my name is ellen klist and i'm the owner of dream of italy we at dream of italy have been importing venetian masks from venice since 2008 we are very careful to import our mars from known suppliers that we've been to met and have known personally but a question we are asked frequently is how do i know that the mask that i'm buying is actually from venice and it's a genuine handmade venetian mask we understand the relevance of that question because there have been hundreds and thousands of counterfeit venetian masks flooding the market for some time since we've been involved in the industry since 2008. indeed if you visit venice and you go around the market stores around sydney square and indeed at other parts of venice you will see hundreds or thousands of these masks actually in venice itself so we check and try and make sure that all of our masts are genuine but how do we know and and what are the checks and things that we look out for well the first thing is the price these masks are made in vast quantities in offshore markets with very low labor rates and they are sometimes a tenth or a fraction of the price of a genuine mask that's made in venice secondly let's have a look at two venetian masks and exactly the same design pattern to see what clues there might be for a mask that is genuinely hand made in venice and a mass-produced mask made potentially offshore firstly secondly turn the mask over and look at the inside of the mask and and how the mask is actually being constructed you'll see that this mask has some clear signs of a paper mache mask with the signs that the layers of paper have been laid up inside to form the the outline of of the mask this mask on the other hand when we turn it over we will see that the form of the mask is extremely uniform and it has most likely been mass-produced on a mold and is of indeterminate composition certainly unlikely to be paper mache next look for signs of hand decoration and hand painting this mask for example has clearly shown some brush strokes on the white and on the gold and the pattern is slightly irregular indicating that it has been hand done on the other hand this mask has been decorated using a spray painting technique the pattern is highly regular and could well have been mass-produced next don't be fooled by the stamp on the inside which says original hand painted made in italy original venezia this stamp is in fact a clue that the mask may have been made offshore and is found in the markets and in venice and for a mask for only two euros so that's an indication that uh it clearly is not has not been handmade when you buy a mask check that the mask has a certificate of authenticity from the manufacturer fifthly ask the retailer where you're buying the mask if you ask the retailer is this mask actually made in venice most of them will actually tell you and when you are doing that just make sure that you're dealing with a reputable retailer as i mentioned earlier we know personally and visit regularly our suppliers in venice and we are very proud of the quality of venetian mars that they supply to us and we're very happy that we have some good suppliers lastly what does it really matter anyway well it's a matter of personal choice if having an imitation mask is not important to you and you're not concerned about the quality or the origin of the item that's fine but if quality design and authenticity are important to you you can rely on your purchase from dreamer victory adiva dutch