Topic: Luciano Gaspari King-Sized Perfume Bottle?

[horochar]

Although I don't collect perfume bottles, this one I just had to buy.  Anyone ever seen one so large?  It has a 1950s Irice "Made in Italy" import label, and is exceptionally high quality, with polished base.  Stylistically, it reminds me of Luciano Gaspari for Salviati.  Can anybody confirm?
Thanks,
Charles.


Mod: Photo uploaded to GlassGallery, more below

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8274

[svazzo]

Truly huge!
I've never seen an Irice perfume so large before.
I had a few a few years back and they were all little pieces.
Can you show us what the top looks like? and where the label is?
Also, whats the color of the piece? It already looks smokey blue/gray, and with the shadows on the photo its really hard to tell. Maybe its my monitor?
Javier

[horochar]

Javier-
Your moniter is correct, it is light blue over grey.  Very subtle effect, which works nicely with this bullet-shaped form.  Here are close-ups of top and label.  Based on your experience, would you be able to make a positive attribution?  Even a guess?  Salviati?  Cenedese?  Barbini?  (I am a fetishist for names).
Thanks,
Charles.

Mod: Photo's uploaded to GlassGallery

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8276  Top of bottle
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8275  Irice label

[Anne]

Charles, could you add your label to the Murano 101 labels album on GlassGallery please? I don't think we have an example of this label there yet. Thanks.  http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/thumbnails.php?album=102

[Laura Friedman]

Wow, what a cool perfume!  If I were a woman in the '50s, that's the one I'd want!

Unless someone knows more about the importer, I don't think you're going to come up with a better attribution than Salviati.  They certainly did work in this style, and used this color combination.  

Laura

[horochar]

Thanks Laura-
When I get home tonight from my day job I'll try posting it to the labels link.  As a "man in the 00's," I don't find perfume bottles to be especially useful items.  There's no logical reason not to display it, I suppose.  For that matter, vases are never given their intended use (i.e. holding water and flowers).  Any ideas where one would get the missing hardware to fit onto the atomizer?  Or would that only highlight the ridiculousness of displaying a perfume bottle in a cabinet full of glass?

[horochar]

Would it be a terrible mistake to try to convert this bottle into a vase?  My theory, which is really nothing more than a wild guess, is that it was imported as a vase, and that importer (Irice) attached their sticker and added the perfume hardware, maybe grinding the rim in the process.  The piece would make a very attractive vase, and is stylistically in line with Gaspari vases.
[See this link for a nice example: http://members.aol.com/pablocal4/italy.htm]
Irice is well known for doing perfume bottles, so if this was a in fact a conversion, it was most likely done by Irice and not by a consumer post purchase.  The hardware, which is certainly vintage 1950s, is attached with a hard white chalky substance soft enough to scratch off but hard enough to serve its intended purpose.  My primary concerns, in order of importance, are preservation (I am a stickler for authenticity), aesthetics (display purposes in my home) and value (I wouldn't want to ruin my investment).  I scraped off a small portion of the chalk, and I am fairly sure the rim underneath was ground.
Thanks,
Charles.

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8277
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8278
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8279

[Frank]

Would it be a terrible mistake to try to convert this bottle into a vase?

   Yes :!:

[Connie]

The chalky white stuff is plaster and it is a common means of joining metal and glass.  You can find it on most vintage glass perfume bottles with a metal ring top.  It was also the method used to join glass lamp fonts to metal bases.

Irice is the tradename of Irving W. Rice an importer from NYC known for their perfume bottles.  I have many many Irice perfume bottles from all over. I have one from France and one from  Germany US Zone in my webstore right now.


The labels are identical to the one on your bottle except for the country.

[Hotglass]

Great piece. I hope you didn't mess with it. Its perfect as it is.
Importers generally concern themselves only with the importation, sales, marketing and distribution of products. Occasionally they will specify designs but I find it unlikely that they would have messed with any production or modification themselves.
Ed.