Topic: Baby elephant....possibly (suspected !) Malta Decorative Glass

[Baked_Beans]

I think this baby elephant could possibly be MDG (Malta Decorative Glass)...If anyone has a similar elle with a label (of any sort !) then please let me know . To the top of it's head it is 2 1/4 inches tall (approx). Cheers, Mike.

[Baked_Beans]

Similar in style to this one............

[Patrick]

Hi Mike,

Everything looks right with your new elephant. 

Shape and colour spot on.

Cheers,
              Patrick.

[Baked_Beans]

Thanks Patrick, it's very cute and if I was a child on holiday in Malta back in the mid-seventies (assuming it is Maltese) I would have pestered my parents to buy it for me !

Cheers, Mike

[WhatHo!]

Hi Mike, there doesn't seem to be any bubbles in it? Also does it have the suspected Batutto base?

[rosieposie]

I would say yes... I have several, and yours looks the same... The trunk is not quite so thin and fine... but if it has a battuto finished base, then I would say it was either Malta Craft or Malta Decorative Glass.  My unspeckled amber ones have the CGL  label. 

[Baked_Beans]

Thanks Wolfie & Rosie,

Sorry for my delay in replying 

The bases on the speckled one and the blue one have both been quite well polished. There is a slight dullness though to both bases. If you catch the light right on both bases  you can just see the 'shadows' of battuto lines crossing the whole of both bases . The battuto effect is there but less pronounced (due to more polishing)  than on some other MDG examples I have.

Here is a pic. of the base. It seems to have been made with a clear glass core (or lighter blue perhaps) and then cased in a darker blue colour . Cheers, Mike.

[WhatHo!]

Do you have any similar coloured other animals and if so do they have flint cores? This is not a MDG feature I am aware of.

[Baked_Beans]

Well there are these three here........I have seen a photo of an amber version of the donkey with a group of animals on a Maltese website and in the group there was an MDG speckled rabbit with cane eyes . So the donkey might well be MDG too. The blue donkey has a much darker head than the main part of the body where the glass is at it thickest, the same goes with the penguin to the right which also has a gradation of darker blue to the head and lighter towards the base. I also have another similar blue donkey, where there is a variation in the blue colour . It could be that the donkeys have a lighter colour blue as a core. Both donkeys have 'battuto' bases. Cheers Mike.

[Baked_Beans]

I've added a further pic. of the donkey which I hope illustrates the colour difference between the head and the central part of the body. The latter is very clear with little colour and you can see through to the white paper in the background (the lighter area in the middle is not a reflection of any light). The head on the other hand is much darker. The eyes are made with very tiny canes.