Topic: ID help: Swirl of organic controlled bubbles in free blown vase

[Cathy B]

Hi all, Hope you're all well!
Wondering whether anyone has any clues on this vase - it appears to be free blown with controlled bubbles which form organic swirls, blown into a spherical shape then flattened slightly to form three sides. The base is weird! All I can think of is that it broke off the pontil a bit squint and then has been finished by grinding slightly up the side and perhaps sold as a second, or that someone has done a very elaborate repair of a major base chip. In any case in the glass it's quite beautiful and certainly worth the $12 I picked it up for!

Does anyone have any clues who might have made it? It's possible it might even be local, Australian or even from the Canberra Glass Works, but really I have no idea.

Thanks!

[chopin-liszt]

It looks very Benny Motzfeldt from around the early '70s, to me, Cathy.
Hiya! you've not been around for a while - lovely to see you again !

[Cathy B]

Hi Sue  Hope you're well!

I would be ecstatic if it were Benny Motzfeldt! What do you think about the base though? Is that original or a fix?

C

[chopin-liszt]

It's what my bases from the early '70s look like.
I have checked it against initialled (signed) ones.
The bubbles, formed on a sort of metallic grid, are just right for '70s Benny.
They can have gold-ish and black-ish sort of bits to them.

The shape is sort of right, the rim is right, the base is consistent with others I've seen. They're not all the same, but do tend to be heat finished.
I've had completely wonky bits with bulbous accidental shapes.

(I'm off to try to find some pics to illustrate, but I'm also in the middle of making dinner. )

[chopin-liszt]

two images of a Benny bottom and the vase itself.
It's an odd thing, originally initialled by her, then that has been scored out, because it is a second. It's got a huge lump sticking out of one side - I call it my Quasimodo Benny.
(more to come, of other bums, when I get the images sorted)
Another one to add to this post.
A blue and black swirled design, from Plus. Marked for Plus with BM Norway on the edge, the retailer's label and the pontil scar - which as you can see from this piece, has some broken bits, despite the heat finishing.

[chopin-liszt]

I've taken some pics of a vase much more in keeping with yours. 

[chopin-liszt]

And the last lot. A small, completely unmarked vase, from the Ravelin series, with a broken and satinated mix of finishes on the base. Very hard to photograph, I'm afraid.

[Cathy B]

That is all very convincing (and what an impressive group of vases)! Each of the bubbles has a little gold but the main body of the vase is clear. It's quite difficult to photograph (although I will get out a better lens, because that one is manual focus and my eyesight is no longer up to that). It's quite beautiful.

A million thanks! You know when you see a piece and have no idea who might have made it, but it just screams quality? This did.

[chopin-liszt]

 
It's that; "You know when you see a piece and have no idea who might have made it, but it just screams quality? "
that got me interested in Benny from the start. A tiny thing caught the corner of my eye as I passed it, which set off alarms in my subconscious and made me whirl round and go back to it.
Benny does "grab" me like that.
The little unmarked Ravelin pictured there was another. The same colourway is illustrated in the book, which I'm lucky enough to have.

I'm quite convinced, Cathy. My insides did the Benny flip when I saw your pics, even if I can't make out exactly what your pontil scar looks like, it still appears consistent with others. But it's the overall whole thing that does it for me.