Topic: Glass mark? Solved! :)

[Anne]

A while ago in this archived thread: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,3259.0.html
started by Mike (butchiedog) there was a discussion about a mark which looked like BRF and which I also have on the base of this jug: http://yobunny.org.uk/gallery1/displayimage.php?pos=-194 and which was suggested as possibly being Egizia.

Looking through Ivo's Miller's Glass fact file a-z today I found the page of Bottle Marks at the back and Lo! there is the mark on my jug... it's not BRF, although mine is softened enough on one side to see why it looks like that.

The mark is actually a hexagon with a vertical dividing line, and three horizontal lines - one level, two wavy, and is for the glassmakers, Vetreria Parmense, part of the Bormioli Rocco group, of Parma, Italy,  according to Ivo's superb little tome.

So, another mystery solved for me - and huge thanks once more to Ivo. 

[Connie]

Wow!!  Great sleuthing, Anne.  

That mark looks nothing like Butchiedog's hand drawn mark  :shock:

A great illustration of how a photo is much better than a hand drawing or having an actual piece in your hands to compare.

[Anne]

Thanks Connie, the thing is that the mark on the jug *does* look like both Butchiedog's drawing and like the one in Ivo's book, so it's a case of all three matching to give the answer.  

[butchiedog]

Hello Anne,

I don't make it back here enough to keep up, but I was checking to see if JC Julie got an ID on her smoke colored vase\bottle,

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,7119.0.html

and saw this thread. As I mentioned in that old post; the mark(s) I posted were drawn, using a picture of a pencil rubbing, which the owner did of their item and it was the first time I had ever seen the mark or anything like it.

Anyway;  I am still doing the glass marks for my ebay Me-Page and just a few weeks ago some kind soul emailed a photo of one they found, which just happened to be the BRF mark, as well as a thingy that looks sort of like a Sphinx, with the name Egizia under it.

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/1289/egiziabrfro9.jpg

So apparently this is either the same company or a later company, (Egiza) reproducing BRF's items??? and still including the old maker's mark on them for some reason. The marks in the link above are on the bottoms of a whimsical kitchen canister set, done in milk glass and in the shape of old milk cans, a popular, cutesy motif here, (USA) all throughout the 1960s-70s, when the style "Early American\Colonial" was in vogue.

I did manage to find the Egiza website, which makes no mention of the markings they put on their glass, but who could expect them to, since I doubt they care about glass collector's concerns and are more interested in just selling their products to everyday people.

http://www.tablewaretoday.com/Egizia-A.htm

Just thought I would update what info I had already shared here and maybe learn something more myself now. --- Mike



Edited to add; Suddenly there are many links on Google that lead to information about Egizia and their products.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Egizia+glass&btnG=Search

[Frank]

They are a decorating company doing silk screen printing. This would suggest the BRF mark is likely to be one of their customers who designed the item.

http://www.egizia.it/home.htm (Italian)

email address on site

[Connie]

Frank and Mike -

If you look in Ivo's book you will see that the mark is not "BRF"  It is a divided oval with squiggly lines across it.  The piece that Mike used as a reference must have an incomplete impressed mark.

Because it is an impressed mark, it is unlikely that it is a mark of a decorating company.

[Frank]

Then it has to be that Vetreria Parmense is the maker of the blanks that Egizia used.

[butchiedog]

Hi Frank,

I think what you said;

Then it has to be that Vetreria Parmense is the maker of the blanks that Egizia used

Makes the best sense, because many glass companies make items exclusively for others and often the seller's name or logo is impressed on the item along with the maker's name or logo.

Here is a zoom in on the photo I posted above. I adjusted the red color level to remove the pink-ish look, which helped to sharpen up the details some.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/4331/egiziabrfzoommm6.jpg

They will likely think I'm a crack-pot, but I'm going to email the mark photo to the Egizia company and ask them what it is and what it means. Maybe they will tell me and better to get it from the source than anywhere else I think.

I did some Googling for 'Vetreria Parmense," but found only a slight mention @ #13

LINK

Mike

[Ivo]

I think Parmense is one of the large mechanised glassware factories that make up the gigantic Bormioli Rocco group in Parma.

http://www.bormiolirocco.com/

[butchiedog]

Thank you Ivo,

That too makes sense to me.

My interest in this is mainly about providing some sort of attribution to the glass marks in my collection. The first time someone showed me the mark it was only a pencil rubbing, because they were unable to get a good clear photo of the mark, they also said there were no other markings on the item. For the time being and just to be as accurate as possible I am going attribute items which have only the BRF, (or whatever it is) mark to Vetreria Parmense and those items which have the BRF and the sphinx\Egizia mark to Vetreria Parmense for Egizia.

Some may already know this, but I try to share it with other who don't;  If one has trouble taking photos of tiny glass marks on their items and happens to own a flat-bed scanner, just set the item on the glass and scan it. This will produce a pretty sharp image of most markings on glass etc.

Mike