Topic: Malta Decorative Glass bases and other identifcation.

[WhatHo!]

From previous lollipop thread as there needs to be on a new thread on this subject.

I was not attempting to categorizes anything but simply trying assist in identification by the study of production techniques rather than the object itself, which is something I do a lot and often very successfully.

Back to my question, I do not have a lot of MDG pieces but all the ones I have do not have a highly polished base like you get with Mdina, they are buff and often with that 'Battuto' like finish.
Does anyone have a labelled MDG piece (of any type) with a highly polished base? or are they all buff and not very shiny?

[Lustrousstone]

Six battuto bases fairly shiny and one circular rough ground pontil mark

[chopin-liszt]

This may take some time.
I have a pwt with a flat polished base, not gouged. 
Another with a base simply flattened on the marver, then a maltese cross prunt (the kind with the v-shaped notch in the ends of the arms of the cross) has been shoved into the place it was broken off from the rod, to disguise the scar.
I've got a stoppered bottle with the prunt shoved onto the base as well, but not nearly so deeply and the rest is all just roughly made flat
I don't have pics of everything.

But even the polished, sort of flat, gouged ones are still quite shiney.

[WhatHo!]

Excellent work guys, thank you. Nothing highly polished as yet then.

[chopin-liszt]

If you mean by "highly polished", a completely flat, non-gouged, shiney base, I have two at least.

A pwt, as I said above here, and in the other thread; and I have just found a stoppered bottle with a completely flat polished base, apart from a deep half-moon shaped pontil scar indent in that.

[chopin-liszt]

Just found another stoppered bottle with what was once a completely highly polished flat, non-gouged base, but with so much age-related wear it looks less shiney now.

[keith]

Just a quick question, does the post title refer to one maker or numerous as I have a piece of ' Creations Malta' and have yet to see another,
 

[chopin-liszt]

We have found labels which refer to Malta Decorative Glass, other labels have appeared on the same sort of glass, which have the same design of label, but with the word Craft substituted for Decorative;
So we know of a Malta Craft Glass and a Malta Decorative Glass, what we don't know is how they relate to each other, as they seem to make the same sort of glass, completely indistinguishable from each other.

There also appears to be glass of different sorts coming from these "origins" but with perhaps some importing going on, the dolphin white and blue or white and red vase things, standing on their tails, which have been found with Japanese labels on too. I've seen the odd papweweight with canes in - and I suspected the canes might have been imported, unless anybody know of canes having actually been made in Malta, anywhere?

Then the things such as the conch shells - they seem to be of a completely different sort of construction to anything else, and a load of small animal things I know absolutely nothing about and leave to those of you who do know something about them.

[keith]

Thought I'd post a picture of the base and label any way,

[chopin-liszt]

That looks slightly related to Gozo, in terms of the appearance of the glass (what I can see of it) and in terms of design of the label.