GUEST: This piece has been around maybe 30 years. My mother-in-law had it in her home. My husband said he can always remember it sitting in the dining room and when we got married in the '60s, it was there, and after she passed away, it was passed on to me. It was reported to be maybe a Steuben piece, so we contacted them and, uh, they really couldn't help me with it, so I have really no documentation.
APPRAISER: Well, I look at this example and without having any thought as to who may have made it, my first inclination is that it's not American-made. It's Italian-made. So Steuben isn't a name that I would immediately associate with the piece. Steuben Glass Works was founded in 1903 in Steuben County up in Corning, New York. And when it comes to Steuben glass, the did do, for a short period of time, glass that was Venetian- or Italian-inspired, but this isn't a piece that resembles anything like that, so I would discount the Steuben Glass Works immediately. So when it comes to who did or who may have made it, I looked the piece over. I didn't see any signature on the piece, but it's a very handsome piece of glass. I think it represents a pure Italian fancy when it comes to glassmaking. They're really the masters at it. It looks like these birds have just sort of set down for a spring delight. The colors are wonderful. It represents many of the Italian glassmaking techniques with the applied sort of stylized mass that you see here on the center of the piece. There's one on each side. It's remained in remarkable condition. I don't see any restoration, any chips or damages. I think it's a piece that's been prized since it was first acquired. I would date it probably to about the 1930s or 1940s. And as an anonymous piece of Italian glass, I would give it an auction estimate of between $3,000 and $5,000
