Topic: Millefiori Doorknob Paperweight - Age? maker?

[shandiane78]

My mom just bought this for herself. It has some damage, but we'd still like to know the approximate age and maker, if possible. I was thinking Fratelli Toso? The murrine in this has an older look to me. Very nice, and the colors are darker and more muted than the photos show.

The damage is some kind of pit. It almost looks like something that blew out from inside, because you can see some foreign material in there. It kind of looks like clay. Thanks for anything you can tell me!

[TxSilver]

Shannon, I bought one of these paperweights one time, thinking maybe Fratelli Toso. When it arrived, it did not look or feel like Fratelli Toso to me. Many of these are sold on eBay, but I am not sure who did them. I believe they may be modern Murano, but please don't take my word on this.

One thing I noticed with these paperweights is that they feel kind of rough and tend to have several spaces that don't have canes. They also have areas that are ridged or pitted. The murrines on the bottom also tend to make a jagged border on the base. Toso canes usually have a nice, rounded border on bottom (or have "runny" canes that look like they have been stretched). Toso weights also tend to be softed satinized. They feel a lot nicer than these paperweights.

These are nice paperweights, but I don't think they are Toso. I wish we knew who did them.

Anita

[Springhead]

There seem to be some chevron beads in there... The edges of the canes have to be ground to make the V shapes you see in there. A modern bead company might be a clue as to who made it. The chevron below is a 19c example.

Moderator:   Image removed from this topic as a copyright breach.
See the image in its original topic here: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,18857.msg98312.html#msg98312

[shandiane78]

Thanks Anita and Springhead. I definitely know what you mean about the feel. My mom bought this online, and then was surprised by the texture. You can really feel all the canes and even the layers in the canes. Still it's not bad to look at. :-)

[glasstrufflehunter]

In my experience I have found a couple Fratelli Toso paperweights that are not as well executed as others. While the canes are more distorted than a lot of FT, the canes are definitely FT. In the first photo there is a cane (the creamy one just left of the center of the ball in photo one) that is identical to one in a 'door knob' piece that I have. I have several FT paperweights that have canes in common with yours most particularly the concentric zig zags and the ones with the six petaled flower in the centre.

I believe the creamy cane and the trefoil canes are older than the others.

Please excuse my poor descriptions. 

I have heard it suggested that this shape is a darning bulb.

[Leni]

The chevron below is a 19c example.

I think that's MY picture, isn't it?

[Springhead]

Yeah... I was about to respond to your post that day and my server went down. I think your Grandmother or somebody told you it was from the thirties.

[Leni]

Thread is here : http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,16901.msg98312.html#msg98312

[Anne]

The image used from Leni's topic without permission has been removed from this topic and replaced by a link to the original topic.  Copyright violations are not permitted on the board, please ask if you wish to re-use someone's image, permission is rarely refused.