Topic: Iridescent shell bowl

[WhatHo!]

Hi, could any one help me with this bowl please.
It looks very well made, hand-formed (possibly) and 10.5" x 7". Its is in the form of a open clam? shell which has blues, greens and gold iridescence on the hinge side graduating into pink then pearly white. The underside is cased green, is polished flat and has a little bit of the pontil remaining.
It looks like something good to me but I've no idea what! tia Wolfie

[Max]

I must say, I've seen a lot of glass in my time and I've never seen one of those before!   

[Sue C]

Reminds me of a sting ray but without the tail, but where have i seen that little bottom before??

[dirk.]

No idea really, but - perhaps a relative of the common makora clam? 

[astrid]

No idea really, but - perhaps a relative of the common makora clam? 

To me as well it looks very Polish in style. Especially since they're very fond of these big type shell type bowls in multiple colours.... Whether it is Makora, Jozephina or another Polish company I can't say.

Astrid

[Sue C]

I have to agree, try this as your first step www.makora.com

[Anik R]

Having said in a previous thread that contemporary Polish glass is underratted, I'm strongly hoping this bowl is NOT Polish   :spls:  (No offence, Wolfie  :kissy:)

In all honesty, I don't think this has got a Polish feel to it...  granted, Polish glassmakers do seem to like using many colours, and the 'shell' is a popular form, I still don't think it hails from my end of the world. 

 :huh:

[astrid]

Sorry Anik if I in any way suggested something negative to you about Polish glass... I personally think some of the current handmade Polish glass is beautiful and quite underrated.

But if this is contemporary and handmade, the first two countries I would think of that have both the glassmaking skill and the love of bright colours necessary to make this - Poland and China. The pontil mark, I have to add, also looks very much like the pontil mark on a vase I have and strongly believe is Polish. I'll add it here for comparison (if anyone feels my vase plus pontil mark isn't Polish, please further my education!).

Wolfie, in this thread there were a lot of Polish glass works mentioned, you might want to search through there just in case it is Polish:

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,33421.msg181100.html#msg181100

I don't know if we have references for the better quality Chinese factories?

Astrid

[Anik R]

Sorry Anik if I in any way suggested something negative to you about Polish glass...

Not at all, Astrid!  :kissy:
I was just making the point that Wolfie's shell/clam bowl is just so, eh, mmm, "original" and, er, "different" that after going on about the wonders and beauty of Polish glass in a different thread, I was kind of hoping this, uumm, "special" bowl does not turn out to be Polish as it would (IMHO) contradict what I said previously.
 :pb:

(Wolfie, please don't take offence... we've all got different tastes  :kissy: :kissy: :kissy:)

[astrid]

Ah, Anik, you never know what people will say about that in a few decades time or even now... our current senses are perhaps so tuned to the subtle and the modest colouring, that we have more trouble appreciating anything that stands out so much. Good quality workmanship and designs that are typical for its time period will be collectibles of the future, I'm told countless time on TV bij antique programs.

Maybe we live in colourful times, and haven't noticed it yet... I remember being rather surprised when I saw in the program "Cracking Antiques" that if you cover a deer skull with antlers in gold foil and paint the background bright red it's considered to be rather fashionable in Great Brittain at this moment. That sort of interior decorating can certainly do with some in-your-face bits of glass!

Astrid