New Venetian-like Glass

A wide variety of new glass fruits and flowers were exported to the United States from the Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia). These three dimensional glass pieces closely resemble glass fruits and flowers made in Venice, Italy from ca. 1920s-ca. 1960s. Some Venetian flowers, fruits and plant-related items from the 1930s by famous designers such as Martinuzzi, have sold for as high as $30,000+. Typical Venetian fruits from ca. 1950-1960s have sold for around $50 to several hundred dollars. New Czech fruit retailed from around $10-$69 each; new Czech flowers from $28--$46 a stem.

Due to the large variety of Czech pieces made, it is difficult to offer any firm guidelines to tell old from new. Just be aware that new fruits and flowers have been reproduced. The Czech Republic has a population of 10 million; 15,000+ work in the glass industry.

Fig. 1 New blown glass flowers from Czech Republic

Fig. 2 New glass fruit from Czech Republic.