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Author Topic: Is this a Murano Knockoff?  (Read 7819 times)

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Offline mollymcbeagle

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Is this a Murano Knockoff?
« on: April 17, 2005, 10:13:23 PM »
Hi folks!  I'm brand-new here and I'm breathing a sigh of relief that I've found a glass message board that will OPEN.  Ebay's boards won't load.  Don't know why - but oh well.  

I'm pasting an url here of a basket I picked up recently (paid <5 for it) at the local junque shop.  It was grimy to the point of being gray, had some kind of disgusting sticky crud coating it but I the shape intrigued me and I figured it was worth the couple dollars just to clean it up and satisfy my curiosity.  

So I cleaned it and found this pretty little thing:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-4/988324/MuranoDish2.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-4/988324/MuranoDish4.jpg

There were intact labels on it, but I've learned not to trust labels unless they can be authenticated somehow.  Too easy to fake a foil label.

So does anyone have a clue?  The label says "Lavorazione Arte Murano Made in Italy."  That's the red foil label.  The white label says "Made in Italy"

I haven't listed it for auction anywhere because I won't list an item until I know exactly what it is.  

Thanks all!

Molly McBeagle

Offline Laura Friedman

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Is this a Murano Knockoff?
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2005, 05:04:31 PM »
Hi,

Your bowl, while lovely, is an extremely common item. They are new, and currently for sale in many of the "discount" department stores in the United States.

These items are all marked "Made in Murano," so yours is indeed wearing its original label.  However, I wonder if they are items that have been farmed out to Asian makers, then imported back to Italy for sale to tourists. I have been told that this imorting and remarking of glass is unfortunately becoming more common in Murano.

Laura

Offline Frank

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Is this a Murano Knockoff?
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2005, 05:27:29 PM »
Which makes the slimy grey crud an value-added addition.  :D

Offline mollymcbeagle

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Is this a Murano Knockoff?
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2005, 06:27:32 PM »
Thank you, Laura!  I'm very glad to have this piece identified.  Well, it's a pretty little piece and for those of us who live in thrift stores and estate sales rather than discount department stores, it may just become quite a little conversation piece.  I'll give it a place in my china press, right next to the bride's basket my son cracked this weekend - quite by accident...


Frank?  I get the feeling you're sneering at my basket... :shock:

::::hahahahha:::::

M.

Offline Frank

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Is this a Murano Knockoff?
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2005, 08:03:19 PM »
Nah, not the basket, just the tricks people dream up to age things! You would probably have paid the same price had it been clean, because you liked the shape. I am also glad you are going to live with it and not put it aside as a mistake. Beauty comes in all ages :)

Offline mollymcbeagle

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Is this a Murano Knockoff?
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2005, 09:48:37 PM »
Yep.  I buy what appeals to me for my own collection - not because something might be valuable.  It's only worth as much as you or the next buyer is willing to pay.  

Granted, I hadn't intended to add anything like this basket to my collection, but the shape caught my eye.  I must not get out enough, because I'd never seen it before - or maybe I'm just not going to those places where that kind of thing is sold.  

Still, it cleaned up well, and it also sparked an interest in art glass that appears to have been sublimated to my interest in other types of glass.  So it was a good thing, all told.  AND I learned something, so I find it a very valuable little piece of bric-a-brac!

Now I just wish I could identify that wonderfully colored ashtray I posted in the "Glass" folder!  Someone will probably come back and tell me it's mass-produced for Target... :?
M.

Offline Max

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Is this a Murano Knockoff?
« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2005, 07:36:39 AM »
Quote
AND I learned something, so I find it a very valuable little piece of bric-a-brac!


That's what it's all about Molly!  And....the more you learn, the less you find you know...exasperating really!   :lol:
I am not a man

Offline RAY

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Is this a Murano Knockoff?
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2005, 09:22:17 PM »
cheers Ray

Offline KevinH

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Is this a Murano Knockoff?
« Reply #8 on: April 19, 2005, 09:41:48 PM »
Well spotted, Ray.

So, is this another case of a modern glassworks selling other makers' (Murano in this case) wares, in the same way that we know that some English works sell Polish ones?

Or is it, as suggested earlier, a case of some Murano outlets selling German wares in the same way as we know some sell Chinese products.

Or is it really just a coincidence? Or perhaps glassworks simply following a saleable style? Or how about a particular worker who has moved from Germany to Murano or vice versa?

It gets almost as difficult to follow as deciding whether a piece of art glass with Murano canes was made in Murano or some other country.

How are we poor collectors supposed to know what we are buying?

 :(
KevinH

Offline Frank

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Is this a Murano Knockoff?
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2005, 09:48:52 PM »
I think different maker, slight diffs in technique. But obviously inspired by the same concept.

http://www.weinfurtner.de/ finding the glass is tough :shock: better in Internet explorer than Firefox  :roll:

 

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