Topic: How to tell if this is a Murano clown dish or a copy?

[Loyce]

Is there any way to tell for sure if this glass clown dish is Murano? There are no scorpion marks on it, but I have been told not all Murano has these marks.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a260/Loisann/P9240183.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a260/Loisann/P9240181.jpg

[planetglass]

I don't know what a scorpian mark is, and doubt that there is such a way to tell which clowns are made in murano and which are made elsewhere.

I suspect that your clown, wherever it was made, is fairy recent.  The best way to try to ascertain where it is from is to do an internet search for importers of glass clowns, and see what comes up from what country. You might not find your exact piece, but you might find something close enough to make a very educated guess.

To get you started, here are the websites of two importers of glass clowns:

http://www.eastglass.com/clowns.htm
http://www.benetto.net/IBS/SimpleCat/productmap/asp.html

Good luck!

Laura

[Loyce]

Thanks for your help Laura. I will research the sites you posted. As far as the scorpion marks go, someone posted on another discussion board that she had purchased some clowns while in Murano and they had scorpion marks on the buttons and some on the eyes. She also said not all the clowns had the scorpion marks, so it is confusing.
Lois

[Max]

Laura & Loyce

You simply have to see this!    

http://www.creativecollectibleconcepts.com/myclowns.html  Might take a minute to load up, it's got music...wait though, it's worth it!   :wink:

Including Venini and Barbini clowns?  Could that be right Laura?

PS:  Loyce, it looks like there's a book on clowns, you might want to enquire about that.  

Main site address: http://www.creativecollectibleconcepts.com/clowns.html

Goodness, I've gone clown mad this evening!  Not going to buy one though....must resist...must resist...  :wink:  :shock:  :lol:

[Anonymous]

Thanks Max, I was just looking at that site myself. It also explains the scorpion marks. It is a great site. Looks like I can e-mail pictures to them to verify if mine is really a Murano. Thanks again,
Lois

[Max]

Lois  

I've often wondered what the 'scorpion marks' are.  It says they're glass defects on the clowns site above.  To me, it sounds like the 'scorpion marks' are probably shear marks where the glass was cut off to form the button, nose, or top of the hat.  You sometimes find them underneath handmade glasses/goblets, where they're sometimes mistaken for letters or numbers.  

Anyway,  manufacturing marks sounds much nicer than 'defects', doesn't it?   :wink: