Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Animals & Figurines => Topic started by: Pat on November 02, 2005, 09:20:18 PM
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I have these two small glass pieces. The art deco style nude is approximately 4" tall and holding what appears to be a bunch of grapes. However I am not certain that these have been glued on to replace a broken hand. The octopus is small and I guess murano but may be wrong. Would love to find out about them.
Mod: Images gone, may be replaced at a later date.
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I have these two small glass pieces.
Hi Pat :) The nude figure is wonderful. She seems so perfect and well balanced, are you sure her hand is glued?
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Wow...the lady is lovely. I think maybe you could be asking the same question as I was a few days ago about my art deco lady...that being...is this a Bimini lady? I've definitely seen pics of Bimini pieces attached to stands similar to yours. Does anyone else agree?
Tramonto
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Hi Max. No I am not sure her hand is glued but the grapes have been added and not very well. I'll see if I can get a close up pic of it tomorrow. But I agree she is lovely. My husband found her at a car boot sale some years ago for a few pence.
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Hi
I agree that the lady is probably Italian (and very elegant). The Octopus could be either Italian or Pirelli, there is still so much research going on, I lean towards Italian as well even though Pirelli did many 'sea creatures' - these tended to be all one shade. I could be wrong, the flat head and eyes look good for Pirelli (are the eyes just black and white, or is there a blue or brown layer as well)
These are pictures of Pirelli animals I just bought
Scottie Dog 3" long
http://publish.hometown.aol.co.uk/blackcatgla/images/d1.jpg
Donkey 2.4" long, 3" high (the larger of two, I will post other later)
http://publish.hometown.aol.co.uk/blackcatgla/images/don1.jpg
Bendy Cat 2.5" long, 3.2" high
http://publish.hometown.aol.co.uk/blackcatgla/images/c1.jpg
Onion Man 2.7" high (yet to be confirmed as Pirelli but bought from a Pirelli collector and I have seen one in past with a sticker on - a novelty item, I have Tweety Pie's large and small I also think are Pirelli, again I will post later)
http://publish.hometown.aol.co.uk/blackcatgla/images/on1.jpg
Hope this helps
Adam
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It always puzzles me how these lampwork figures and animals can be identified. They're obviously not all Murano as claimed on ebay. When I was a child, about 40 years ago, we went on holiday to Dunster in Somerset and one of the daily highlights was going to the village to see what the glass man was making. If I remember correctly he used to make small animals and figures, so I've always assumed it was quite a common craft when such things were fashionable. Christine
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Correct Christine and the only way of identifying a manufacturer is if the piece is both labelled AND consistent with other examples.
Pirelli is one example and lampwork figures are the only product they manufactured.
See http://www.ysartglass.com/Indexcat04.htm
and http://www.glassencyclopedia.com/pirelliglass.html
Since these articles have been up, more and more eBay people claim Murano or Pirelli - yet the 'glass man' in Dunster is just as likely a source for many of them.
I will be adding many more examples to my Pirelli pages and also pages of other animals to try and get identification.
Once a few hundred Pireli labelled examples have been catalogued it is just possible that we can then recognise some unlabelled pieces with 'reasonable' chance. I have examples which do match Pirelli adverts but are clearly not Pirelli for various reasons. Pirelli had 3 or 4 people making these which led to a consistency in style but there are also examples not in style too, just to cause confusion.
Japanese examples are also commonly found labelled.
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I've taken the best pic I can of where the grapes go on to her hand. I do think it is right now although it's a bit messy but it is glass at the join.
http://tinypic.com/far485.jpg
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It always puzzles me how these lampwork figures and animals can be identified. They're obviously not all Murano as claimed on ebay. When I was a child, about 40 years ago, we went on holiday to Dunster in Somerset and one of the daily highlights was going to the village to see what the glass man was making. If I remember correctly he used to make small animals and figures, so I've always assumed it was quite a common craft when such things were fashionable. Christine
You're absolutely correct. There is no way lampwork can be attributed to a single maker, unless it is labeled (like Zbs, Pirelli) or documented (as is the case of Bimini). The largest production of lampwork is still from Lauscha, Germany (of Xmas tree ornament fame), but try and get a single hit if you search E-bay.
I also agree that the technique is independent, it requires a few glass rods and a torch and the number of lampworkers is staggering. We too had a demonstration in our primary school back in 1960 - by a lampwork artist who was particularly talented at blowing swans.
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Well whatever she is we just love her!! and will carry on enjoying her beauty indefinitely.
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I totally agree with comments reference too quick an attribution to Pirelli or indeed Murano, on my trips to Milan I often see lamp-workers making animals by the Canal Region just down from Porta Genova - this is an antiques and collectables part of Milan so it makes sense
I think tentative attribution or putting up for examination while we wait for examples with actual labels as some say is all we can do, in this case scenario we can study similarities and look at any provenance - see Frank's excellent post
I will be adding many more examples to my Pirelli pages and also pages of other animals to try and get identification
In the case of the items I linked to - we know the Scottie is Pirelli as it is seen with the label on the website, I purchased about 15 other pieces with it from my source, a collector buyer called Elspeth based in the Barras area of Glasgow who assured me the woman who sold her all the items together (there where many more I did not buy) were all collected in her childhood and she remembered peeling the Pirelli labels off - a tall story? perhaps and it can never be taken as proof in place of an actual label, but what I did like was the similarity in all the pieces to the Scottie and elephants etc. here is the smaller donkey I was talking about
http://publish.hometown.aol.co.uk/blackcatgla/images/pird2.jpg
I cannot give it a 100% but there is enough there to give me say 80%, in this sense I should say I attribute to or ‘think is’ - I therefore also say apart from the Scottie in my previous listing I think the other pieces are probably Pirelli - this is how I would list on eBay rather than give a 100% to pump up sales beacuse of similarities
Adam
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Just wanted to add that not having surfed eBay or other auction sites for a while, I see Pirelli with label or a good attribution is going for huge sums of money
birds (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-GLASS-PIRELLI-BIRDS_W0QQitemZ7360958836QQcategoryZ991QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
kingfisher (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/rare-Pirelli-vasart-art-glass-kingfisher_W0QQitemZ7359161250QQcategoryZ64876QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Guinness Toucan (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Guinness-Glass-Toucan-2-Pints-Pirelli-1957-RARE_W0QQitemZ6218992602QQcategoryZ50741QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
mmmmmm
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The Guinness Toucans went for the right price, the others are just madness!
Two over eager buyers!
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Frank said:
Two over eager buyers!
Or perhaps just very keen bidders, with good reasons for paying more than other folk would bid? (Like me with some of my paperweight bids - if there is something that fills a gap or adds to the history ... the moths escape from my wallet :!: )
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True Kevin - but these will turn up again and again. The Toucans are fairly frequent though the second scarcest of the set but they have the Guinness market and that is BIG.
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Ref the earlier discussion, another set of birds on a branch has shown up on eBay just days after that record breaking price - hopefully a few more sets turn up then everyone can have one :shock: There are not many collecting Pirelli lampwork animals, probably <10, though the number seems to be growing.