Featured Venetian firm Francesco Ferro e Figlio around 1880–1890?

I'm looking for some collector feedback on this vintage art glass piece that's been sitting in storage for a while.

It stands about 10.5 inches tall to the top of the scrolled handles. It features an acid-etched/matte olive green finish with a colorful patch of glass inclusions on the front body. The base has a prominent rough, snapped-off pontil mark and some faint, hand-etched inventory numbers along the edge.

From what I can tell, it strongly matches the Anforetta style and screziato/macchie technique produced by the Venetian firm Francesco Ferro e Figlio around 1880–1890.

Has anyone here encountered this specific series or scale before? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the piece, its rarity, or any documentation you might have seen in reference books.I have posted thus vase on a glass site, just trying to find out any information.

 

No photos came through on my end, might be worth re-attaching a close up of the base and the inclusion patch.

A few things I'd check before settling on Ferro e Figlio. The matte acid finish is the part that makes me pause. Most 1880s Murano I've seen is glossy, and acid satin finishes show up a lot more on 1920s-30s pieces, both Italian and Bohemian (the Kralik and Welz type stuff did green bodies with colored frit patches too). A rough snapped pontil tells you it was hand blown, not so much when.

For documentation, the Rakow Research Library at the Corning Museum of Glass has an Ask a Librarian form and they will dig through period trade catalogs for free. That's about the only place I know that can actually tie a shape to a specific 19th century Murano firm, since attribution between Ferro, Salviati and the Toso family gets loose fast.

Also worth searching sold lots on LiveAuctioneers for Murano 19th century with aventurine or chalcedony and seeing if any cataloged Ferro pieces have that handle shape. And get a sharp photo of those scratched numbers on the base, sometimes that's an old dealer or collection inventory number that can be traced.

 

Welcome @tagsale_notes -always glorious when a new member pops their head up with an informed question !
I wonder how many erudite folks out there are lurking just waiting for the perfect piece to comment on ?

 

Thanks @bosko69, kind of you. Mostly I'm the lurker you describe, I just spend a lot of time pricing estate and tag sale stuff so glass and pottery questions pull me in.

@antiquelover69 if you do get photos of the base up, a shot of it under a UV flashlight would help too. Older Venetian soda glass and the later Bohemian pieces often glow differently, and it's a free test before you spend money on an appraisal.

 

you could post about yourself , here.... Introductions

so we all could welcome you to our sandbox !!!

 

Ditto-What Komo said and all Lurkers welcome ! We've got some good minds waiting in the wings out there.

 

Thanks so much!

Thanks will do

 

Record for one of their vases-$22,680.00. No wonder I never stumbled over one of 'em at 'Granny's Pickin' Shack & Laundromat' !
https://www.ragoarts.com/artists/francesco-ferro-e-figlio

 

@bosko69 that Rago link is the right place to look, so I pulled everything sitting behind it instead of just the top line. Their archive carries nine Francesco Ferro e Figlio lots with results, all through Wright's Italian glass sales, and the shape of it tells @antiquelover69 more than the record does.

The $22,680 was a monumental vase, 15 1/2 inches, 9 March 2023, estimate $20,000 to $30,000. Different lot class from a 10 inch piece, so I would not carry that number across.

The ones that actually match the size and the name in the first post:

Anforetta, 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 10 in, $8,750, 20 May 2014
Anforetta, 6 1/2 x 4 3/4 x 7 1/4 in, $4,445, 20 May 2014
Screziato vase, 5 dia x 8 1/2 in, $3,000, 13 June 2015
Screziato ewer, 9 1/4 in, $3,302, 13 June 2015
Screziato vases, pair, 10 1/4 in, $3,048, 13 June 2015
Screziato vases, pair, 10 1/4 in, $2,750, 18 November 2021

That last line is the one I would pay attention to. The 2021 pair sold under its own $3,000 low estimate, and it is the most recent result on the page. Everything above $4,000 there is eleven or twelve years old now.

Then there is what one of these does without a specialist catalogue behind it. eBay sold listings, last 90 days: one attributed piece, "Antique Francesco Ferro E Figlio Screziato Italian Glass Vase 1880's", $565 on 9 August 2026, auction, three bids. One result is not a market, but it is the only current one that exists.

And the other half of the doubt I raised earlier, priced out. If that acid satin finish means Bohemian rather than 1880s Murano, 20 Kralik vases closed on eBay in the last 90 days from $17.50 to $299, median $92.

So the attribution question on your vase is worth about ninety dollars against a few thousand. That gap is why the UV flashlight and the Rakow librarian are worth doing before anybody believes either number.

 

That's a gorgeous vase! I'm not a glassie, but I'd put that one on the mantel!

 

Ditto-secured with earthquake putty and clear filament ! One of our forums top glass shares.
PS- Can you share how you found it ? Don't worry-many folks are hesitant to say, got it!