Thrift Store Score - Art Glass & Beyond

One of the great things about collecting is the surprise finds that lead down collection roads you had never noticed. One of the roads we've recently discovered is the world of modern art glass. It's one of those things that are surprising in how little you actually know about all things modern. I've always been a fan of Chihuly, had been familiar with Blenko, but until recently have come to know names such as Murano, Fenton, and Viking.
I could say it all started with the piece to the left, my recent $4 thrift store score, but it really goes back to another thrift store score of a nice large Polish Art Glass piece found almost 2 years ago. This 8" Turquoise bowl sat lonely on the bottom shelf for weeks, I walked by it multiple times, referred Wendy to stop by and look, then finally without warning, it jumped off the shelf into my hand. I mean how can you resist a hefty colorful piece?

After the thrift purchase and some online research I was hooked, we needed to build our collection some so we headed up to Waynesville Antique Mall (be sure to check them out on Facebook) and purchased a few more pieces. I was shocked at the variety and selection we found of modern art glass there. This gray vase stands as the anomaly to our small collection.

Another Waynesville Antique Mall purchase. The glass with the bubbles makes me a little bubbley myself.

Green is our default house color, we had to make sure to keep with the rhyme scheme. This too was purchased at Waynesville Antique Mall.

And last but not least is the latest entrant into the collection. I think this piece might be real Murano, I've understood that the gold flecking was a trademark move by Murano makers. That with the spiraling air bubbles leave no doubt in the craftsmanship and work that went into this little piece. This was our lone purchase at the 20th Century Show this year. Be sure to check out some more photos from the show on our Facebook Page.