Topic: "date" canes

[BobKegeles]

I see a cane with a variety of numbers in some Murano Millefiori w8s.

Here are two examples, one is "1956" I could believe that was a date cane, but this piece doesn't feel that old.

the other is "1887", and there's no way that is a date of manufacture.

I've seen other 4 digit numbers as well.

Any idea what they mean?

[tropdevin]

***

Hi.  You will find many dates in Murano paperweights, from 1815 onwards. I have seen it suggested that they are to commemorate important events in Italian history, but some dates do not seem to correspond to anything important.  It could be that, like the Baccarat Dupont dated weights, you could order specific dates from the factories to commemorate anniversaries etc.  I think most of the dated Murano paperweights were made in the second half of the 20th century.  Your '1956' weight might be from 1956: they made some dated 'London 1951' for the Festival of Britain.

Alan

[RescoCCC]

The 1887 date seems to be common among 1970's Murano weights. Another example:

[Nick77]

Hmmm, good try!

http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/michaans-auctions/catalogue-id-2895184/lot-22388599?searchitem=true

[RescoCCC]

I saw that one on liveauctioneers.com. Was tempted to send a message to the seller, but decided that it's so blatant nobody will fall for it.