Topic: Red, blue, green, yellow bowl, Murano or Romanian?

[Tigerchips]

I was watching the Antique's Road Trip the other day and Anita bought a bowl which she described as Murano. The bowl can be seen at 33.53 right here.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01dk905/Antiques_Road_Trip_Series_4_Episode_23/

The bowl is ,red, blue, green, yellow, with clear glass.

The same bowl can be found here described as Romanian...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art-of-glass/4452283262/in/set-72157623541566507/

Here's a similar one with a Romanian label....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art-of-glass/sets/72157623664039710/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art-of-glass/4450565317/in/set-72157623664039710

Just wondering if these are Murano as well as Romanian? I have seen them years ago on this board but can't find any in search.

[Wayne]

I've always wondered about these too, there's an absolute ton of them around, usually between 10 - 20 on ebay at any given time.  I'm always checking the listings to see if any are labelled, no luck so far though.  I too had read on here that at least some if not all might be Romanian, but I'd never seen one labelled, so thanks for that link!

[Wayne]

A couple of old threads on these:

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,36537.msg199256.html#msg199256

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,21462.msg121108.html#msg121108

[TxSilver]

I see a lot of these bowls, particularly the ones with three depressions. I was told they were not Murano, but had no idea what they might be. There were several ideas. Glad to get a clue to their source. I see that Martin had said they were probably Romanian, but I didn't follow the thread long enough then.

[Tigerchips]

Thanks, glad i could help. So Martyn found one with a label first. 

The label is usually found on gold/silver striped decanters like this...
Romania-Brown-Gold-Stripe-Glass-Decanter-6-Cordials

Vintage-Amber-Decanter-Set-6-Glasses-Made-Romania

...I'm not sure if it's an importer but it could be with such a basic label.

[TxSilver]

I would have guessed those to be Bohemian without the label. The decanter sets look so much like a set of glass I have with a Bohemian glass label on them.

[astrid]

The style is definitely similar to some techniques I've seen with pieces I know to be Skrdlovice or Chribska, and my first feeling while watching the program was Czech for that bowl but that doesn't mean they couldn't have been copied. Roumanians seem to use a lot of Czech and Murano techniques, making their work look similar.

And while I enjoy watching programs like the Antiques Road Trip, I cringe every time some expert describes something as Murano that clearly isnt'. I expect that from 3rd rate ebay dealers, not from antique experts. If they don't know, they should not try to name it. David Barbie recently even sold one in the same program as Murano that was 100% Chribska from a Hospodka design (and featured in Mark Hill's book, whose work apparently has not yet been browsed by some of his esteemed BBC colleagues).

Astrid

[scavo]

When the vox-pops use the term 'Murano' it obviously needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. They are expected to be experts over such a range, they cannot possibly know every detail of every piece they handle. Even if they have a read information in a book they can still get it wrong (there is a stat. for how much of what is read is remembered). I guess they'd say Murano is as much a generic glass term as Majolica is for ceramics?

[Tigerchips]

They are plucked from Auction Houses mainly so they have experience in general antiques only. Glass i find is a poor seller in Auction houses (local ones at least) so they probably don't know much about it.

You have probably heard this before but i went to an Auction House years ago with a piece of Whitefriars and he turned me away saying it wasn't Whitefriars. I then sold it on ebay for £70, it was in the WF catalog known as a 'Chess' vase. So no they know very little about glass. Come to think of it he didn't even know what Cantagalli (pottery) was. I never went back, lol.

One of the Romanian decanters in the link that i showed appears not to be polished on the rim. Are the Bohemian ones polished?

[Wayne]

Not sure about the decanters, but after this topic sparked my interest, I came across this vase, which I had always assumed was Borske Sklo:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Funky-vintage-retro-gold-Romanian-1960s-1970s-glass-vase-/280813144642

I think these normally have a polished rim, painted with gold gilt, which is often worn away.