The tornado roared through Sant’Erasmo island in Venice’s lagoon on Tuesday, ripping the roofs off at least 12 buildings, media reports said.

A funnel cloud was clearly visible from the centre of the town and from its canals, Youreporter and Venice Municipality video showed.

The tornado caused major damage in several islands off the Venice lagoon, including Sant’Elena and Certosa islands, where many trees were uprooted, reports said.

Dozens of small sailing ships were smashed in the port of Sant’Elena.

No injuries were reported, the Municipality of Venice said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9327261/Tornado-sweeps-across-Venice.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/ga…ne-9.html?_r=1

Frank Toskan, a founder of MAC Cosmetics, spent about two decades amassing his collection of Murano art glass, and on June 9, Wright in Chicago will auction it off.

“It really spans the entire 20th century, right up to some contemporary pieces,” said Richard Wright, the owner of the auction house. “It has a few super-rare, high-flying lots, but also a really uniform quality. They’re perfectly executed, or rare colors, or better than average examples the entire way through.”

The auction will offer more than 150 pieces, including an orange and green intarsio vase by Ercole Barovier for Barovier & Toso from 1963 (estimate: $15,000 to $20,000), left, and a blue rilievi vase by Carlo Scarpa for Venini from 1935 (estimate: $30,000 to $40,000).

Information: (312) 563-0020 or wright20.com.

For  readers who are not collectors of vintage Murano glass, Vietri  Murano used a clear plastic label with a specific numbering sequence to identify which member company on the island made a particular piece of glass, to prevent counterfeiting.  Vietri  Murano eventually closed, taking with it all of their documentation and records.  Today, the VM label is a reliable way of identifying vintage glass, but there has been discussion over the years on which number belongs to which company.  Members of the forum have taken the time to research many of the numbers, but holes remained. The information provided by Promovetro will help collectors worldwide.

Below is an example of a Vietri Murano label.

The forum thread about the Vietri Murano numbers is here and the  Murano Label Library has many other labels and signatures.

The exhibit runs through June 30th.

Despite the amount of books on the subject, many times a signature or label has remained unidentified.   Over the past few years, in an effort to
better collaborate and share, collectors have been contributing photos of signatures and labels for the Murano Label Library which just passed a milestone of more than 200 images!

Thanks to all who have contributed images and knowledge!

What’s In A Name – Identifying True Murano Glass

Thanks to everyone on the Murano Glass Forums boards whose expertise, knowledge and ideas I have come to rely upon. Without their comments and research, this would not have happened.  The interview lasted about an hour, and I realized that it wasn’t nearly enough, but I would say that the author took pains to ensure that the article was correct. Any errors or omissions are most assuredly mine

http://www.aoltv.com/2011/01/12/italy-glassblowing-lost-in-translation-jennifer-connelly/

In this vein, I set up a Twitter account that automatically sends a tweet when a new forum thread has been created.  I have a habit of posting interesting articles in the forum and not cross posting on the blog, but I will start making concurrent postings for readers that don’t always visit the forums.   I will also be tweeting more frequently about  blog updates and anything else related to Murano or Venice.