Topic: Large, double-headed tiger bowl/basin

[Sleestak]

Hi,

I am brand new here. I’m in search of any info anyone can supply on a piece I found in a local thrift shop. The thrift shop had it listed as Murano but who knows? The tiger heads certainly look very similar (to my untrained eye) to some of the Murano tiger sculptures I have seen from the 50’s but I have tried doing many, many web searches for a piece like this one with zero luck.

To describe it....it is about 19 inches long and about 7 inches wide. The glass of the main bowl is about 3/4 inch thick. I haven’t weighed it but just ballparking, I would say it has to be between 8 and 10 pounds. The bowl is horizontally striped. The tiger heads are about 4 inches long each and (I guess?) serve as handles? Overall, the glass is brown/copper colored with a lot of gold colored flecks throughout. I am attempting to add photos...if my first attempt fails, I will try again in a follow-up email. Thanks in advance for any help.

[ardy]

I absolutely love it! Not sure who made it, Barovier and Toso is a W.A.G.

If I saw this I would jump at it and I generally only collect Archimede Seguso but this is something else.
Don't worry about who made it, it's well made and a great collector's piece.

Pat yourself on the back and open a decent bottle of red!!!!!

[Sleestak]

Thanks for the reply...I agree...it seems unique and striking and unusual. I have searched all over for any identifying marks and find none. And have not seen anything even close to this regardless of what I search for on the internet. I don’t even know what to call it....a bowl? A basin? A centerpiece?

The only thing I can find that is even close at all are some of the full-bodied glass tigers from designers like Barbini and those are quite valuable. But I cannot find anything that is just tiger heads attached to bowls (or cups or candy dishes or any type of dinnerware)

While I like the piece a lot, my wife isn’t as big of a fan and I’m sure if it were worth hundreds or thousands of dollars (she reluctantly let me pay $40 for it)...I’m certain she would want me to sell it.

Any advice for what to call this or the best way to get it identified and/or appraised? As I say...I’m not experienced in this market so any direction you could point me in to start would be helpful.

[ardy]

Well, what can I say apart from the obvious fact that you have better taste than your wife. I had similar issues with my partner's taste although she did buy me a wonderful piece of glass.

I would not sell it due to the fact that you can't find out anything about it. Anyone looking at this will see the work that has gone into making it. Leave it to the kids they may appreciate it. Just a thought, I wonder if it might be Japanese? They have a history of murano style glass making.

As a $40 investment, this could repay you handsomely or just enjoy it.