Quezal – Daryle Lambert's Antiques and Collectibles Blog – Is it real?

 

Quezal - Thanks to Jonnsantiques.ca

I was sent pictures of a piece of art glass by a member who was going to attend an auction this weekend and his question was “Is it real?” This is where all that time spent looking at the real thing at antique shows, museums and auctions comes into play. If you can't recognize the quality of an item, the name on it will mean little.

I looked at the pictures and to my eye, it had the quality of a piece of Quezal and on the bottom it looked like it had a button pontil mark which is rare for a fake or reproduction. From this analysis, I was able to tell the gentleman that I would purchase it if the price were cheap enough. By the way it was signed Quezal.

I would hate to tell you how many great pieces of glass I have seen that were marked Tiffany when there was no doubt they were produced by one of the other great producers of art glass. But if the quality was there, I still bought them. It's as if you put a Neiman Marcus label on a coat from the dollar store. Yes, it says Neiman Marcus, but you would have no doubt that the label wasn't original. But if this occurrence happened and the coat was of the best quality, you might say why would someone put the Neiman label on a Bloomingdale coat.

I would like to share a little story with you about marks on glass. I had a very rare and expensive piece of glass that had the tiniest flake on the lip. Not wanting to ruin the piece, I looked into where this piece could be restored without changing its value. I discovered a gentleman who did this type of work in his retirement. He had been responsible for signing some of the most expensive American art glass that was ever produced in this country. I won't give the name of his former company for several reasons. While I was talking to him about my piece, I entered into a conversation with him about marks on glass. Here is what he said. “Don't get carried away by the mark because if you want a coke bottle made by my previous company, bring the bottle to me and I will sign it. Then you will have a bottle made by ++++ and nobody can say it isn't by ++++ because I signed the originals.” Remember that old saying, “It's the economy stupid”? Well in this case, it is about the glass not the signature.

You can purchase great books that will show you most of the glass signatures and one I use over and over is Glass: Art Nouveau to Art Deco by Victor Arwas. This can definitely help, but nothing can serve you as well as holding hundreds if not thousands of pieces of art glass in your own hands. Once you have this knowledge and you are presented with a piece of art glass that others are questioning (thereby reducing the price), you may be able to buy a real treasure at an unbelievable low price. Good for you because the knowledge that allowed this purchase came with many hours of study.

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