Topic: Murano dogs in rare-earth colours Alexandrit and Heliolit

[rocco]

This is more a "show and tell" than an ID request (though it would be nice if my suspicion that they were made by Elio Raffaeli could be confirmed).

[Mod: long link names converted to shorter versions]
Example Elio Raffaeli dogs
muranozoo Raffaeli cats & dogs

Funnily, these cute doggies weren't found together. I bought the Neodymium one a couple of months ago at a carboot, the "green" one (well, I thought it was green at that moment ) last weekend in a second hand shop at the countryside.
But they are surely from the same maker, and belong together.

Only at home I realized that the green dog wasn't green in daylight, but amber-yellow. (The camera makes the colour look more peach than it is in reality).
So it has to be Heliolit glass, made using a rare earth colourant called Didymium, a mix of praseodymium and neodymium in a 1:1 ratio. >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didymium

Very little info on the web, apart from a few 1930s Moser pieces and the Hessenglas website >> http://www.kristallglas-oberursel.net/Text/glossar.html
Particularly no info at all about the use in Murano glass.
I had never before seen anything in this colour, even searching the board doesn't come up with a single example.

So any additional info is highly apprecitated!
Michael

[flying free]

I had a bowl that I bought thinking it was lime green.  Got it home, opened the bag/packaging and it had turned dirty pink. I ended up having to buy a lightbulb that would turn it green and sit it under that lamp.  Sold it to a friend in the end who didn't mind the pink.
I put it on the board somewhere - think it turned out to be Scandinavian.
I will try and find it to see if there is a link for you.

Here is my bowl
https://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,29702.msg160887.html#msg160887
Sorry about the poor photos and I don't have it anymore.
It may not be quite as pink as your dog.
Hmm, the thread I linked to from my original thread appears to be something I thought was similar and possibly Bohemian.
I'm not sure I thought my bowl was Bohemian.  I thought it might have been Scandinavian for some reason?? but my memory fails me.  So perhaps I did end up thinking Bohemian
m

[Anne]

David Encill has a page about colour changing glass on one of his websites here: http://glassyeye.com/glasstopics/dichroic.html - the images don't appear to be working though, but there are descriptions.

[Anne]

There is an alexandrite dog with red eyes and nose on eBay currently. Different dog, but it has a label... it might give you a pointer? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Murano-Venetian-Alexandrite-Neodymium-Colour-Change-Glass-Dog-with-Label-/292353596743

[flying free]

ZBS was another user of colour changing glass but you will already know that. Might it be worth investigating?

I have seen a turtle and a fish iirc in amber ish crackle glass which I think were proposed as Murano though.
And your dogs are very similar to the marked ones.


m

[rocco]

Thank you all for your thoughts, very much appreciated!

I do not doubt that my dogs were made in Murano. And comparing it to the signed dogs I linked to, I think very likely by Elio Raffaeli -- though I am aware that he seems to have worked at Cenedese, Livio Seguso and others, so his designs sometimes resemble pieces by those makers...
They are definately not Czech.
I have never come across a piece of ZBS glass in Heliolite. But you never know

m: your bowl seems to show a similar colour change, so I would think that it was Heliolite glass as well (but maybe in a different mix). Doesn't look Czech to me either.
Anne: thanks for the links! The dog is similar indeed, but the Raffaeli dogs are a far better match. Unfortunately that label doesn't help either.

I took a quick pic of my Heliolite dog with flash, showing the "daylight" colour better.

Michael

[flying free]

great pics and lovely colour.
My bowl was not that colour, it was much more dirty pink (very difficult to live with otherwise I would not have sold it).

I think similar glass type but different recipe.  But am now thinking mine might have been Murano glass rather than Scandinavian.

Not sure I want to delve any further in case I sold something amazing 
m

[rocco]

Thank you m.
I wouldn't worry too much - obviously the bowl didn't look fabulous enough to keep it, and that is the only thing that counts
I bought the "green" dog only because it would sit nicely beside the neodymium one, so the heliolite issue is just a goodie.

Michael

[cannistra]

Hello Everyone

I was doing some research about the dogs and happened upon this group.

Sharing a pair of the dogs with you:  https://www.artbrokerage.com/Elio-Raffaeli/Untitled-Pair-of-Dogs-Glass-Sculptures-1984-85729

They are indeed Elio Raffaeli - you can see his signature on the bottom of each dog. We bought them in Venice years ago.

Hope that helps in some way.

[flying free]

Old thread and I don't know if this was one of the pieces originally linked anyway but there's a signed one here that looks the same design as your heliolit version:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/elio-raffaeli-neodymium-glass-dog-310284362