"Dee Dee" > wrote:
> Next thing you know (if it isn't already?) Murano glass blown in Italy
> will be outsourced to be blown cheaper elsewhere under the supervision
> of Murano's experts, or maybe even not under their supervision, who
> knows. I'm very sceptical about all of this because we cannot seem to
> keep up with the shenanigans.
> I am thinking of this because I was there many years ago; Costco
> stores this month will have some jewelry made of Murano glass being
> for sale at some stores at various weekends.

Funny you should mention Murano glass. I saw a TV news segment on it in the
past couple of months. True Murano glass probably won't be around for a lot
longer. The sons of the craftsmen are not taking up the trade, and then
there's the competition from Chinese fakes. The average consumer probably
can't tell the difference between a fake and the real thing, and many just
don't care anyway. Perhaps the sons of the craftsmen know that their skills
won't be valued in the face of this.

One of the current buzzwords used by (younger) society is "authentic". It's
pretty amazing how big business (and politics, etc.) can manipulate people's
perceptions of things such that they think something is "authentic". It's
actually quite easy considering how shallow some people are.