Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Murano & Italy Glass => Topic started by: Catisfaction on April 24, 2009, 06:36:21 PM
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Ok so the only thing that makes me wonder if this is Murano is the Copper Aventurine.
And I know that lots of other Art Glass studios picked up on the Aventurine thing too so feel free to laugh in my face and move this to where it should go :P but....
Is this Murano?
What is it called? Glass Egg? Hand Cooler? Unfinished Paperweight? Mutant Marble? :P The possibilities are endless.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/IMG_6640.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/IMG_6641.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/IMG_6642.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/IMG_6643.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/IMG_6644.jpg)
Please excuse if you see sideways pics, for some reason Photobucket is uploading my images without the rotation, but if I rotate them in PB then it rotates them later and they end up sideways... it's really werd.
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Your object is called an egg or an Easter egg -- it has one end smaller than the other and no ground base. It looks a lot like some Venetian eggs I have had. I included a picture of a mottle turquoise one with a label. So, yes, it is probably Murano. :thup: I don't know if anyone knows who might have made these eggs.
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Thats wonderful! And thank you for providing the picture as well.
I love it when an "It might be" pans out :D
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Re the rotation of your images, after running into a similar problem I found an option in my photo browser (came shipped with camera) to either "rotate actual image" or "add rotational information to image". This option is available when downloading the images from the camera to the computer, I choose the rotate actual image option and it seems to work.
Apparently, if an image is rotated time after time there can be some degradation of the image but I have never noticed this happening and can not see it being much of an issue for most of us.
John.
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Thank you, I'll have a looksee what I can find.
I usually rotate in Adobe Photoshop... maybe there's a random setting in there that somehow got changed.
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After I thought about this more, it would probably be more correct to refer to the eggs as Venetian glass. Some companies, e.g. Toscany, have "Genuine Venetian Glass" on their labels, even though they are not in Murano. Perhaps companies consider glass that is in the style of, or have the same chemistry of, Venetian glass fit into the category. Maybe one of the other members will know the why of the Venetian labels for glass made in other areas of Italy.
Added on -- You know, I really don't know what Toscany is. I have had a couple of Toscany, Made in Empoli, pieces, so I made an assumption that Toscany was an Empoli company. But I noticed there are Czech and American pieces sold as Toscany. Could Toscany be an import company, instead of a glass company? I have seen the label quite a lot, but have never questioned what it was. I checked online, but couldn't find an answer.
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Thank you for the clarification :)
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Tuscany (Toscane) is a province of Italy; the capital is Florence (Firenze). Empoli is a town in Toscane http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empoli with a large concentration of glass makers. In recent years most of these glass makers merged and moved out to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colle_Val_d%27Elsa and othe places in the valley.
If it says Venetian glass you can be sure it is from Veneto province, not from Tuscany. If it says Made in Italy, it is probably Tuscan.
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So, where is the Veneto Province? My Italian geography is pretty much nil *bounces off to google some more*
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very useful post, the Empoli clarification had me stumped till now :hiclp:
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Veneto is the region around Venice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veneto
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I don't like to send people to active auctions, but there is an animal with a Toscany label on eBay (3220402620724). This is one of the examples of a Toscany glass label that says genuine Venetian glass. I looked more on Google and found some mention of Czech and American glass under Toscany. Perhaps the company contracts from different places.
I am familiar with Tuscany and Empoli. But I wondered if Toscany was something beyond Tuscan. Does anyone know anything about the company itself?
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Interesting example, Anita. I wonder. Ivo lists Toscany as a trade name for St George Crystal, which Google tells me is the only company making lead crystal in the USA. That's one avenue ruled out. The label goes back a bit. A little more googling turned up the obituary of "Harold Potchar, aged 77, in 2001, the founder of Toscany Imports," which he started upon his return return from Europe after serving in the US Army in WWII. That makes sense to me, and struck a chord. I went back to my West Virginia Museum of Glass reprint "Italian Import Glass of the 1950's" and they have a page reproducing a 1960 ad for Toscany Imports, 245 Fifth Avenue, New York selling Empoli glass.
BTW, I think two numbers got added inadvertently to the front of the reference for the eBay piece. It should be 220402620724.
David
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Thanks for the information and correction of the number, David. My cut and paste must have picked up some invisible numbers. :) What you wrote about Toscany being an import company in NY makes sense. I had seen a lot of Toscany Empoli and Venetian glass in the USA. Most of the Venetian glass has been bowls that look a lot like Fratelli Toso pieces, but aren't documented as being theirs. I think you've solved the mystery. They probably imported mostly from Empoli, but also from Murano since there was probably a good market for the glass.
Import labels can certainly be confusing when we don't know that it is what they are.