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Butterfly Ornament, vintage or antique?

In Christmas > Christmas Ornaments > Show & Tell and Animals > Butterflies > Show & Tell.
Butterflies136 of 212More critters! Gilded silver, tiny half seed pearls, citrines and cat's eye stones.Another repair! A touch of blue...
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    Posted 10 years ago

    katherines…
    (247 items)

    So I've seen butterly ornaments like this one on etsy and eBay. For one thing, there aren't many available, apparently, and each describes their butterfly differently. I thought mine was a later vintage imitation of the original antiques, those are supposedly composed of spun glass wings with a mercury glass body. (That's a guess, I can't find any sources on Google.) Mine has what I thought was a clay body and balsa wood wings. But the more I look at the others, the more I can't tell about mine. If it is an imitation, it's an awfully good one. Either that, or the others aren't what they claim they are. So which is it? Any help greatly appreciated.

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    Comments

    1. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 10 years ago
      Thanks for the love, aghcollect and PhilDavidAlexanderMorris.
    2. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 10 years ago
      Thanks for the love, southcop, Manikin, and racer4four.
    3. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 10 years ago
      Thanks for the love, SEAN68!
    4. AzTom AzTom, 10 years ago
      I like it. I have not seen these before. How big is it?
    5. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 10 years ago
      Thanks for the love, lisa and AzTom!

      AzTom, thanks for your question, it's 3 1/2" x 3" approximately.
    6. AzTom AzTom, 10 years ago
      Thanks katherinescollections. I'll have to keep an open for these. The wings almost look like they are make of corn husks.

      I do have some Occupied Japan bugs with that type of spring on the for legs. The bodies are made of a type of composition.
    7. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 10 years ago
      Thanks, nutsabotas6, I've owned this butterfly forever, but never gave it much thought until I ran across others that were being sold, and noticed that they were quite valuable.

      AzTom, looking closely at the wings, my guess was balsa wood, with a clay body? The fancy ones have a glass body with spun glass wings. It would be interesting to know if these were Occupied Japan. I have another ornament that came with this lot that is Occupied Japan so that isn't out of the question.
    8. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 10 years ago
      Thanks for the love, PatSea.
    9. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 10 years ago
      Thanks for the love, mikelv85. :)
    10. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 10 years ago
      Thanks for the love, Jewels, and artdecogirl. :)

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