Topic: Alt, Vetreria

[Wuff]

Although I cannot find "vetreria" in my Italian dictionary, I take it from the context of many postings on this board that it means a glass studio of some kind, not a specific name - correct?

I just noticed an offer on ebay - item 230197598287 - with an etched mark, reading Murano and (as I read it) "ALT". On http://www.great-glass.co.uk/glass%20notes/mana-b.htm I find an entry "Alt, Vetreria": is that the one using this etched mark? Does anyone know more about this manufacturer?

Reason I'm asking: I own exactly the same weight, though it is not etch marked, but has a label "Murano - made in Italy" attached to the base.

Thank you for your help - Wolf

[Anne]

Wolf, could Alt mean Altare, which is another Italian glassmaking area as mentioned here some while ago: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,2633.0.html

[Wuff]

Don't think so - on http://www.great-glass.co.uk/glass%20notes/overseas.htm#IT even the street address is mentioned:
Alt, Vetreria
Fondamenta Navagero 32, 30121 Murano Venezia
(+39-41-739 540)

[Anne]

Ahhhh right, never mind, it was worth mentioning if only to eliminate it.

[Artofvenice]

Alt was a "vetreria" (vetreria means glass studio or factory), specialized in paperweights. They produced also other items, but they were well known for the paperweights. They closed their activity 4-5 years agoo, few years after that the two glass canes masters, Citton and Pattanè, moved away to open (end of 90's) their paperweights factory: the 3Fiori. I suppose that somebody bought the Alt brand, but I havn't seen any production recently sold with this name.
By the way... few years later also 3Fiori closed...

www.artofvenice.com

[Wuff]

Thank you very much for that info - fits our weight: we bought it in 1997, was new then - so it could have been made either just before or just after Citton and Pattanè left (depending on when exactly they left). Would you by chance know when vetreria Alt was founded - and whether "Alt" is an abbreviation of some sort?
Last summer there was another Murano weight offered on ebay, scratch signed "ALT86" (or ..80). Likely the 86 (or 80) stands for 1986 (or 1980) - so they must have been in existence then (unless there was another glass studio of this name). The "ALT" is all caps - might be an indication for an abbreviation.