Topic: Help with age of 2 new Mdina bits please

[davidfish1212]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if any of the Mdina experts could help date the 2 bits of Mdina glass I found today. The dish I have never seen before and is almost bottle green on the top, with the design on the ' wrong ' side, by that I mean that you cant really see any pattern on it when its sitting on a table. Neither bit is marked Mdina and have no stickers. The flask stopper is a poor, poor fit, and the flask is a lot smaller than any of the trailed flasks I have, at only 6.25" without the stopper. The dish is approx 8" across. The green glass is the same bottle green on both bits and they came from the same person, I'm guessing bought at, or around, the same time... but when? Please help
Cheers, David

[chopin-liszt]

Hi, these are not Mdina, but Malta Decorative Glass. Absolutely gorgeous - I've not seen a tricorn bowl before, and it's in GREEN - the very best MDG colour, I'm dribbling!

MDG did not last for very long, only a couple or so years, and it was probably set up in around 1977, given that is the date Wolfie found out for us that Vicente Boffo left Mdina. He had been told he must work at MDG, training more apprentices, or leave the island.

[davidfish1212]

Thanks Sue, your knowledge knows no bounds! The tricorn bowl has me at a loss as to how to display it, why oh why would they have the thick green glass to the top side? What I did notice on both bits are small flaws, the bowl has a bubble that shouldn't be, and the flask has a burst bubble on the base, maybe early learning pieces? I'm really pleased at the info Sue, thanks so much.
Cheers, David

[Lustrousstone]

The quality isn't great on a fair bit of MDG. How about this one for an invisible pattern
http://lustrousstone.co.uk/cpg/displayimage.php?pid=1175

[davidfish1212]

That's incredible! That's the nicest bit of brown blob I've seen in a long time Christine! I guess with a bit of light behind it it's actually very nice? Well I'm a happy boy tonight, thanks for the info, I've found a couple of bits about MDG on the Internet, the Malteese government really didn't do much for the islands glass artists, other than drive them off the islands or in Mr Boffos case, enslave him into working for them!
Thanks again, David

[Lustrousstone]

Here is my small collection

[chopin-liszt]

And some of mine:-

The only thing to do with bowls which have all their glory on the base is to display them bottom-up. They can be propped up very nicely on plate stands.
Alternatively, if the bowl is just too much trouble for you, I'll happily give it a home!

[Lustrousstone]

PS I forget the brown globey and squatty things now live with Sue

[flying free]

Nice collections and photographs!  They look good as a group display - I like the green best
m

[davidfish1212]

A plate stand will do the job until I get around to giving it to you Sue! Thanks All