Topic: Mdina Glass 1970. Précis of ‘Men in Business and Industry’ By Victor Aquilina.

[rosieposie]

Having read the article through, it has occurred to me that as it was not written by a Decorative Glass Expert with knowledge of glass technology, it seems to me to be more than forgivable to say that the glass colours that were produced included green.
 
Taking into account the pictures that have been used here  by WhatHo! and flying free to illustrate Mdina colours, to the uninitiated, they DO appear very green, so, perhaps 'complete Twaddle' and 'colour blind' might seem somewhat harsh terms to use.

We might do well to remember that were it not for this sort of journalistic promotion of the Mdina Glass Studio, it may not have gone on to thrive and become the production centre that it did, and those of you who are collectors of Mdina Glass would not have the collections you have today.

[flying free]

It may be more than forgivable in your eyes, however it is incorrect information that needed to be corrected. 
It's a bit like for example, saying something looks like a Whitefriars vase therefore it is more than forgivable to list it to sell as such by an unsuspecting person who is selling their glass vase left to them by their granny.  In my experience Whitefriars collectors have been very vociferous in correcting incorrect listings even though they might have been forgivable in the sense that the pieces look like Whitefriars but are in fact fakes for example.

I think you have taken the terms 'complete twaddle' and 'colour blind' out of their context and imbued them with feelings that were not there in the original comments.

And finally I don't believe it was because of this 'sort of journalistic promotion of the Mdina Glass Studio' that it may have gone onto thrive.  It went on to thrive for a number of reasons promotion included, but mostly because it was desirable glass, because the glass was groundbreaking, different, and quite special, therefore people wanted to buy it, and people still want to buy it.
m

[rosieposie]

Thankfully we are all entitled to our opinions and I stand by my ability to forgive a journalist for saying that the colour green was used,  especially as in Mark Hill's book on pages 21 and 22 he also says green was used, so maybe it is not incorrect information after all.

It did seem to me to be rather picky to say 'we can happily say is complete twaddle' or ' but that might be because they're a bit colour blind'.
 
However,  I am neither a Whitefriars nor a Mdina glass collector and my comments were based purely on the newspaper article and the words used by the reporter. 
I am certain there was no intention on his part to defraud and like you m, I too abhor sellers who intentionally set out to miss-sell an item because it looks like a particular make, whether it be Whitefriars or any other manufacturer. I am sure in this case this was not the intention.

Any form of 'advertising' and promotion of a business will inevitably increase the success of any enterprise, and bearing in mind that only two years before this article was written Harris was almost penniless, I feel certain that this article and many newspaper adverts at the time would have gone a long way to helping to promote the business.   Of course people bought the glass because they liked it,  that goes without saying,  but if you don't know it is there then you won't see and buy it.

[glassobsessed]

Green glass being used was an error, no book on glass is ever complete and without the odd mistake. Just the nature of the beast - there is never enough time before publication to include every detail and exhaustively check every fact. As time passes more information tends to come to light.

Likewise there are few if any hard and fast rules when it comes to glass, as much as we might like them to exist.

Where did you get the 'penniless' idea from?

John

[flying free]

'like you m, I too abhor sellers who intentionally set out to miss-sell an item because it looks like a particular make, whether it be Whitefriars or any other manufacturer.'

This was not the point I made in my post above.
The point I made was that if someone innocently and mistakenly lists something their Granny left them as Whitefriars, because it looks like Whitefriars, the Whitefriars community is very quick to 'correct' them of their innocent misconceptions. One of the reasons they may correct them is that the item in question is incorrectly described.  And likewise, quite reasonably and understandably...

... in this instance the only reason for correcting this item in the newspaper article is to avoid misconceptions and misinformation of something being incorrectly described.

I believe it was established that as John says, green was not used at Mdina as a raw colour.
Perhaps someone would like to contact Mark Hill and ask whether there is a formal correction on this information though since you have raised this again here.
'...especially as in Mark Hill's book on pages 21 and 22 he also says green was used, so maybe it is not incorrect information after all.'


m

[rosieposie]

My information comes from Mark's book where Michael is struggling financially when the Tower and Cinema premises fall through and before the Hangar was discovered.  He says he was struggling financially to keep a family of four and the storage cost of the glass waiting to be used.

If there are errors in Mark's book about green being used, then I can only say that I can but quote from written work and until I see a list of errors, then like everyone, I have the agony of knowing who to believe, the authors, the collectors or the glass blowers themselves.  Pictures of the glass  in Marks book in the early days do show glass with a green hue and so I can quite see why a reporter would say there was green glass and to dismiss it as 'twaddle' still seems picky.

I am bowing out of this discussion as it seems to be getting personal, and so I will leave all you knowledgeable collectors to continue, as my only real connection with Mdina glass are the few animals and birds I have and my extensive collection of IOWSG Maximals and Minimals.

[glassobsessed]

Since Mr Hill researched and wrote the book more information and many more examples of the glass made at Mdina have surfaced. A very fair assumption at the time was that the green glass mentioned was made at Mdina. Especially as it bore significant similarities to wares actually made at the Mdina glassworks. With (a big dollop of) hindsight it may well be that Mr Hill was referring to green items from Malta Decorative Glass. In Sues' recently amassed collection of it here, those similarities are apparent, common shapes, big ball stoppers etc, even a Tricorn bottle: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,58267.msg330198.html#msg330198

With that hindsight it is obvious to us now why there are those similarities with MDG, given the involvement of Vincente Boffo and the desire of the company owners to reproduce the success of Mdina Glass.

As so much more glass from Mdina has been seen since the publication of the book and not a single example actually made with green glass has been found amongst it all we are confident that pots of green glass were not melted at Mdina. This is not to be confused with glass that takes on a green appearance with the addition of silver chloride or clear glass with a green hue (both of which are found in Mdina production).

My information comes from Mark's book where Michael is struggling financially when the Tower and Cinema premises fall through and before the Hangar was discovered.  He says he was struggling financially to keep a family of four and the storage cost of the glass waiting to be used.

I had forgotten about that Rosie.