Crackle art glass pitchers

[treasurekidd]

My wife found these down in the basement today, they belonged to her grandmother. The red one is 5 1/4" tall, and both have pontil marks on the base. I know these aren't big dollar items, but can anyone suggest key words for an ebay listing on these, other than red/blue crackle art glass pitcher? Style, maker, etc? Thanks in advance!

 

[inspectorgadget]

Id say you most likely have some Blenko pieces. They are probably either from as early as the 50's up thru the late 70's to mid 80's, thus fit into basically the mid century category. Blenko was big on crackle glass & their pieces always have pontils & if possible an unpolished pontil. Some Blenko is acid etched or sand blasted marked & it can be hard to see. Some if not many of their pieces have no markings!

Those colors are also classic Blenko colors, there is a Blenko glass web site that helps identify age by the style & color as only certain colors were used certain years & certain pieces were made certain years.

 

[diggummup]

There are other possibilities besides Blenko for these pitchers. They could also be Viking, Bischoff, Pilgrim, Rainbow, Williamsburg or one of several others that did handblown work. They all had very similar colors and shapes as they were all in competition. It would be very hard to label these exclusively as Blenko, even though that is what most people do when they find a piece of handblown colored glass because they are the most popular (and still in business). The red ones color is called Amberina.

 

[inspectorgadget]

There are other possibilities besides Blenko for these pitchers. They could also be Viking, Bischoff, Pilgrim, Rainbow, Williamsburg or one of several others that did handblown work. They all had very similar colors and shapes as they were all in competition. It would be very hard to label these exclusively as Blenko, even though that is what most people do when they find a piece of handblown colored glass because they are the most popular (and still in business). The red ones color is called Amberina.

I agree Blenko is just an educated guess from the INFO he gave. Viking I highly doubt, their pieces classically looked kind of like molten glass! The "Amberina" one is classic Blenko with the red pitcher part & orange handle thus is not really classic amberina. Blenko called it "tangerine" + had several variations of it & yes companies sort of "copied" Blenko pieces just as you stated. Pontils can tell you a lot about glass tho.

I have a Blenko seeded or "controlled bubble" ashtray that looks to be dark cranberry under medium lighting & in good bright light it looks opalescent over light cranberry but it's just a pretty rare variation of their tangerine color. It's an unusual piece because of the color(s), I've not seen another like it but Blenko acknowledges this variation does exist & might have actually been sort of a mistake caused by a reaction when re-firing & finishing the piece!
http://www.blenkoarchive.org/http://

 

[treasurekidd]

Thanks for everyones input on these. I did some basic research, and these do seem to match a lot of Blenko characteristics - fairly thick walls and base, rough pontils, and the colors do match up with the tangerine/amberina and turquoise blue Blenko colors. I've listed them "attributing" them to Blenko, but there's really no way to be 100% sure without a signature mark of some sort. Here's some better natural light pics if anyones interested. Thanks again for all of your opinions, you guys are awesome!

 

[diggummup]

I agree Blenko is just an educated guess from the INFO he gave. Viking I highly doubt, their pieces classically looked kind of like molten glass! The "Amberina" one is classic Blenko with the red pitcher part & orange handle thus is not really classic amberina. Blenko called it "tangerine" + had several variations of it & yes companies sort of "copied" Blenko pieces just as you stated. Pontils can tell you a lot about glass tho.

Okay, maybe Viking wasn't the best example to put first on the list but I was just stating various examples of other manufacturers that did handblown work and made other pieces that look similar to Blenko. I also understand that "amberina" is not an official color of Blenko, rather a search term. Tangerine is not always multi colored but Amberina is.

PS- I just found another piece of Blenko over the weekend. A black tophat, the second one i've found.



Although, this is my favorite piece from Husted-

 

[inspectorgadget]

Okay, maybe Viking wasn't the best example to put first on the list but I was just stating various examples of other manufacturers that did handblown work and made other pieces that look similar to Blenko. I also understand that "amberina" is not an official color of Blenko, rather a search term. Tangerine is not always multi colored but Amberina is.

PS- I just found another piece of Blenko over the weekend. A black tophat, the second one i've found.

View attachment 882207

Although, this is my favorite piece from Husted-

View attachment 882206

Cool finds especially the second picture! I got this Murano red white gold cased in clear glass bowl yesterday for $5 it's 10 1/2" x 9 3/4" & for $5 it was a steal!


Then I got this one for $5 today, also Murano & I think it is cool as hell! And again a huge steal at $5!

 

[diggummup]

Cool finds especially the second picture! I got this Murano red white gold cased in clear glass bowl yesterday for $5 it's 10 1/2" x 9 3/4" & for $5 it was a steal!
View attachment 887075View attachment 887076

Then I got this one for $5 today, also Murano & I think it is cool as hell! And again a huge steal at $5!
View attachment 887077

Nice Glass! I almost had a nice Murano ashtray yesterday but the crazy lady wanted $50 for it!

 

[inspectorgadget]

On the Murano bowl/ashtray I was told that when they were made they were not designated specifically as a bowl nor ashtray but instead as either or. Could be a cigar ashtray or a handled bowl as the folds in the glass are perfect for your thumb to grab onto with the rest of your fingers/hand underneath the bowl part. Tho I was also told it's more often said to be considered a bowl if there is only one fold (or thumb grip spot) in the glass where as ashtrays usually had more than one & up to 4-8 of these spots such as that red/gold/white one I just got has (2). Many Murano specific ashtrays also often had cut out V shapes on the outer edges of the glass. There were 100's of individual glass makers in Murano Italy so this stuff all varies big time.