Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. > New Zealand & Australia Glass

Fake Australian Carnival

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Cathy B:
Which brings up the question of these:

EDIT: For anyone following this thread after the fact, we believe that all of these are original at this point.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7419543897
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7418848776

Most of these sellers' wares are reproductions, which casts doubt on the rest. Whether this is a reproduction is probably dead obvious to Lalique collectors.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7417872670

Glen:
The second of those two items (the one described in the auction as a Northwood Deco centrepiece) is undoubtedly a genuine piece of Classic Carnival. It's a Fenton Persian Medallion bowl with a deep 3 in 1 edge, and is an absolute beauty.

The first one really does look genuine too (the Crown Crystal Shrike). I have compared my Shrike with every detail on that bowl and all seems to match.

The only piece I can say for sure is not a genuine example of old Crown Crystal Carnival is that "pearl" light (almost white) Kingfisher small berry. I also know of a small amethyst version (which is different to the "pearl" one) that is undoubtedly a fake.

The real worry is that we actually don't know what's going on at the moment. The collectors are aware that there are Aussie fakes around, but as we seem to be in the early days of these items being discovered, we don't know what pieces are actually being faked. So every piece has the potential to come under scrutiny.

Have you made those calls to Aussie Carnival collectors, Cathy? What are their thoughts on the current situation?

Glen

Glen:
Cathy - I've written an article about them. Let me know if you think I need to add anything else.

http://www.geocities.com/carni_glass_uk_2000/FakeKingfisher.html

Glen

Cathy B:
Brilliant Glen, as always!

There are four variations on the kingfisher pattern, two stippled, the twigs are slightly different, sometimes they're surrounded by wattle. Do you have the Carnival Glass of Australia book? If not, I'll post you privately photos from the pages (and my one marigold kingfisher master bowl for comparison).

I know the buyers of bowl B incidentally so I'll have to ask them what they think.

Just a question on the base finish. In the fake (A) on David D's page, it looks almost like the whole base is ground and polished. Is that a trick of the light?

The others flagged seem to be fine, according to everyone I've asked. I'm still nervous because those sellers do have a very high reproduction quotient, and they seem to come up with these things with incredible regularity.

Cathy

Glen:
Hi Cathy - thanks for your kind words. Thanks too, for the offer of a pic of your Kingfisher master, but actually we've got a variety of examples of  the Kingfishers (berry bowls and master bowls, with and without wattle blossom / stippling) in our collection. We also have a Kookaburra float bowl, which was (amazingly enough) found in the UK.

I do have the Carnival Glass of Australia book - thanks for the offer though, Cathy.

I'm guessing you don't have our "Carnival Glass The Magic & The Mystery" book. In the section on Australian Carnival we included a detailed study and drawings (mine) of the Kingfisher and its variants, as well as the Kookaburra plus an astonishing and rare example of the piece we called the "Kingfisher/Kookaburra Variant". It has what appears to be a kingfisher on it, plus two encircling twigs and in moulded lettering around the bird motif it says AUSTRALIAN KOOKABURRA.

When I did the feature for my website on the Aussie fakes, I toyed with describing the variations in detail, but decided against it, and just made a brief mention of the other version with the wattle sprigs added. I felt that if I started to show the master (and its variant) as well as the berry variant, it could confuse the issue. And as it's only the berry that we are currently certain is appearing as a fake, I just noted that "There is also another old version of this original Kingfisher design that has floral wattle sprigs added" which I hoped would do the trick.

I can't answer your question about the base of the fake that Dave shows. He doesn't have the bowl itself, only the photos. I did explain to him the differences that I could observe between the bases on the fake and the original, and he put my information re. the description on his website.

Thanks again, Cathy.

Glen

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