Topic: Dating Mdina - early seahorse 1973

[Lustrousstone]

I think the vertical bubbles are artefacts of a blue gob being blown into a ribbed mould to give a sea urchin effect after being rolled in silver chloride. The silver chloride has burnt round his neck where it was on the surface.

[WhatHo!]

Hi, yesterday I was at Mdina glass in Malta and organised a jolly good chat with Joseph Said. For about 1 1/2 hours we chatted about all sorts to do with early Mdina Glass (Boffo in particular) and he showed me all round the place, a throughly nice bloke he is too 
I mention to him about the 'seahorses'.
Firstly he calls them 'Horse' paperweights not sea horses. He stated that they were originally designed and made by Vincente Boffo who joined Mdina in 1970 and left for MDG in 1977 (he wasn't 100% sure about the leaving date but about then).
The one featured above must be made by Boffo and as such I want it 
I will be doing a little write up about my visit for GMB with pics when I get a chance, Wolfie

[flying free]

 :hiclp:  how great that you arranged to speak to Joseph Said - it sounds as though it was a lovely visit and an informative visit as well.  A  piece of glassmaking history.  And thank you !! thank you for asking about the horse.  I really appreciate that  :sun:
And just to clarify Wolfie, did you mean the one Christine linked to as 'the one featured above' or did you mean the one I posted at the top of this thread?
m

[WhatHo!]

Hi, I think certainly yours and very likely the other were made by Boffo, i think the thin head is the key here. He also said that boffo made Friggers for the first 2 years, in his lunch breaks and at weekends. WF style penguins, fish, bowls were mentioned, in Mdina colours, yes please!!!!!! He has a Boffo Mdina fish at the factory (which his mother broke, grim) but couldn't locate it, I was dying for a quick snap of that! Wolfie

[Patrick]

Hi,
 Wolfie's visit and face to face chat with Joseph has now clarified many of the previous comments on this thread.
 I am pleased that my thoughts on them being designed by Boffo and made originally by him are correct. Clearly the Whitefriars frigger thin horse's head can be seen in the Mdina 'Horse' paperweights.
 All best wishes,
          Patrick.

PS, images of my BOFFO Mdina fish......   solid and hollow.
 

[chopin-liszt]

Wow, and thanks for all this Wolfie!  :hiclp: :hiclp: :hiclp:

I'm now a tiny bit confused, given Said said he'd made M's horse, and that the "percieved wisdom" had been that Said designed these because he had designed the chess set.

Good to have this clarified, along with an approximate date of Boffo leaving - much later than I had thought - but it does help explain so much good quality glass coming out of Mdina in those earlier days.

Given Said took over in '75, despite his slight vagueness over exact date that Boffo left, one would assume Said at least was aware that Boffo stayed on for a good bit after the takeover.

There's a lot to consider here, Wolfie, thanks again - you've got info for the folk into these animally things - and for folk who're into his other work.
(my MDG collection is growing very nicely :smg: )

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!

 :dance:

[Baked_Beans]

Many thanks from me too Wolfie !

Well here is another I found today :dance:

 The date is 1973 the same !!   Sorry about the flash photos but the evenings have gone all dark !!

[flying free]

Please see thread link below on a piece of Whitefriars glass, where the workbooks were linked to and the last date for Vicente Boffo in the Whitefriars workbooks that were linked to is June 1970 - this ties in with Mr Said's comment that Vicente Boffo started at Mdina in 1970.

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,45680.msg256014.html#msg256014

If these dates are correct this means the information in Mark Hill's book about the Boffo's joining in October 1969 is incorrect (just for future reference).  There are photos in Mark's book taken from the Times of Malta in May 1970 but the photo is only of Ettore Boffo not Vicente.  it may be that Ettore started at Mdina before Vicente?
m

[Baked_Beans]

That's interesting ! Here's a better photo taken in natural light.

[rosieposie]

Did any of you ever see this listing?  Different  but interesting?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220937356936
Rosie.