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Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => British & Irish Glass => Topic started by: Patrick Hogan on September 11, 2005, 01:31:35 PM

Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Patrick Hogan on September 11, 2005, 01:31:35 PM
Hi, On Thursday 8th September I visited the Museum of London and was able to take pictures of the workbooks of Vincente Boffo.......... He worked as a glassblower at Whitefriars in the early 60,s.  One of the pieces he designed and made was a 6 inch high Penguin......... http://tinypic.com/dmtnuo.jpg         These appeared in the company catalogue in various colours.
 After my visit I asked the question on the Forum of  Whitefriars.com ........ http://www.whitefriars.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=341
 What was the total number that he made?  I have now closed the competition but will not give the answer until 19.00 hrs. on Monday. Perhaps members of this forum would care to hazard a guess.................. No prize but you may have the honour of being the nearest. You can answer on here or on......    Best wishes and good luck.  Patrick Hogan.
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Anonymous on September 11, 2005, 01:33:54 PM
Hi, I forgot to mention the wonderfull beak and the fact that they sell for about £150.00 with beak intact!!!!!  Regards Patrick
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Anne E.B. on September 11, 2005, 04:23:08 PM
My guess is ......... 250.

I love the penguin.  He is so life-like :P

Regards - Anne E.B. :wink:
Title: Post subject - Boffo
Post by: vidrioguapo on September 11, 2005, 04:38:03 PM
Emmi here Patrick.....895.
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: BJB on September 11, 2005, 05:04:27 PM
I think it might be 720, but if my guessing this is anything like the numbers I pick for the lottery, then I am wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy out :wink:

Barbara,
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Frank on September 11, 2005, 05:23:19 PM
1,483.25
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Anne on September 11, 2005, 05:23:24 PM
43 :)

( I'm hopeless at the lottery as well Barbara!  :lol: )
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Max on September 11, 2005, 07:06:42 PM
Frank said:
Quote
1,483.25


What was the .25?  A spare beak?   :lol:  :lol:
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Frank on September 11, 2005, 07:20:03 PM
Quote from: "Max"
What was the .25?  A spare beak?


A rough guess 8)
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: bubbles on September 11, 2005, 09:14:09 PM
18 .......just to be different!
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Anonymous on September 11, 2005, 10:03:49 PM
:D:D:D

444

Hello Patrick,
Have you any idea when he left Whitefriars and went to Malta?
Lesley Jackson's book says that the Boffos (father and son) went with Michael Harris, but the Mdina website has them going over after Michael Harris left.
 :?:?:? This has been bothering me for some time now!
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: chopin-liszt on September 11, 2005, 10:10:06 PM
:shock: Sorry, that was me, not logged in. I didn't check. (Excuse:- Michael's home and has been "doing" things with the computer.) I normally manage to be logged in automatically.

(Just in case somebody else came in inbetween, my guess was 444.)
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Glassyone on September 12, 2005, 06:01:21 AM
2,863
Ruth
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Cathy B on September 12, 2005, 10:02:42 AM
535.

xxx!
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Max on September 12, 2005, 10:08:18 AM
Hmm...don't know.  Very few, judging by how often they turn up!

Erm....   376 ?
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: patrick Hogan... on September 12, 2005, 10:08:27 AM
Hi SUE.......   Have a look at http://www.historyofglass.org.uk/glassnews/glass%20news13b.htm
 You will have to scrool down till you get to " A brief history of M'dina"  . Will let you know later when his workbook finished.... Maybe that is when he left Whitefriars.........   Regards Patrick
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: chopin-liszt on September 12, 2005, 11:26:23 AM
:D:D:D
Thanks very much indeed Patrick! I still don't know the exact dates, but this makes it clear that the Boffos' presence was a Harris initiative anyway.
I LOVE the penguin, and I WANT one!
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Patrick Hogan on September 12, 2005, 06:02:02 PM
Hi, I have just posted this on Whitefriars.com

" Hi All, Steve Leslie is the WINNER !!!!!!   " Who is Boffo" was his comment and   650 was his estimate of the number made. Here is the number made....... But just one final twist.
 If Brian had reduced his estimate of 11,826 by 4039 he would have triumphed. Do the maths and you will have the ANSWER...  In 30mins I will post the totals for each of the 6 colours. I can reveal that Golden Amber is the rarest followed by Twighlight,    Flint,    Ruby,   Ocean Green   and finally Arctic Blue. The first ones made ( Qty. 41) were on Monday W/E 9.1.60 and the last batch (Qty. 102) on Friday 24.11.62 .
 I would like to add that I would have been way out with my estimate, even Ray Annenburg (Ex. Whitefriars Gaffer) only guessed half the amount Boffo made. Ray pointed out to me that Boffo was the "Gaffer" of a team known as a "Chair".  He would have had a " Footmaker" who gathers the glass.  A " Servitor" who does the initial shape and then passes the iron to Boffo, who works his magic !!....... and a "Boy who takes the finished piece to the Lehr. See http://www.whitefriars.com/my_photo.php?Id=2702 for a typical week.
 The total made however was probably solely due to the demand from the retail outlets selling at the time. Perhaps the fact that his final batch was made at the end of 1962 and his final workbook entry was end of May 1964 probably means that the Whitefriars sales Team did a good job selling to the shops but the public demand was not there. I think the retail price was quite high.  
 Regards Patrick...   Ps. Get those calculators out and find the total."

   PLEASE NOTE THE WINNER HERE IS xxxxx     RUTH BRADWELL    xxxxxxx   for a while I thaught Frank was going to be the winner.....
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Anne E.B. on September 12, 2005, 06:19:57 PM
Well done Ruth :P  and thank you Patrick for a bit of fun :lol:

Anne E.B. :wink:
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Patrick Hogan.... on September 12, 2005, 06:22:48 PM
Hi Guys, Sorry I did not realize you are an hour  behind BST....   Regars Patrick
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Patrick Hogan on September 12, 2005, 06:45:49 PM
Hi,    WHERE HAVE THEY ALL GONE...........

YES   4,219    was the number made!!!!!!!  

  The breakdown as follows  Golden amber     253
                                         Twighlight           342
                                         Flint                   496
                                         Ruby                  803
                                         Ocean green       934
                                         Arctic Blue        1391
                                                               ______

                                          TOTAL            4219
                                                              _______

 I hope you all enjoyed the competition and well done again Steve L  , Prize to follow.  

      was the winner on the "Glassmessages" site, with an estimate of

 All the best Patrick.
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: chopin-liszt on September 12, 2005, 10:22:43 PM
:D:D:D
Thanks for the fun, Patrick
Totally typical that the winner did not know who Boffo is!  :twisted:
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Patrick Hogan on September 15, 2005, 01:57:23 PM
Hi, There is one just been listed on Ebay....... This is the link :///ws/?ViewItem&item=7350548297&ru=://search.ebay.co.uk:80/7350548297_W0QQfltZ9QQfromZR8QQfviZ1 By the way I am NOT the seller. Golden Amber is the rarest , so it will be interesting to see what it sells for? Regards Patrick..
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Max on September 15, 2005, 02:33:30 PM
Oh he's a fat little chap isn't he?  You can see his features really well in this pic, thanks for the link.  :D
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Anne on September 15, 2005, 04:47:20 PM
Link corrected: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7350548297
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Anonymous on September 21, 2005, 08:10:01 PM
Hi, The Amber Penguin made £187 which was CHEEP concidering that they only made some 250 of them. Over 1300 of the Artic Blue were made....
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Leni on September 22, 2005, 09:57:52 AM
Quote from: "Anonymous"
Hi, The Amber Penguin made £187 which was CHEEP concidering that they only made some 250 of them. Over 1300 of the Artic Blue were made....

A penguin going cheep?  I reckon that is rare  :shock:

Leni (in a silly mood this morning  :wink: )
Title: Boffo
Post by: MarkHill on September 25, 2005, 06:57:45 PM
Hi,
Yes, indeed both Boffo Snr and Jnr went to Mdina to work with Michael Harris. I'd be very interested in knowing if the books you saw had anything connected to Mdina too? I'm in the process of preparing a book on Mdina Glass (1968-1972, when Michael Harris was there) and am very keen on finding out more first hand information as there isn't really much there!!
Thanks in advance,
Mark
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: patrick Hogan on September 26, 2005, 10:26:14 AM
Hi Mark, The only books I saw were his production workbooks whilst he worked for Whitefriars.....  Regards Patrick
Title: Boffo
Post by: MarkHill on September 26, 2005, 02:17:06 PM
Thanks very much for replying Patrick, I may have another lead, but let's see. I think I have some idea of the pieces they designed and introduced, simply from the forms. I may drop by and see if any of his experimental sketches (if there are any) match or resemble any of the forms he ended up making for Mdina. You never know ...
Title: BOFFO............
Post by: Patrick Hogan on September 28, 2005, 04:20:44 PM
Hi Mark, Here is another thread to Michael Harris........
http://www.whitefriars.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=379
 If you also go to Pinky,s members gallery page you can see the glass she refers to......   Regards Patrick.