Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Treasure hunt
DEAR HELAINE AND JOE: Years ago, my mother gave us a vintage/antique glass vase. It is 5 ¼ inches tall, is a rosy-pink color and weighs about 2 pounds, 5 ounces. It is decorated with small bubbles and nine decorative appliques that are roughly circular, yellow/gold in color with knobby balls on the surface. There are no markings but two labels, one reading “Made in Italy” and the other “Zell Bros. Portland, Oregon.” Sentimental value aside, we want to know if we should treasure it and put it in our wills or sell it in a garage sale. What can you tell us about its value and history?
— K.B. DEAR K. B.: The paper labels on the vase tell us a lot, but they do not tell us everything.
The “Zell Bros, Portland Oregon” label signifies that the piece was originally sold (retailed) at the almost iconic Zell Brothers Jewelers in downtown Portland, Ore. The company was founded in 1912 by brothers Julius, Dan, Harry and Milton Zell and remained in business through various ownerships, including Zale’s.
Reportedly they sold giftware along with their jewelry. As long as the Zell Brothers were actually involved with the stocking of the store, it was filled with top-end, elegant merchandise.
We believe Zell’s imported the piece from a maker who worked on the island of Murano, which is located in the Venetian lagoon. Glass has been made in Venice for significantly more than 1,000 years, but in 1291, authorities ordered all the glass-making factories to set up shop on the island of Murano because they were afraid the fires in the glassmaking furnaces might get out of control and burn down the very prosperous and powerful town.
Glassmaking flourished there and is somewhat a thriving
industry to this day. The decorations described by K.B., along with the photographs, tell us this is a controlled bubble piece that was made by placing a “gather” (a piece of molten glass at the end of a blowpipe) into a spiked mold and then expanding the material with soft breaths and smoothing the outside leaving
the bubble effect.
The “appliques” K.B, mentioned are called “prunts,” and when they were first placed on pieces of glass, they were designed to provide a raised surface for fingers to grip the item more securely. Drinking vessels were often fitted with these devices, but later these raised “blobs” of glass became largely decorative elements.
We do not want to suggest the particular factory responsible
for making the piece, but we do feel it might have been Barovier & Toso. Some say Barovier was founded in 1295, others 1324, but the amalgamation with the Toso family did not begin until 1936.
The piece was made between World War I and World War II — we think circa 1925. If it can be established that it was made by Ercole Barovier, the value would be $500 to $650, but if it turns out to be more generic Murano glass, the insurance value would be half that.