Wednesday 17 June 2009

Murano Glass

Is it just me, or does everyone else also find that if you buy lots of souvenirs from whichever faraway land you visit, you later wish that you didn't and if you don't you later wish that you did?

Well, I bought quite a lot of souvenirs while we were in Europe. I deliberately limited myself, though, for several reasons: money, space in the suitcase, and I'm trying not to collect to much 'clutter' in my home. I tried to buy only things that I really wanted, things that would remind me of certain moments and places in our trip that I wanted to remember forever. Things like the wooden tulips from Amsterdam, the Celtic necklace from Loch Ness, the lace from the last lacemaking school in Venice, and the leather bracelet from Florence.

Recently, though, after considering the beauty of a small Murano glass fish I brought home from Venice, and the relevance of it to my study area (I am a Marine Biologist, after all) I have been wishing that I had bought more than one. Well, actually I did, but the other two were as a gift for Grandma Kerrison because they reminded me of the tiles she used to have in her kitchen in Branxholm. Well, actually, technically it was Rob who bought those.

Anyway...
After a prolonged session of kicking myself for not realising that I would want more, I decided to have a look around the internet to see how hard they are to find. Murano glass is very popular with collectors so there is a lot of it around the net, but you have to wade through pages of very expensive collectors items to find the cheap stuff that lines the walls of every souvenir shop in Venice (and there are a lot of souvenir shops in Venice).

I finally found a site with exactly what I wanted and they were even cheaper than they were when I was actually in Venice.

Until postage was added, that is.

Once I found out how much it would cost to get two tiny little, glass fish posted from Italy to Australia, I changed my mind (about 30 Euros from that site, when the fish themselves only cost a couple of Euros each).

Then I decided to have a look on Ebay and buy from a seller in Australia rather than get it posted directly from Venice. I was a bit sad about this as I wanted my souvenir from Venice to actually come from Venice, but I guess it still does - just with a few more pit stops on the way.

In the end, I found one at a reasonable price and bought it. Its not as pretty as the one I already have at home, and it cost me twice as much as the one I actually bought in Venice, but it is still fairly cheap and I still like it so I bought it anyway. Assuming it arrives safely in the post over the next few days, I will be happy.

I'm hoping that a few pieces of Murano glass will be enough to satisfy me for now because I really don't have the money or the shelf space to become like the hundreds (thousands?) of die hard Murano collectors out there. At least I have decided to limit myself to the small, inexpensive fish... Or to fish, anyway, I might get some bigger ones ...Or to marine themed figurines in general... the acual fish bowls they had were quite nice as well ... actually there were some really nice serving bowls as well... and the wine glasses were beautiful....


This is the one I just bought.
My other one is prettier.

2 comments:

Robert Kingston said...

I havent been kicking myself over BUYING any suvineers. I've been kicking myself over NOT BUYING some - and the fact that I still havent made my display case for the ones I did buy.

I still think the fish in the water drop coming out of the glass tap was one of the best pieces in Venice though...

Ah - I just remembered I bought a Jesters Hat in Venice. It must be in my box of suvineers - I havent seen it in ages...

LadyJane said...

Collecting anything gets expensive after a while, especially if you decide quality matters. At least you have chosen something that will hold it's value if you do want more expensive pieces in the future...

And it's so hard to limit yourself, isn't it? LOLs!