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Author Topic: Millefiori? Warning...novice!  (Read 6836 times)

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Offline a40ty

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Offline glasstrufflehunter

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Re: Millefiori? Warning...novice!
« Reply #11 on: January 15, 2007, 12:01:47 PM »
In the profile and pictures from above, you don't see the halo of clear glass like you do from the bottom, so they are closer to the surface than other designs where you would see large areas of clear glass from the side like this one(also Fratelli Toso):

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?album=224&pos=4

That is a really beautiful paperweight you have.
I collect Scottish and Italian paperweights and anything else that strikes my fancy.

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Offline a40ty

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Re: Millefiori? Warning...novice!
« Reply #12 on: January 15, 2007, 12:22:10 PM »
Aaah, the penny drops ;D  (Told you I was a greenhorn)

Thank you for the compliment; you have some lovely ones yourself, especially the one with strawberries, it is gorgeous!
Must keep an eye out for Fratelli Toso in the future...

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Offline KevinH

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Re: Millefiori? Warning...novice!
« Reply #13 on: January 15, 2007, 01:57:38 PM »
From out of this discussion, I have raised a new topic:
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,8937.0.html
KevinH

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Offline a40ty

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Re: Millefiori? Warning...novice!
« Reply #14 on: January 15, 2007, 07:00:49 PM »
Great! Wanted to reply hours ago, but I accidentally ( and inexplicably ) locked myself out of Glass Message Board :-[
 Will follow the thread with interest. And again, thanks everyone!

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Offline glasstrufflehunter

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Re: Millefiori? Warning...novice!
« Reply #15 on: January 16, 2007, 06:22:46 AM »
Thank for the compliments too!

That strawberry weight got me into trouble. I'm a serious collector of modern Scottish millefiori. I just happened to see that one on eBay and thought it was darn pretty. Darn affordable too. I asked about it on here and found out it was Fratelli Toso and that's what got me started on Italian paperweights. I discovered that there are lots and lots of very beautiful Italian weights. And they don't think they suffer in comparison to my Perthshires and McDougalls. They are a different kind of pretty.

The precise identity of those strawberry canes is somewhat of a puzzle to me. When I saw them I thought they looked like grape clusters. I've seen them identified as 'ponti,' which could be a reference to the shape looking like a series of dots or somebody's name. I saw something about someone named Ponti on one of the Italian glass maker sites.
I collect Scottish and Italian paperweights and anything else that strikes my fancy.

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Offline a40ty

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Re: Millefiori? Warning...novice!
« Reply #16 on: January 16, 2007, 07:02:17 AM »
Hi again! My italian is pretty poor, but doesn't Ponti mean bridge? Not very logical, in this context..
You mentioned "end of day", does it mean work carried out after production is finished? Or am I way off mark?

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Offline karelm

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Re: Millefiori? Warning...novice!
« Reply #17 on: January 16, 2007, 09:08:50 AM »
"END OF DAY
see SCRAMBLED

SCRAMBLED MILLEFIORI
a millefiori paperweight design in which whole and broken canes, and sometimes white or colored "lace," are jumbled together to fill the weight"
from: http://mikegigi.com/gloswts.htm

From what I understand (and I am a complete novice) the "end of day" term comes from the artist, after a day or week or whatever of working, would take all the odds and sods lying around the workshop and put them all together (I resist saying toss together ;D) to make a weight.  (Today of course you will find that some artists will produce a whole series of weights in the end of day style and, as I understand it, these are then called scattered.) The nice thing about these are that they are 100% unique and one-offs as oppossed to a pattern millefiori that follows a set patern of say 1-2-2-3 (groups of canes seperated by lace) and normally of the same canes.  In many of these you find examples of seldom used canes and sometimes much cheaper than the more formal work.
I re-iterate that I am a novice and will like to hear from the more experienced people if my understanding is correct.
Kind regards,
KarelM
Ps: It is the second time today that I post the above link, please note that I have no affiliation whatsoever to that website, I just found it helpfull.

[Mod: Edited 22 Aug 2015 to replace dead link (see above) with current version of the "Glossary of Paperweight Identification Terms".]
Karel
"Holy cows make the best steaks"

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Offline glasstrufflehunter

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Re: Millefiori? Warning...novice!
« Reply #18 on: January 17, 2007, 07:45:31 AM »
I collect the work of Peter McDougall. He makes a scramble style weight as part of his general range. Perthshire made 'millefiori marbles' and 'Aladdin's cave' type weights out of the leftover bits.

Even though these type weights are each unique, they would not be considered 'one-offs'. Closepack weights which consist of an assortment of canes are each unique in the same way. I have two of the same 'model' of a McDougall weight which is a formal arrangement of canes and latticino. They look very different because of the colors and shapes of the canes. I'm pretty sure that McDougall does not repeat the precise combination of cane styles and colors from weight to weight in his general range mille and twist weights but they are the same model because of the arrangement. I have seen the exact cane arrangement and selection repeated in Italian weights.

To be a one-off a weight has to be the only one of that particular size, design and year.

I would not call you a complete novice. ;D You're getting a handle on stuff pretty quickly.
I collect Scottish and Italian paperweights and anything else that strikes my fancy.

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Offline KevinH

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Re: Millefiori? Warning...novice!
« Reply #19 on: January 17, 2007, 07:28:50 PM »
A problem with the term "end-of-day" is that it has been widely used by dealers and collectors to apply to any glassware that does not seem to be of "very good" quality! For example, regular 19th century production Bohemian spattered glass is so often called "end-of-day" - just because the decoration consists of simple patches of colour over clear. And the same sort of generalisation has been applied to some paperweights, which, as I indicated earlier for Perthishire & Murano scrambled weights, are actually regular production items.

I believe it is a mistaken notion that at glassworks the pot (or tank?) would be emptied at the end of each day by workers "doing their own thing" and creating personal (gift or "beer money") items. Personal items (friggers) have always been made, but not in the quantities that are so regularly available.

In major glassworks, the glass batch would last for about a week. In smaller works, the pot would probably be topped up several times over many days, rather than "use up, then refresh" every day. I am happy to be challenged on this by any glassworker who happens to be reading - and I would welcome their comments on whether "end-of-day" really is something that occurs.

So, I disagree with the all too often use of "end-of-day" (or perhaps "end-of-week"??) for many items that were most likely just a "more affordable" range but made as part of the regular production output. But it is a term that maybe all of us pick up on it when we first get into glass collecting. After all, it is so often seen in books as well as heard at fairs and auctions.

And, by the way, it's not just me saying this ... in British Glass 1800-1914, page 308, Charles R. Hajdamach wrote:
Quote
The term 'End of Day' glass has become commonplace in the antiques trade for most of the spangled or mottled glasses. This suggestion that they were made at the end of the working day to use up the unwanted glass is erroneous and the large number of patents for the style proves that it was a commercial line with a great number of of competitors.
KevinH

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