Sabino Art Glass, France, 19th / 20th century

The Sabino Maitre Verrier company (Sabino Master Glassmaker) was founded in Paris in 1919 by Sicilian born Marius Ernest Sabino. He grew up in France, and attended the L’Ecole Nationale Des Arts Decoratifs and Beaux Arts de Paris. His earlier production were metal chandeliers, mounted lamps and architectural accessories in moulded glass, and then after World War I he diversified into decorative objects in the Art Deco or Art Nouveau style, which he had designed.

It was in 1925 that first Sabino created the blue-hued semi-transparent opalescent glass for which the company is best known, and he expanded his business to make statuettes and figurines, both human and animal.

In the 1930s Sabino moved his production to his factory in Noisy-le-Sec in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris where production continued using the same techniques and moulds.

Limited production with the consent of the Germans more... continued during World War II, and when the war had finished, Sabino transferred the company's operations to his nephew and adopted son Gripoix Sabino, where production continued using the same moulds.

Marius Sabino died in 1961 and Gripoix Sabino continued production, still using the same techniques and moulds. Almost all the production was being exported to the United Sattes, and in 1978 the business was sold to Richard Choucroun, the company's American agent, trading as "Sabino Crystal Company".

The "Sabino Crystal Company" is based in Houston Texas and still selling the same blue-hued semi-transparent opalescent statues and decorative items that were were fist made in the late 1920s.

Earlier Sabino glass is usually signed "Sabino Paris", "Sabino France" or "Sabino", either in engraved cursive script, or if moulded, in uppercase. A catalogue raisonne of Sabino's work by Philippe Decelle, "Sabino - Catalogue Raisonne Sabino - Maitre Verrier D'l'Art Deco 1874-1961" was published in 1978. less...