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Author Topic: is this mark for Maltese decorative glass ?  (Read 5798 times)

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Offline glass newbie

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Re: is this mark for Maltese decorative glass ?
« Reply #10 on: May 28, 2015, 05:35:54 AM »
hi kevin H , i have heard this before , however i have read some data and documents wolfie managed to find some time ago about mcg, and it mentions the chinese investors, how they spent a fortune on new machinery. now if a company spends a fortune on new equipment why would they ship from china ? has this been confirmed by someone once working at the factory ?, like actual facts  or simply conjecture ? i have searched for several months and not found any weights with this mark  i find that baffling if they did indeed ship thousands at a time as they were so cheaply made in china  . i am referring to this post  by wolfie http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,58498.10.html    .....    thankyou for taking the time to respond .

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Offline Lustrousstone

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Re: is this mark for Maltese decorative glass ?
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2015, 06:19:47 AM »
I would say the two marks are the same. I think John's has been highlighted with something to show it up. We know no more about MDG/MDC than is available here on the Malta board, despite research. There are a few things bearing similarities to Chinese glass with the MDG/MDC labels but we cannot know where they were actually made. There are some things though, including John's paperweight, that are very close to Mdina stuff, so I think we are safe in assuming they were made in Mdina

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Offline Lustrousstone

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Re: is this mark for Maltese decorative glass ?
« Reply #13 on: May 28, 2015, 06:22:33 AM »
I think Malta Glass creations is a red herring, as they engrave and fuse, which means they don't have a furnace, just a low cost kiln, so can't work with molten glass.

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Offline glass newbie

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Re: is this mark for Maltese decorative glass ?
« Reply #14 on: May 28, 2015, 06:48:14 AM »
hi loustroustone , the only thing that convinced me was this paragraph  "Malta Glass Creations is a family business situated in the Ta' Qali Crafts Village Malta, that was established by the late Lino Cachia in 1984" as this was 1984 just four years after the closing of the factory ... wondering if the chap who started this new factory was a worker perhaps  and maybe started out making items completely different to what is manufactured now ? ( purely curiosity and conjecture and may well be a red herring)  .  i have seen fairly similar paperweights from other companies as mine, obviously no maltese cross to underside and were not made in china.

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Offline glassobsessed

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Re: is this mark for Maltese decorative glass ?
« Reply #15 on: May 28, 2015, 07:10:08 AM »
I would say the two marks are the same. I think John's has been highlighted with something to show it up.
Just a lucky photograph of a cleanly impressed mark, the only highlighting is a slight tweak of both the brightness and shadow.

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Offline chopin-liszt

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Re: is this mark for Maltese decorative glass ?
« Reply #16 on: May 28, 2015, 11:59:56 AM »
This has got busy!
The impressed mark of the Maltese cross in the base of the "Earthtones" style paperweight is exactly the same as the impressed mark on glass newbie's weight.  It's my weight.  :)
The mark is very deeply impressed, hard to photograph, and there is contamination from some opaque pinkish enamel around it.

I also have an Earthtones style stoppered bottle with an impressed cross, so this mark was definitely used at MDG. This "Earthtones" style of glass was not made in China.

Cheers, Sue M. (she/her)

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Offline Baked_Beans

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Re: is this mark for Maltese decorative glass ?
« Reply #17 on: May 28, 2015, 08:01:48 PM »
Surely, if the Chinese invested so much money in the Malta Decorative Glass project they would want to send over some of their best and finest glassblowers to make sure it all kicked-off well. Why wouldn't they be able to make paperweights,(and other glass items) as they did back in China, and add the Maltese cross mark to the base (and paper labels !) ?

Here is a Wikileaks article from the time , which mentions  the  concern  coming from the private sector in Malta , towards  Chinese funded companies.....scroll down towards the bottom..........


https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974VALLET00567_b.html

so the Chinese were using Malta and it's factories and workforce  as a manufacturing facility .

Cheers, Mike
Mike

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Offline chopin-liszt

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Re: is this mark for Maltese decorative glass ?
« Reply #18 on: May 29, 2015, 10:34:19 AM »
I have an Earthtones style bottle and a paperweight with this mark impressed into their bases. Both are MDG, I believe, not MCG.

The whole MDG and MCG story is one that has only been pieced together fairly recently, mostly gathered from observation of the work as collections have grown and labels or impressed marks were found, then the observation of the "batutto" style of polished base appeared and that helped a bit.

There are some written articles on-line - but several have since been found to be inaccurate or just based on hearsay and rumour.
Cheers, Sue M. (she/her)

‘For every problem there is a solution: neat, plausible and wrong’. H.L.Mencken

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Offline KevinH

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Re: is this mark for Maltese decorative glass ?
« Reply #19 on: May 29, 2015, 10:36:00 PM »
For clarification regarding my earlier post and my comment about Glass Newbie's weight being Chinese ...

The attached photos show Top and Base of two examples weights I have had for nearly 20 years.

One is a small (approx 2 1/4 diameter x 2 inch height) crimp flower with white petals over three green "leaves" and a thin central red/yellow "pistil". The other is a larger example (approx 3 1/4 inch diameter x 3 inch height) crimp flower with white over green petals / "leaves", a central "pistil" made of yellow rods and a lampwork butterfly floating above.

These two weights show the typical design of masses of Chinese "crimp flower" weights made from the earlier 20th century to the present day:
a) a few rows of crimped petals
b) three fairly well spaced green "leaves" to the underside of the petals
c) a central "pistil" using a single cane or multiple canes
d) with or without an insect or other animal somewhere in the design

The base of my two examples show the same type of finishing - an uneven rough / matte central area that feels as if it is somewhere between "fire polished" and "ground".

Weights like these can often be found as parts of mixed lots in auctions or as single offerings on eBay etc.

What seems strange, given the numbers I believe were made, is that on the internet, it is not easy to find exact matches to some weights of this type. But there are plenty of matches when we look carefully for the individual elements. Sadly, so many web pages and auction listings never provide a photo of the base of weights.

If I could take the central "pistil" out of my larger weight and place it in my smaller one (with relevant proportions), then I would have a weight that is a very close match to Glass Newbie's example. It is only the base that really differs.

It seems to me that the one with the Maltese Cross has had the base heated by torch (which is probably how the "ripples" have occurred) and, while still hot, the Cross was impressed. And that would fit with my belief - Made in China but base stamp added later, or perhaps the stamp was added in China as part of an order.

I find it had to believe that the Maltese workers could produce a weight that has so many common features to those made in China.

As for the actual connections between the Maltese companies and Chinese businessmen, and what was made where and by whom, I leave that to those studying such things.
KevinH

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