Many people know a piece of Murano glass when they see one. Murano glass is very distinguishable with the colors, the shapes and the uniqueness. It is very easy to immediately see the difference between a Murano glass vase and a Fenton Glass or Kanawha glass vase. Although they are both glass, that is pretty much where the similarities end.
Also, a lot of people don’t understand
that Murano glass is not a factory. Murano glass gets its name from where it came, not a particular factory. Murano is
an island off the coast of Venice where there are many glass factories. Originally in Venice itself, hundreds of years ago,
the manufacturing plants were banished to the island for fear a fire started by the ovens would destroy Venice.
With that said,
Murano glass from any company may have similarities but they also have their differences.
If you are a novice glass collector, you might mistake this vintage decanter and tumbler for Czech republic glass. They make a lot of glass that is similar in design, specially since it is adorned with gilt.
How do we tell the difference? Well for me, I do a lot of research; I look on line for similar products or show it to friends who are collectors. There is usually now stamp on the bottom to tell it's Murano or even which manufacturer in Murano.
If you watched Mad Men they also smoked big old fat cigars. Back then, smoking was allowed wherever; offices, banks even doctors smoked in the patient room.
On the left you see a vintage Murano cigar ashtray bowl. Note the curled sides and the deep well.
This one is a very deep rich amethyst color and the pattern is one pretty distictive to Murano and that is the controlled bubble pattern. The bubbles in the glass are purposely blown into the pattern.
This is a good example of "end of day" glass. End of day glass is exactly that, they are made with the glass left in the furnace at the end of the day. The glass blower will take that glass and blow it in different shapes and forms and the colors can vary greatly with depending on the colors that he used during the day. Some of these can be very colorful.
I don't know if this
is Vintage Murano Glass or not. It is blown in the form of a basket, with clear glass and a huge chunk of amethyst glass
in the middle. It looks like Murano to me.
If you have read some of my other pages, in particular the vintage cranberry glass page, you will have seen this ashtray before. This ashtray I believe is from Geode Glass Company in Murano. The clean lines make it a mid-century modern piece of art glass. If you watched the Mad Men TV show, you may have seen some of these. They were indeed used as ashtrays.
This particular ashtray is a cranberry color with a clear glass insert dipped in white glass. hsyt console bowl with controlled bubbles. It is one of my favorite pieces and don't you dare put out a cigarette in it.
This is a beautiful example of a console bow. A console bowl was placed on table with different types of goodies. I believe based on other examples that I have seen that this bowl was made by the Seguso Glass Company in Murano.
This
bowl has a light green colored bowl surrounded by what looks like emerald colored glass. The pictures do it no justice, the
bowl is very beautiful even without goodies. It measures about 9 inches across.
Speak about beauty, check out this vintage Murano Glass bowl in a rich amethyst and opalescent color. This vintage
bowl is flower shaped bowl and the bottom inside is a controlled bubble pattern. It measures about 8 inches wide and about 2.5
inches tall.
These Murano Glass clowns are not only very colorful, but they are very collectible. Some rare ones go for hundreds of dollars. I remember my mother having one when I was a kid and getting in trouble for playing with it.
One also has to be careful as there are a lot of imitations. You might even find some at some brand name stores, buyer beware.
These Murano Glass birds are also very collectible, these are some that I have sold in the past. They are very colorful and their shapes are just amazing. The last time I went to my aunt's house, she still had a rooster similar to the one up top. Keep in mind that since these are hand blown, no two are exactly alike.
If you have been to our cranberry glass page, you will note that they also make collectible birds in cranberry glass. I still own three of those since my biggest collection is vintage cranberry glass.
Again, buyer beware, there are imitations of these that are being mass produced. You can tell they are mass produced if they are exactly alike.
Keep checking back with us as we will keep adding pictures in the future, as well as more information, like how to spot a fake.
