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Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Murano & Italy Glass => Topic started by: kane_u_pain on April 07, 2012, 03:58:16 AM

Title: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: kane_u_pain on April 07, 2012, 03:58:16 AM
This one glows under a black light. Nice and small Green & Amber Sommerso pieces with the Brussells World Fair Label. I saw one years ago that sold on planetglass website in a different colour. It was mentioned that it was a Archimede Seguso piece. Once again, this is unconfirmed as I have only seen 2 other pieces with no company label. Any suggestions?

Dimensions to come later.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: scavo on April 07, 2012, 07:59:43 AM
Is there a way of checking Bussel's World Fair prizes? There must be a record, mustn't there?
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: Lustrousstone on April 07, 2012, 04:52:59 PM
I seriously doubt it's uranium. Probably just a manganese glow.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: kane_u_pain on April 08, 2012, 12:33:41 AM
Thanks lustrousstone. I am not the greeny glowy glass expert although I was surprised it does glow with a black light. Considering the other 15 green & amber sommerso pieces don't glow!
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: TxSilver on April 08, 2012, 01:54:52 PM
I've seen a lot of pieces with this label. I believe the first line of the label says a lot: Arte Nuovo Murano. I looked once before to see if I could find a company with that name, but came to no conclusion. It may just mean new art, Murano. The vessels I've seen with the label have been sommerso forms. If it is not a company itself, I don't know if they can be attributed to any certain maker.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: scavo on April 08, 2012, 05:09:30 PM
Nuova - sorry to be pedantic.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: TxSilver on April 08, 2012, 07:51:07 PM
Okay to be pedantic. I switched back and forth so I'd spell it right, but still missed it. :)

I checked another vase I had a picture of. It also had a grand prize 1958 label, though it was a totally different vase. I doubt there can be that many grand prize winners -- there are others with this label -- so I don't know what to think about the label. I personally consider it one for generic glass, but I do that without any real basis.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: scavo on April 08, 2012, 08:00:43 PM
There are so many issues to be resolved. Grand Prizes just fall into that huge abyss until someone does serious research. However, since the govt. have decided that the arts art not at all important and refuse to fund university arts courses in the UK ... minute questions won't be answered in specialist books anywhere nearly as frequently as they were in the past.

I have just realised everything I believed to be true about 'foreign' stickers and stamps has to questioned. Today I found a piece of ceramic I'm 99% sure is Italian with foreign signed on the base. And last week a conversation here has made me look at some of my glass again - stickers on glass that are looking Scandinavian ... I believed for a long time that 'foreign' meant strictly from Germany or Japan.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: TxSilver on April 08, 2012, 08:02:33 PM
I wonder, since there is an abundance of vases with this label, if they might have been sold as souvenirs at the Brussels World Fair 1958. Or maybe someone could win a vase as grand prize for playing some sort of game. I looked online and saw some of the old exhibits at the fair. The thing about the vases being award winners is that the execution does not seem all that great to me, and there are so many of them. I saw some blogs attributing them to Poli, but I don't get a Poli feel for the things I've seen. Poli had crisper lines and colors.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: Lustrousstone on April 09, 2012, 10:53:31 AM
It's also possible that the manufacturer, whoever that was,won a prize and then used that to indicate the quality of it's wares on everything. What we would need to know was which Murano manufacturer won a grand prize at the exhibition. There was a lot less interest in who made what in those days.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: Pinkspoons on April 09, 2012, 11:49:25 PM
I've seen a couple of vases bearing this label from different sellers at UK fairs recently - the quality of them seemed a bit iffy, and the glass very lightweight for the size and thickness of the casing. Were it not for the fact that foil labels are almost impossible to remove and reapply, and that both vases had some age-wear to them, I'd have sworn that it was modern Chinese masquerading as 50s Murano.

They were definitely towards the cheaper tourist end of the scale.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: TxSilver on April 10, 2012, 12:32:05 AM
Nic, I've never held one, so it's good to hear your thoughts on the feel of them. I had a feeling they might not be the best glass.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: kane_u_pain on April 10, 2012, 08:27:01 AM
I have a few pieces with this label and the quality is very good in my opinion, definitely not sub standard. I have seen a few other sommerso's with this label and they look good as well. Hopefully one day the semi mystery of this label will be explained.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: Pinkspoons on April 10, 2012, 09:20:05 AM
How odd that there's such a difference in quality between the labelled items. The first one I saw was laid flat on a table, and I picked it up with some trepidation of it weighing 4-5kg because it was around 35cm tall and very thickly cased - but it was probably a quarter of that. The colours were a little garish too (purple and shocking pink, if I remember correctly).

The colours on the second vase I saw were of a traditional Murano palette, although it was just as lightweight as the first.
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: kane_u_pain on April 11, 2012, 09:35:08 AM
Sorry a bit tired.

It would be good to compile a collection of Brussells World Fair pieces as a sort of reference source. Although the same could be said/done for a few other Murano labels unfortunately! God bless Murano Glass collecting, especially from the 1950's onwards!  ;D
Title: Re: Green & Amber Sommerso, Brussells World Fair Label - Uranium
Post by: Pinkspoons on April 14, 2012, 07:30:16 AM
I'll see if the dealers still have their vases next time I hit the fairs and take a few snapshots - they had silly pricetags on them, so it shouldn't be a problem.