I have this old figurine that was given to me by my late grandma. It is of 2 children in fancy clothes and it has a maker's mark of a crown with a "G" underneath. Does anybody know where and when this was made?
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I would take this to a reputable antique dealer and ask.
I am familiar with a number of patterns that have a crown and a G, but none that look like this. This marking looks more modern and machine made than the ones I am used to seeing...but that is just my opinion...I am far from an expert on glassware.
An antique dealer, especially if you ask with the intent to insure, will give you as much history as they know.
I will tell you that when my grandmother passed many years ago, she had a mix of items with maker marks on the them and it was challenging to figure out (this was LONG before the internet) which were the true antiques and which ones she had picked up at Woolworth or the other Five and Dime stores as they all had special markings on the bottom.
Sadly, her really good items were damaged and not worth much, but boy, her dime store purchases were just about indestructible...which as I say this...leads me to believe she knew what she was doing with...there is a HUGE age difference between my cousins and me and having little ones in the house late in her life was a challenge for someone who loved to display her glassware (and who had the older kids--me and my brother) monkeying with her good pieces that she kept in her lime green cut outs with white back lighting in the living room.
I guess her solution was to move the expensive ones up and have the cheaper ones where the little kids could get to them!
Let us know what you find! Thanks for sharing!
Try to match it up at this antiques website. www.kovels.com/
I have a membership to Kovels and they reported this mark is unknown to them but that should not deter you from seeking more information.
I thought it might be Gräfenthal but no marks like that.
I also use a site that has thousands of markings and on a basic search, I could not find anything with a G like this.
You do not say how long ago this was purchased or even "gifted" so it is very difficult to actually search for an even guessable maker.
It may be possible to offer more information if we had any kind of dateline that it was obtained.
You may be able to obtain a lot more information if you seek some appraisals. There are lots of free appraisal sites online and if you complete several sites you may actually find out a date and even value. Here is a link to check:
www.whatsellsbest.com/
Barneby's charges $17 for their appraisals.
thank you so very very much for your feedback. i did have a longer and more in depth version of my question but i found myself beginning to ramble and reminisce a bit too much and didn't want to annoy anyone. so i decided to change it to a shorter version.
Your full post is fascinating! It is hard to go through things from a loved one who has passed, but you honor their memory when you share stories!
I would suggest taking this to a glass dealer. The more I look at it it has a vague capodimonte look to it. Of course not an original as those are only in museums!
Capodimonte was a glass or porcelain maker from the 16 or 1700s (original) now the term is used to describe the style of glassware.
When I worked in a gold crown Hallmark store many, many years ago we sold tons of this style of glassware/porcelain pieces. Some of the markings were crowns with a g, but not this crown...more loose almost abstract crowns. It is possible this is one of the millions of capodimonte knock offs/reproductions/style pieces. You can spend days reading about capodimonte online! It is fascinating!
Please share what you learn! Keep sharing your stories to keep your grandma's memory alive!!
Thank you for sharing your story about your mother and grandmother as stories like this only make us want to search further just in case we might find something to help you identify what your grandmother so dearly treasured and now you have the opportunity to treasure.
I really hope you will take advantage of some of the free appraisals as if just one of them gives you an inkling of where or when it will help you treasure your piece even more.
Please keep us posted and if you have any other pieces that you need help with research just post them as a new question and always provide as much information as you have (stories like this are always fun to read).
thank you very much for your advice and for taking the time to help me piece this mystery together. I will most definitely take it (and several others) to an appraiser. and Even if i find out that it is a copy it won't matter to me. My grandmother collected so many things from paintings, figurines and even has a very respectable collection of early 19th century humidors. so i have my work cut out for me. But leave this one with me for a little while and I will let you all know what a find out. And again thank you all very much. And no doubt I will post a few more very soon.
also, as for just her porcelain figurines, while we were packing them up we were counting them & i believe we were somewhere around the 190 - 200 mark. ( i will have to double check those figures with my mother). so i could post 1 per day for a little over 6 months or so. the reason i posted this particular one first is because it is infused in my earliest memories of visiting her as a very young child. Even my oldest sister remembers it very vividly from her very early childhood which means it is well over 45 years old (sorry sis) haha
Wow - how nice to have all those lovey things from your grandmother!
Please ask your questions anytime and I feel sure someone will help you find something that will help you ID or evaluate your pieces.
I love appraisals but hands on appraisals are usually very expensive and unless they are an expert in "that" field they may not be able to do much more than we can as many appraisers use the Internet to find values in much the same manner.
Many appraisers use Barneby's (pay a monthly fee) as I have in the past so you may wind up getting the same appraisal as you would from their web site for $17. They have access to several hundred appraisers so they are not limited to just one person's knowledge about an item.
The biggest problem with online appraisals is that no one summits enough good pictures and usually give no measurements or provenance.
Keep in touch as we tend to get very interested in items like this.
This has me so puzzled...
If you run your finger over the marker mark can you feel it? It should feel different than the rest of the bottom. The old maker marks you can usually feel the transfer (slightly raised) or the paint strokes--slightly rougher than the rest of the piece).
Question 2--what does it weigh?
I ask because if it is a reproduction of an older work it may be lighter in weight...I would expect a piece like this if it was an old original maybe to weigh in the 1-2 pound range--give or take. I Often a repro piece is hollow and one this size may weigh in the 12-18 ounce range.
If it is a repro, it may still have value. Repro doesn't always mean valueless!
I am hoping it is a really rare original!! So curious to hear what you learn! I do hope you will share!
Thanks!
Hello. Would anyone be able to assist me in identifying this antique figurine I have? How do I post a picture?
Thank you.
You should see an "Upload an Image" icon and link directly below the text box when you are leaving feedback. It is in the lower left corner.
It would be better to submit the question directly to our members by using this link. That way, it will get the proper attention and be sent out in our newsletters.
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