Scandi Style Murano (or Vice Versa) - Toso?

[horochar]

The shape of the rim screams Scandi, but the weight, bullicante, body shape as well as the fact it's unsigned (!) while being a very high quality piece, all to me suggest Murano.  Fratelli Toso?  My other theory, for which I have no support other than the use of the color green, is that it's a piece by Carl Erickson Glassworks of Ohio.  Please "bump" to Scandi board if someone knows for certain that's where it belongs.  (Scroll down to next posting for more pix).

Thanks for any help,
Charles.

[horochar]

More pix.

[langhaugh]

Charles:

I don't know if you've seen the recent threads on similar vases, although they were made with Balloton molds. It shows how much a popular design can be slightly altered and spread quickly. I can see the colour as being Murano, some of the shape as Scandi, and the bubbles as Erickson. So I can't help that much. If I had to guess, I'd guess Murano, though. Now if it had a rigaree base...

The links to the other threads are http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,32077.msg173434.html
and http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,31518.0.html

David

[horochar]

Thanks David -
What a remarkable coincidence.  The piece from the other thread clearly came from the same factory, and the back-and-forth raises the same quandry (is it Scandi or Murano?), so I'm not as dumb as I look.     Anyhow, on closer inspection, my piece has the same "quilted" effect as the piece in the other thread.  So subtle I missed it in the original description.  One difference, though, is that mine has a recessed bottom.  Still, heavy glass with sommerso effect.  Here's a picture.

[langhaugh]

I was going to say that I find that a recessed base is sometimes there through necessity (get rid of pontil mark) as much as by design. Then I looked at the base on your vase and that is a deep recess. I wonder. I'd lean towards Murano, because of the balloton mould and the colour.

David

[horochar]

Thanks.  This helps to confirm my strong feeling it's Murano and not Scandinavian in origin, although one is still left to wonder which factory produced it, as well as its counterpart on the other message thread.  One always hopes for a big name, but this piece in my view aspires at best to Fratelli Toso.  Or possibly Barbini on a bad day.  Not to denigrate those houses, but...

[TxSilver]

Oh, dear.  Ermanno Toso is probably turning in his esteemed grave.

I have to speak up for Fratelli Toso here. They are the company that others are compared to when it comes to murrine work. They made beautiful Venetian glass before the 1950s. They were the first company to branch off into the psychedelic colors that we love so much in the mid-mod glass. They were masters of opalino and lattimo. Their good work is solid and favored in Australia and South America. I'm afraid that we tend to get into a USA state of mind when it comes to Murano glass.

Fratelli Toso did produce a lot of junk glass. Most of the companies did. The cheap trinkets were the bread and butter money for the companies. Toso didn't do sommerso or transparent glass as well as the other companies, but I've seen few things that can compare the the apparenza or kiku.

Fratelli Toso made good, solid glass for the public. Other companies must have thought it good because the themes began to appear in their glass. So to say Fratelli Toso is a lesser company ignores the history of their work. I was shocked when I read your words, horochar! I consider most of the work of Toso to be equivalent to Barbini. Many times it is hard to tell one company from the other. I am personally a big fan of Toso.