meeting with Bruno Panizzon, Chalet Maestro

[deborah]

Hi everyone,

As I said yesterday - Mr. Panizzon brought some of his personal pieces (4) to the Cornwall Museum for the exhibit and he and his wife spent 2 hours with me today - answering alot of questions! They were charming and so patient!

Anyways - the big question was re the piece I have on the site home page with the "star" shaped base. He said it is not a base shape that Chalet ever put into production BUT WOULD NOT say that it wasn't a Chalet piece when he saw the others in the exact same colour combination and the details and casing of the piece. He said either Luigi Tedesco and Sergio Pagnin very easily could been experimenting - they seem to have been the only ones at Chalet that had the latitude (obvious why) to do so if they weren't occasional pieces strictly for personal use. Then the glass blowers were usually allowed to make the odd pieces on their own time in the factory. He looked over the exhibit - told me "yes Chalet" to a piece I was positive wasn't and was totally stunned at the signed paperweight! He had never seen one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Didn't even know they existed and told me I had something very special.He was skeptical re lime green but I had a stickered pieces and he said it was a colour Sergio was always tinkering with.

Unfortunately, he had no information on the "Fascination par CM" marking - he had never heard or seen it and as he joined Chalet in 1964 and all these pieces have uranium - they must have been very early. He saw the Fascination/Chalet marked piece at the museum and said it was definitely Chalet and thought most likely by Sergio Pagnin but other than that nothing to offer re that particular line.

Mr. Panizzon's area of specialty was the animal figurines (he claimed ownership of most of the ones at the exhibit and definitely the bullicanti owl on the site - so neat!) and he also did alot of vases (the crystal twist style) and helped with the cranberry line - he told me that, in no uncertain terms, that Segio Pagnin controlled all the colours and special ingredients such as gold, silver and copper and what colours were used and developed at Chalet so individual artists claiming to have "originated" a particular line or colour is definitely not the case.

He also said that the long arm stretches and curl and spike pieces, pretty much all the varities, and the cigar bowls were done by Sergio and Luigi as they were the most difficult - took a Master and up to 7 other people helping. He also confirmed the Chantili line did include those swans (tiny from mold) and were sent to Montreal where they were hugely popular as wedding favors - you know, with sugared almonds wrapped in netting.

Well - am tired so will sign off now that I answered (somewhat) the star base piece is it or is it not - so to recap - no to star bases as a general rule but says he cannot tell about that piece. He picked it up and looked at it for quite a few minutes. Anyways, his final comment was 'Doesn't matter - beautiful piece of glass".

Oh - his brother Franco was a Master (Bruno said way more talented than he) in Murano and he never left Italy. Bruno was very much in awe of Murano glass and the Venetian masters.

Lovely man - his wife was soooooooooooo nice too - great day - feel very fortunate! Also told me that Master Giulio Gatto lives in Quebec and gave me his address so I could send him an invite as well so may have another Master at the opening - the exhibit has an old photo of Gatto finishing an "End of Day" piece (the one used here on the site) so that would be amazing!

Deborah

[Glassman]

Intersting what he said,i still feel it's not Chalet the main reason is i've seen and had so many just like that,some even had Czech stickers on them. I've never seen a sighned by Chalet one.Either way it is beautifull.Also i've had a few that were sighned twice.Is this common?

Thanks

[glasscollector]

That is amazing Deborah you must have been thrilled to death, I agree it is a nice piece of glass howeever I also agree with Glassman it can be czech too, mission is never impossible so lets all find one signed whoeverever the talented maestro ma be. If you have one stickered glassman please post a picture of it and the sticker I am sure we all would love to see it even the silent readers in this forum would love to know. Glassman I have seen double signed pieces on occassion as well I also seen <E> and chalet on base I do not know if it is rare but seen on occasion, maybe Deborah will have better info on why double signatures.??

[deborah]

Hi guys,

Yes - I agree - jury still out but the weight is to "Most likely Not Chalet" -
to that end I removed it from the home page (got us talking and that was the
point) as Mr. Panizzon could not give us clear direction to "No or Yes" and
either could my Czech collector. You will see that it is still in the
inventory section however as we can't as yet definitely give it the 'bum's
rush"! When we have definitive proof to the negative, I will move it to e-
bay! Ha - maybe it will go the other way!!!!!! But here's a head's up -I have
a friend who is convinced star shaped bases are "Lorraine" and will be
backing up his belief in the next little while he says so that will be
another source of speculation! I am glad that we don't have all the answers!
It means we need to keep hunting - ha! I will tell my husband it is all in
the name of research! But please post a picture whenever someone is able to
find one of those star bases with a sticker or signature - that will be
amazing!

As to multiple etchings, stickers etc - I think it is a case that since there
were only 2 people marking inventory at Chalet, things could get hectic and
complicated more by orders for different lines and from different
distributors. There was not a person/department doing final checks. We all
know this as many pieces were simply unmarked period. We also have to
remember - this was a young company and probably experimenting pretty much
all the time with different branding looks. Cases in point - I got a piece
yesterday with a label I had never seen - the Chantili style blower logo on a
Chalet Canada N.C. Cameron label. Also have found 2 Riekes labels, in
addition to the more common, for different lines - an "Opal with gold
flecking" (see piece listed) and the most gorgeous and huge CRANBERRY BASKET
(?!) marked "Riekes Chalet (but) from the John Riekes Collection" - never
say "Never" or "Have everything" with Chalet!

More evidence - I have 4 owl figurines - all with different marks - the
small Chantili sticker (only animal I've ever seen marked Chantili), the
Chalet Lead crystal sticker, the Chalet Canada etching (most common for
animals) and a Chalet N.C. Cameron sticker. I just saw a heavy leaded
cranberry and clear piece marked with the Riekes label! I have a piece in my
personal collection, a very ordinary ashtray, with the Chalet Canada etching
put over the Chantili etching. I also have a piece that has both the large
black label and small gold label AS WELL AS the Chalet Canada etching. Also,
I have a few of the ribbed pieces (normally CH line) that are marked Chalet
Canada and a few stamped into the lobed feet CHLXX which was most often used
in the wine decanters (I have never found or seen one of these).

I just got 2 Fascination par CM pieces - the one has the Fascination par CM
etching, the Chalet Canada etching and the big black label. The other is just
marked Fascination par CM like the earlier piece I have listed here.
However, these 2 new Fascination pieces are identical in style to marked
Chantili pieces I have (elegant, clean lines, heavy casings of crystal) so I
am wondering if CM= Chantili Montreal? My first guess was Chalet Murano as
they are full of uranium so are pre 1968. But now that I see these 2 and the
style similarities I am leaning the other way - the only other one I had ever
seen is the one here on the site and it is totally unlike these 2.

So to recap (again)- Chalet did not have a "quality control" department re
their inventory markings so things did get marked in many weird ways
(intentional?) and you should never be surprised by a marking.
The 1 thing I will stand or fall by is that ALL AND EVERY ONE of their
product lines and hang tags or labels consisently and repeatedly emphasize
artisan quality. This is done both in words - lead crystal, hand crafted,
gold.... and by the use of the canna - the letter"t" in the etching and the
symbol of the glass blower in the labels.
Lucie Tedesco suggested that I speak to her uncle, Antonio Tedesco, who still
lives in Cornwall - he was the third brother and joined Chalet in 1963. he
was not a glass blower but was an expert in "moleria" so may be intimate with
some of the historic details re the lines and marks. She was not able to
answer any of my questions regarding this area. I will definitely do so.

Also - with all the recent acquisitions I have made regarding rare pieces and
the marks - it is obvious I need another session with my photographer. I
think this time too, I will do up a guide and offer it for purchase under
the "Related Items" section as well as add to the slideshow section here on
the site re product lines. It may help us all - give me a month or so to talk
to Mr. Tedesco and get shots done - I made a promise to myself that I would
only use professionally done pics on the site as I am the world's worst
photographer! However, I will post others on the forum if need be until I
have the others available.

The only marks, that I know of, to this pointLOL, that I do not have are the
AUotherAU (the marked seconds), Simpsons (they lost this market to Lorraine
Glass, according to Maestro Panizzon, and kept Eatons) as I stupidly let a
piece marked by this hang tag get away, and the etched Birks bb - I have the
stickered only. If you have or know where I can find these - please
share!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also be aware that Birks did their own marking of the pieces they got from
Chalet - they are consistently marked with both company names and logos
though. That is a company that I am sure did have a strict practice of
quality control checking in place as it was well established and the fact
that this was the only one of Chalet's distributors that had this practice
speaks to that . Chalet did the Eatons marking however and that is probably
wht you are able to find just <E> pieces as well as the Chalet Canada with
the <E> mark. To answer glass collectors specific question re these pieces -
birks very, very, very rare and Eatons found just a trifle more often - grab
any and all whenever you can!

Signing off now! Hope to hear back from glassman and glasscollector (and
others!!!!!!!!!!) very soon. thanks for all the input!

Deborah

[glasscollector]

Your assumptions seem reasonable, now go out and find a signed star base. lol. Thinking on going to exibit telling hubby its a reseach trip. hehehehehe. Maybe we will meet there, are you going to be there daily? Been to Cornwall years ago but never seen much just a wedding by the water. Can't wait to see the exibit. Keep hunting.
Anyone notice the burgandy piece just listed on ebay Wow is it really a rare color? I never seen one that color any input welcome, I am thinking about buying it. If hubby will fall for the research one twice. LOL Cheers everyone

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