Featured Mystery (to me) planter- Can you help identify? Venetian?

The font is an insert, a fuel tank with burner, essentially a lamp. Your piece is a lamp base that the font slips into to make it a lamp with a fancy base.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

The post hole and screw are to secure the glass base.

 

Did you see this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114385891537

Debora

 

I am also of the mind that this is an oil lamp base. Some aesthetic movement influence. Would place it circa 1890.

 

Agreed, late nineteenth. And despite that eBay seller, it’s Bohemian.

 

It's GLASS????? Here I thought it was lustreware!!!!

 

It’s absolutely glass. There’s some astonishing gilded bohemian stuff.

 

Ok, I got some answers about this piece!! There was an appraiser this past weekend at my local vintage mall, so I brought it with me to ask about. He identified it as mercury glass, and in outstanding condition. He said it was most likely Bohemian and from the late 1880s/early 1890s. It was probably part of a set (I can't remember what he called the type of set) which would have included two of these, a decorative bowl, and perhaps candle holders. He said he is 98% sure it is a jardiniere, as the patina inside the brass is more consistent with it being exposed in the air (oxidation) and the putty at the bottom is consistent with floral display pieces from the time. An oil lamp would have had the insert in it that would have kept the patina inside the piece more consistent and less oxidized. He also said the size of it is not be consistent with an oil lamp from that era.

So happy to have some "closer to concrete" information about this! SO happy I grabbed it off that stocking cart at the thrift for $7.99!

 

just cuz someone lost the lamp insert and used it for flowers....... don't make it a vase !

 

or.....
just cuz a cat had her kittens in an oven.......don't make em biscuits !!

that brass insert liner....... not there for flowers ......... imho...!!

 

This is the word you're looking for.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garniture

Debora

 

Thank you, Debora. As soon as I read it in the link, it clicked in my memory instantly!

 

Which is why I said, "Closer-to-concrete" information. I understand this guy wasn't a specialist in this specific glass/brass piece, but he's been an appraiser for several decades and I value what he had to say. I'm not sure why you feel the need to be so funny, you could have said that in a nicer way, and only once. Or are you intentionally being snarky? I agree with the message, just feel offended by the delivery.

 

3 of the senior members here all agree that what u have is the base for an oil lamp insert.
One even posts a very compelling photo to back up his assertion.

Then on the advice of a vintage mall appraiser , you say that you got closer to concrete answers to your questions about this item , that left you ....so happy........totally ignoring a very real consensus from the very knowledgeable folks that you came here to ask help from.

Based on gunk at the bottom of the liner ?? , and a condition caused by a moist floral arrangement that exists only because the oil lamp that should be there , was removed ............really?

Up to that point I had nothing to add here , based on the findings of some of our best minds that were drawing a pretty straight line to this item being a holder for an oil lamp insert.
That is , until you brought in an outside opinion....appraiser opinion , that while agreeing with our dating and Bohemian attribution...... contends that he is 98% sure it is a jardiniere .......cuz someone at sometime ....put flowers in it !!!!!

After that I could no longer hold my tongue and felt the need to add my voice to the chorus of oil lamp fanatics holding sway on this thread.

Was I over the top in my response ........... sure......annimated at the very least.

Did I insult you personally , in any manner whatsoever........... no.!

....means playful
.......hilarious
...... that's a wink....... and that means Happy !!!!

I contend that my outburst was humorous.....playful, and in no uncertain terms , left any doubt to the fact that I side with my learned fellow members , being of the stanch opinion that what you have is the holder of an oil lamp.........that is no longer present.

My posts , whatever you may think of them, were not written to be cruel or hurtful and in no way meant to offend anyone reading them.

This site is a massive treasure trove of good solid well thought out information..... as well as a smattering of humorous thoughts.

I find myself to be in both camps !!

 

I regularly watch George "The Antique Nomad". He is a weath of knowledge. However like many of us he is not always right. In this instance I believe he is correct by identifying it as a ferner, part of a garnish set. Seeing the actual size of the piece it makes more sense. That said, the part about the patina is rough at best. "An oil lamp would have had the insert in it that would have kept the patina inside the piece more consistent and less oxidized." Since the piece is over 100 years old at any point the font could have been lost. If the font was lost the piece could have developed the same patina it now has. It is a lovely piece and I doubt I would sell it for $135.

 

Appraisal is at 18:15

 

ohhhhh, yer good !!!!

.

 

I can only wonder what mr ponytail would say...when confronted with this...

 

Sdcookie2, Thank you very much for your kindly articulated response. I appreciate it a lot. At this point, I am just feeling weary of this piece and it's sitting in a box in my foyer to go back to Goodwill.