. Thank you.