Topic: White in early Mdina

[WhatHo!]

We still don't know the dates of these fish.
Boffo was at Mdina before and after Said took over in '75.

Is there any particular reason you're asking about '77 rather than '75 Wolfie?

I do not think there will any way of dating individual fish to an exact year. All I know is that V.Boffo started Mdina after June in 1970 and he started at MDG either late 1976 or early 1977 (J. Said said that Boffo left in 1977) so these fish where made between that period. Jim Munnelly has also confirmed that he was making fish with Boffo in their lunch breaks to sell to local gift stores. Jim was there from Aug '71 to Aug '75 so they were certainly made within this period.

[chopin-liszt]

So the fish, however lovely to see them again,  are actually red herrings as far as your question is concerned.
(Sorry, I can never resist a really bad pun.)

[WhatHo!]

I dont think so, I think it proves that somehow there was white glass at Mdina in the early '70s. I will have to ask Jim about this one

[chopin-liszt]

I need to know too. 
I have always gone by a "rule of thumb" that white enamel did not appear at Mdina any time before '75.

I don't actually count the Boffo work they did for themselves as being true Mdina - these were a "Boffo alone" thing, a very much smaller and special opus, but not sold through the Mdina shop which is what clinches the not-really-Mdina thing for me.

[WhatHo!]

Im just putting a link for future reference, looks like the white enamel came from Whitefriars,
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,63295.new.html#new

[Baked_Beans]

Wolfie when you say silver chloride wasn't used at Whitefriars until the late 1970's in their studio range,  what about this ?..........

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,51003.msg289169.html#msg289169

I thought this design was from 1969 just before V Boffo left WF's  ?

[Baked_Beans]

Could all the colours within the fish be the same as those used in the 1969 studio range at Whitefriars ?

http://www.cambridgeglassfair.com/exhibitions/pastexhibitions/2015-02-PeterWheeler.htm

[Patrick]

Could all the colours within the fish be the same as those used in the 1969 studio range at Whitefriars ?

A very good observation Mike........

Boffo was certainly using silver chloride then in the 'Studio Range' ( see the attached image from his workbook.)

My fish has applied fins in high quality flint glass which means it could actually have been made at Whitefriars........

[glassobsessed]

There is a potential problem with the Boffos bringing materials from Whitefriars - the expansion coefficient would need to match the coefficient of the glass used at Mdina assuming of course they used the glass available at Mdina. Someone who actually works with glass would know more about this...

John

[Patrick]

The answer........

Yes it was available in 1974 ............. In the form of broken white bottles 

This information has been supplied on Facebook by Alfred Sammut who worked with Harris and left in 1974.

See the screen grab of my conversation below.