Hi Anita,
I understand your view, but I have to disagree.
This all started with the Ewer, but the information we have now is on the paperweights.
Lets take the Ewer out of the equation right now, since I have not seen another like it to compare.
We have on the other hand, seen more than 1 paperweight.
With Franks information we know that Koscherak Brothers Inc. also carried "American Pottery and Glassware."
The paperweights, one of which is signed "Impressed Tiffany Favrile Glass Registered Trademark".
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9711673Since I have looked on the internet, and found 2 others also signed.
http://www.richardcfreyfinearts.com/tiffany.htmlSigned: LCT Favrile (Monogram)
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/5197081Signed L.C.T. Favrile
On the LiveAuctioneers link, 1 is signed and the other is not (same paperweight and same lot).
The paperweight I just purchased is not signed, but is does have the KB label.
It is exact as the ones mentioned before.
So we have a connection between the design of the paperweights, signatures and now a label to the Koscherak Brothers.
Now, the Ewer has the same design and the same label as the paperweight, so they were sold at the same company, Koscherak Brothers Inc.
You mean to tell me there is no connection between them?
I have handled many iridescent pieces from Italian makers before (specially Fratelli Toso), but none like this pieces.
The way they are made is very different to any I own or have owned in the past.
"They concentrated on selling affordable glass to the general population of the US"
Ok, so why would they not sell an affordable "Tiffany Favrile" line made just for Koscherak Brothers Inc. to match their Italian shapes (in regards to the Ewer).
That is certainly a possibility.
This all started because the Ewer was not something I considered Italian, even though it had the KB Italy label on it.
I do not mean to sound cocky by any means, but I have handled thousands of Murano pieces personally, and seen probably hundreds of thousands of photos on the internet, and having this piece in my hands it did not feel Italian at all. Like i mentioned when I first started this topic, if the piece did not have the KB Italy label I would not have thought it was Italian in the first place.
That made me look into the paperweights which I had seen before, that turned out to be "Impressed Tiffany Favrile Glass Registered Trademark".
I am not saying my pieces are 100% Tiffany Favrile, yet! lol. That is why we are researching and talking about this.
But I cannot say, ok the Ewer has an Italian label so it is Italian. If I had I would not have found the paperweights and started this whole thing.
It is the same as when I see a piece of Murano glass that I know in my heart it is from a certain maker, but has another label on it or attribution.
For example, when i first started selling on Ebay I kept seeing Barovier pieces attributed to Fratelli Toso by the sellers because of the same KB label we are now talking about.
(KB Labels) Koscherak Brothers became a synonym to Fratelli Toso. Seemed that no one wanted to deviate, just because of the label and the previous atributions. I knew that the designs on those particular pieces could not have been made by Fratelli Toso, but Barovier & Toso. Doing research and buying books I confirmed that I was right. If I had not put in question the design of the pieces themselves, regardless of labels and attributions, I would be selling Barovier Graffito and Cordonato D' Oro pieces as Fratelli Toso to this day.
My gut tells me this is not Italian. That is all I can say. If I am wrong then I am wrong, and we had a good discussion and found out some great new information in the process.
But I like to trust my gut feelings.
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By the way Anita,
On a totally unrelated topic, I was so sad to see you sold the Horse on your website
That was a nice one.