Topic: Unusual Mdina facet cut inside out vase

[glassobsessed]

Due to a day off of work and a trawl of some South Wales charity shops I am seeking opinions or info on this vase I bought today.
It appears to be a Mdina inside out vase with two 'facets' cut into it, it has a polished pontil and a sticker.
I have been checking the info in Mark Hill's book in relation to inside out vases, polished pontils and labels, as a result I am now a little confused (easily done).
The walls of the vase are quite thick, much thicker than the other inside out vase I have photographed with it. Although slightly smaller and having large quantities of glass removed in the cuts, the vase weighs over 1kg (as opposed to 600g for the one with the prunt), possibly indicating an early date (page 42).
Mark Hill does not mention exactly this type of label (page 133).

Has anyone seen an inside out vase like this before? Any thoughts on the pontil or paper label?

Thanks, John.

[glassobsessed]

Some more photos...

[chopin-liszt]

 :thup:

It's a fairly unusual early one from the period when Michael Harris was there, to my knowledge.
I have an absolute beauty and have seen three or four others - they're all different, depending on how deeply they're cut - mine goes right through to the clear glass layer, giving an "eye" effect, and it does weird reducing visual effects if I stick my thumb inside it.
I have been told they only ever had one pot of this deep cobalt blue glass melted, so pieces with this colour are quite hard to find.

[glassobsessed]

Oh my, Sue, thank you.
I was thinking it might have been quite early in date but was not certain, the very dark blue colour is also not familiar - very interesting. I was thinking of selling it but not a chance of that now (unless I find three more  ).

Any chance of posting a photo of yours?

Many thanks, John.

[chopin-liszt]

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/insideoutfromangle.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/insideoutlookingthrough.jpg

apologies for the lack of focus, and lack of thumb showing weird visual reduction effects inside too, but having one yourself, you'll get the idea.

I also have a fabby Chinese Key bowl with this blue on it - again, a very heavy piece.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/cobaltchinesebowl1.jpg
The base is like the inside out one.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/cobaltbottom.jpg

[scimiman]

Ron Wheeler at www.artiusglass.co.uk is your man. I'm sure he would love to see it. Drop him an email.
Mike www.abfabglass.co.uk

[glassobsessed]

Thank you for posting your photos Sue, I see what what you mean about the visual effects.
I like the look of your Chineses bowl especially with that nice colour swirl. Is it a different colour on the inside like some of the others?

Thank you Mike, I keep bumping into Ron at Malvern (I tend to notice his glass first and it takes me a while to say hello) and I have given him a poke via email.

John.

[chopin-liszt]

The Chinese Key bowl is all sort of bubbly yellow inside, though it looks greenish because of the blues outside.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/insidecobaltbowl.jpg

Although the rim is slimmish, the bowl itself is much thicker, in a sort of graduated way, because of the extra layers of glass - it's over 1cm thick in the main.

It really is the most amazing 3-D sculpture in colour, pics will never do it justice. One of my favourite pieces.
I'm in regular contact with Ron,  :thup: though I haven't sent him pics of this Key bowl yet, though I have told him about it.
I will do.

Every other faceted inside-out I've seen has been in the very experienced mitts of Peter Elliot at The Art Glass Fair in Dulwich, and they get sold almost before the Fair opens.

Should have added, all the faceted ones I've seen do have this deep cobalt blue.

[glassobsessed]

The Chinese bowls are stunning, a really subtle design - one of my favourites.
I have added a photos of my slightly more 'humdrum' Chinese bowl and another little bullet shaped bowl from Mdina. The walls of this Chinese bowl are a constant thickness, I have seen one on ebay with very square and angular characters and wondered if it dated to after Michael Harris had left Malta.

I realised today what a lucky find the inside out bowl is, on my tour yesterday I had found what appeared to be two nice bits of glass, a small Royal Brierly vase and a Czech optic balls or olives vase, but both had big nasty cracks running through them. I found the inside out vase in the last charity shop I visited and it was the only item I bought after calling at about 20 shops in various towns. I almost did not buy it but luckily my guardian glass angel was on the case. I think I will have to get a donation together for that charity shop!

John.

[chopin-liszt]

 :thup:

I really like the Chinese Key bowls too - got 4 altogether - all quite different.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/twokeys2.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/threekeys.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/fourkeys.jpg

Have some of the other type too - these really seem to vary in quality, though I do like this design very much. (sorry no pics - not even out of focus!) One of mine is simply head and shoulders above the rest - no confirmed idea why - but I can make a good guess!

Can I assume you are a Mdina collector - and that you do have Mark's book?
There are picture of these (small bowls with the spiral pattern) in a Glass Book written by Ronald Stennet-Willson - at the time (rare book, don't have a copy myself - grrrr)