Topic: Super Murano Birds. Huge beak,gold silver flecks.

[Tanith]

Hi,
I wonder if anyone recognises,or could help me identify,my 3 birds? These came from the same estate sale as a labeled Barovier Cordonato piece that I also purchased and they seem to be of similarly good quality.

I'm sure I have seen a near identical bird as the first one somewhere online but despite searching my effort has been fruitless.It has huge gold flecked beak and feet in comparison to his 8" body which is turquoise with elongated bubbles and silvery inclusions. The base has a snapped off pontil mark.

The 2 other birds are alike in colour so seem to have been created by the same maker. The tallest is 12" and the smaller is 6" and both change from aqua/minty green to brilliant royal or cobalt blue. The tallest has a ground and polished pontil mark/polished base. The smaller has a smooth polished base.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks 

[TxSilver]

Great birds! It is amazing that the long-billed bird still has its bill after all these years. I am not sure who did them, but thought I would give some possibilities based on their characteristics. The top bird looks like it could be Fratelli Toso to me. The eyes look like ones that they used on several of their animals. AVeM is also a possibility. The bottom birds look like either Seguso VdA or Archimede Seguso to me. The color and bases are things I would expect from these companies.

It would be nice if we could unwind time and stop the people from removing the labels.   I hope someone on the group will know for sure. It can be difficult to track down attributions for the animals because there are so few documented pieces out there.

[Tanith]

I'm astonished by the fact that the beak is intact too! It's almost 6" in length. Not really sure what type of bird it's based on though. Looks a bit like a Hoopoe with it's big crest. Your advice on the eyes gives me something great to work on and I appreciate that very much,thank you.
I've been thinking about the application of the gold on the beak and feet as, unlike the body,it appears to be applied very close to the surface or indeed on the surface and not further embedded in clear glass.  Do you know Anita,if this is typical to a specific company or was it simply a technique employed by several?
I also thought Seguso-type of the other 2 and initially searched in this direction. They certainly appear to be high-end rather than touristy type mass produced. The detail is subtle but is there nonetheless particularly around the eyes which are set into the head rather than just little blobs...if you know what I mean
OK,I'm off to search some more. Perhaps it's time for me to buy some of those expensive books on Italian glass?

[TxSilver]

I'm glad I could be of a little help. The books are not much help when it comes to animals. Leslie Pina's Archimede Seguso book has a few of the animals that they do. The other books have a scattering of information, but not enough to buy them for identifying animals. I keep files with pictures of animals I see with labels or signatures online, but I still don't have documentation for the great majority of the animals. They were produced in abundance. Some of the designs are so similar among companies that it can be difficult to distinguish one from another once the labels are removed.