Topic: Galle'?

[Rocksmom]

I bought these 2 vases at an "upscale antiques"  Estate sale a few years ago. At the time I had heard of Galle', but didn't really know anything about the company so I assumed they were "real".  After getting home and looking Galle' up on the internet I realized I either got the deal of a lifetime, or a couple of nice fakes.    (together, I believe they cost me about $80)  They've been on the shelf ever since, and I often wondered how one goes about authenticating something like this.   I'm on this site mostly as a lurker in the paperweight section, but it occurred to me that there might be some Galle'  fans that could tell me if these are indeed knock-offs.  I think they're pretty either way.   Any comments would be appreciated.   

[Margi]

I have just been sat scouring through one of my books that has Galle in but unfortunately none of the signatures shown match these two.  I think the first looks more credible than the second but I am not the best person to comment.  I presume you have researched the signatures - I tend to use Liberty's to give an idea.  If I thought I owned Galle my first stop would be to have it visually authenticated by someone who knows for sure.  Sorry I wasn't much help.   

[azelismia]

Pretty dang sure they are fakes.

[Margi]

Also is that a large dent on the bottom of the first one.  I think even if they are fake which is looking more probable at 80 dollars for the pair one cannot grumble.  I also think if it was an upscale event and they were real they certainly would not be that price.  Pretty but not convinced. 

[Rocksmom]

Um, no...no dents. 

The fact that there were so many types of authentic signatures, both raised/etched and wheel cut, make the whole signature thing confusing to me.  I found a couple of web sites that had signatures similar to these, but they were line drawings, not photos.  Another site said "learn the shapes, if it's the wrong shape it's not real"...but where does one find a catalog of authentic shapes?

 These estate sales often have items that they don't have a clue about, value -wise.  I recently bought an antique French paperweight for $12 at one (value...$800-$1000) and at another sale i bought an antique American weight for $10.  (saw a similar one go at auction for $1750)  I also bought another antique French weight that they "KNEW was a good one" for $75...it's value is actually about $4000, so the price of the vases are neither here nor there in determining their authenticity for me.  The only reason I mentioned the "upscale antiques" aspect was because everything else in the household seemed quite nice & everything else had age. 

One of the websites that I found that discussed fake Galle' vs the real thing said Galle' vases had a snapped off pontil on the bottom which was then polished down, and the fakes were generally made from the other direction, therefore no pontil...but there were no pictures of how the bottoms should look.  Here's a picture of one of my vase bases (it's concave) :   

[Lustrousstone]

That looks like a polished out pontil to me. Someone will Galle expertise will be along soon

[Mike M]

You called?

sorry they are both fakes -definitely!

biggest giveaway is the size of the signature

Galle signed pieces like an artist on a painting not like a designer label!

cameo looks all wrong
pontil is added
shapes not correct
image wrong

very sorry

Mike

[keith]

I have a tiny piece of Galle,damaged,and I agree with Mike the large sig' and grainy look to the glass says dodgy to me,sorry,Keith

[Rocksmom]

That's what I thought, but there's always that glimmer of hope     No matter, I still think they're pretty.  At about 4 am I found a picture of a fake with the exact signature as one of them & that pretty much sealed it for me, but it's great to hear from the experts.  Thanks, everyone, for your input.