Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: johnfandmaryp on September 24, 2007, 10:42:30 AM
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Hi all,
I saw this paperweight (about 5.5cm in diameter) at an auction recently, where it was catalogued as 'French millefiori'. I didn't buy it but I would be very interested, as part of my learning process, for any information about it that you could let me have.
Many thanks in anticipation, John.
Top view ~ http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8521
Detail ~ http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8520
Base ~ http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-8519
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Hello John. I'm sorry to see no-one has commented on this weight, as I too would have been interested to learn about it. I am puzzled by the 'French' ID, as at first glance I would have thought it looked Scottish!
Perhaps I should get out my books on canes, which I haven't looked at for a while, and see if I can spot them.
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Hi Leni
I think it was identified elsewhere as Murano, maybe 25-30 years old. Like you, I thought the canes looked a bit Scottish, but they don't quite match anything.
It is presently being advertised on ebay by orville4 (item 150164923787) along with various other weights he got from the Charterhouse auction.
Regards
Alan.
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... I think it was identified elsewhere as Murano, maybe 25-30 years old. Like you, I thought the canes looked a bit Scottish, but they don't quite match anything...
Hi Alan,
Could you let me know where it was ID's as Murano please? The only thoughts I've seen on it elsewhere are possibly "Italian house of Goebel circa 1980".
Thanks, John.
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Hi John
I made an assumption (maybe incorrectly) that Italian 'House of Goebel' meant someone in Murano.
I suppose I should come clean, and say I was the seller! I bought cheaply, it suspecting it might be French, then decided I had no idea who made it. It was too light to be a classic French factory product from the 1850s - but that leaves a lot of possibilities. If someone gave me convincing evidence that it was French, Scottish, or Italian I would believe them. A strange little weight!
I am happy to accept Andy Dohan's ID.
Alan
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All I can say is that if those canes are Scottish I might want to buy it as an example of something a bit unusual.
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Hi again Alan,
Maybe it is a Murano house ~ working more with ceramics than glass paperwights, I 'automatically' associated House of Goebel with Hummel/Goebel of Germany and forgot the Italian bit! Bet you were pleased with the auction result!!
I found this paperweight on eBay, which has a label and, to my untrained eye, looks pretty similar.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190156043596
Cheers, John.
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I agree with Kevin that the canes look Scottish. However the arrangement of the canes is not typical for a Scottish weight. Very different from the Murano example.
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The "House of Goebel Italy" is/was a division of german company "The House of Goebel GmbH".
I've found some pottery figurines on eBay and one of them had the original sticker plus a tag with information.
The tag includes the description "gift sales" and indicates that this company buys from different manufacturers
to sell in other countries. The item below was apparently intended for the US market.
eBay item 230170156136
There are also other eBay items which are artist signed and have other labels, item 160161627670 is a good example.
This company should not be confused with the "Hummel Goebel" - Goebel Porzellanmanufaktur GmbH, altho I wouldn't be
surprised if that was a contributing motivation in naming a company that sold porcelain figurines to the US.
I haven't been able to find out more about the non Hummel Goebel, the tag mentioned for the first item lists the company address
as West Germany, so I assume it was made before the unification. The US address listed is a PO box.
A search for the german company name on google.de doesnt yield any relevant hits.
To sum up I suspect the "House of Goebel Italy" is/was a store brand for german export company "House of Goebel GmbH".
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Just found and bought a similar one for myself, some differences but appears to be same maker.
Item 260164260824
Looking forward to getting my hands on it, interesting canes
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Thank you very much for the additional information Alexander.
Cheers, John.
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I agree with Kevin that the canes look Scottish. However the arrangement of the canes is not typical for a Scottish weight.
I agree with the second statement, but I never said I thought the canes were Scottish. I said " ... If those canes are Scottish ...". Perhaps I should have said what I really think ... I do not believe they are Scottish canes ... and the base is not finished in a Scottish manner. But I will keep an open mind on it.
The one Alexander has just bought is clearly from the same maker. I wonder if we will begin to see more of these?
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Hmmm. I also only said that "at first glance I would have thought it looked Scottish". The pale pink and green colour was what first made me think it might be. I can see that the construction of the canes has a similarity to some Murano canes, and the slightly untidy set-up is similar to some Murano weights, but I don't generally associate pale pink with Murano!
Also, the weight John posted was shown on the ebay auction to have a very low profile - I thought it looked almost as if it had been ground right down to remove damage, or as if it was unfinished - a paperweight 'button' that had not had a final encasement!
I can see that Alexander's has the same or very similar canes, and I look forward to seeing more pics of that one, please!
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You will as soon as I get it :)
A strange fruit this as there are elements of clichy in the canes, but the overall cane design looks scottish to me too,
Perthshire is what I'm thinking. I don't think it is tho.
The pics don't show the dome or base very well ( high or low dome, concave bottom or not ) but one
intriguing thing is the setting of the canes themselves, they appear well centered and not filling out the glass.
On some murano weights this happens, a lot of the ones I've seen tho they tend to fill every inch of glass with canes.
Looking forward to seeing it :)
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Finally found one of these with a label - appears to be our muranese friends Fratelli Toso :)
330224263314
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Very interesting Alexander ~ many thanks again, John.