As a boy growing up I remember going to the carnival that came locally once a year and to Antique shows with my mom and dad there were always glass artisans making animals, carosels, balloons, just about anything you could possibly imagine, very skilled they were with a torch, they could knock out an elephant, giraf, aligator, just about any animal in a matter of minutes, no big deal, alot of different color clear base rods and some milky white for different effects, you see alot of these creations here and there at antique mall and shows, flea markets, estate sales just about everywhere, at this point i'm looking foward to seeing the little dog again to give his belly the real close inspection with a loop to really determine if perhaps a rod was attached, the owner of this little guy isa very emotionally attached to him, most likely because he has been an Antique toy dealer for 40 + years and has never come across anything even similar to this specific color combination other than some Akro ware, I dont think it really matches the blue oxblood marbles at all not even close, the base glass is similar but not identical to (some) of the ashtrays, thats just solely my opinion. As far as the Houze glass Items go I've seen quite abit of that over the years and to be honest I dont believe i've ever seen a cobalt white and red/ oxblood color combination from them, allthough the gear shift knobs vary wildly in many different combinations cant say that I've ever seen this color combo on them either, since the item was purchased in the late 1970's does someone here know anyone who most likely would be somewhat elderly at this point that was doing torch work glass at that point in time? Besides Akro I'd like to see any glass Item from any company and or torch artist new or old with this color combo. Perhaps I can bring this to the Des Moines marble show with me, not 100% of that yet though. DB.