Topic: Decorative glass bottle with stopper

[brewster]

Allan, you have us intrigued now.

Here is a suggestion that might help to bring out the slight engraving on the dark coloured ground base. Rub a stick of chalk over the surface, lightly enough so not much of it goes into the engraving. The example in the photos shows the result, although here the engraving is possibly deeper than in your case.

Incidentally, my example is by the noted West Australian artist Alan Fox. It shares the characteristic of yours that the pontil scar is only partly removed by the base grinding. Unlike yours, it is not cameo work, but nevertheless it is a fairly refined piece from a major glass artist. I expect the image on yours is cut by sandblasting.

Trevor

[brewster]

Me again.

I'm guessing the image in Reply #9 says DRAGONFLY. The other scratching is probably the artist's signature.

Trevor

[Jazzy_d]

That's a great idea. I tried water, but that wasn't working well. Chalk is an excellent idea.

I'll have to buy some though, so I will do that and try it again. Might take some time, but there's no major rush.

Thanks!

Allan

[Jazzy_d]

Thanks Trevor. I'll try the chalk and see whether that makes it any clearer.

Appreciate the input.

Allan

[flying free]

I would be a little careful with chalk if the writing isn't that deep 
Will Shakspeare does glass like this (I don't mean cameo, I mean dark glass with a finely ground base) with bases like this and his signature is often so faint that most people miss it.  It's only if you know his work and know it's there that you can spot it.  The scratched mark might disappear if it's chalked over and then washed off maybe?  Or perhaps not.. but I'd be careful.

m

[Jazzy_d]

Hi

Well I tried the chalk, and it would work well I imagine, ordinarily, but the markings are very shallow. I will upload two images. One is the chalk over the lettering, which looks like DFPMI, or DPPMI (it doesn't look long enough for Dragonfly I'm afraid). The other image is the cursive scratching - I say scratching because I struggle to make anything of it to be honest. The clearest section is the "end" (assuming I am looking at it the correct way up), which looks like a couple of eyes, or dots, above something that could be a word ending in something like a cursive "g" or "y". Could it be a symbol instead? Maybe Japanese? I tried chalk on this bit, but it was not deep enough I am afraid. I could post what I shot, but it is not clear sorry.

Many thanks

Allan

[brewster]

Hi Allan. This is progress.

I agree my guess of "Dragonfly" does not look right.

It would be worthwhile having another go at photographing the cursive signature (for that is what I think it is). Use the same kind of angled posture into the light without using flash, as in your first attempt at the base in Reply #2. This time use the close-up setting on the camera and the good enlargement proportions as in these recent shots.

Trevor

[KevinH]

You could also try using talc shaken over the base (after initial cleaning), such that the talc fills the shallows lines. Then gently wipe the talc of the base with something flat so that the lines are left with the talc.

[ahremck]

I would suggest it is by Tony Hanning - who used to make dragonflies and moths by etching.  I notice he is making them again, recently.  Attached are two photos of my moth vase - notice it too is blown by Stephen Morris.

Ross

[brewster]

I think Ross is right! The identification with Tony Hanning fits with our (rather imperfect) recollection of what we saw in a gallery, and the dragonfly is an image he has used. The precise carving by sandblasting is his trademark, too. I now think the faint signature on the original piece of this thread is indeed Hanning's. (In that case, the coincidence between my guess of the sig and the maker of the blank for Ross's bowl is just that - coincidence.)

Here's another example of Tony Hanning's sig (from 1988 and on a blank blown by Richard Morrell). Apart from Hanning's tendency to give his "exhibition" works strange monosyllabic names, there are some other mysterious letters D.J.S.C. 7.11. I believe this inscription relates to the gallery where it was exhibited, on the seventh floor of the David Jones department store on Elizabeth Street in Sydney, which operated as a fine art gallery from the late 1920s until the early 1990s. Towards the end of the period the emphasis of the gallery became more high-end Australian crafts rather than international fine art. The gallery hosted several exhibitions in association with the Crafts Council of Australia in the 1980s.

That's a long-winded way of saying that the letters on your bottle may indicate the retail outlet to which it was consigned.

As I said in an earlier post, I can't recall where we saw a bottle like yours, but almost certainly it was within the last five years and in a gallery-type retail outlet. I have no recollection of the price, but it was clearly high enough to prevent me buying it. Your bottle is likely to be quite valuable - multiple 100s of dollars, rather than 1,000s, though.

Trevor