Topic: Mdina vase - correct description?

[Anne E.B.]

Just bought this lovely (6" high 4" at widest) Mdina vase which came with a printed label describing it as from the "Sea & Sand" range, and being quite an early piece c.1968/9.
Is that about right I wonder?  Its quite yellowy compared to all my other Mdina vases.  You can just about make out Mdina on the base because of all the wear.
TIA

[chopin-liszt]

It's Crystal Blue Stripe, not Sea and Sand, (which is a later design of a frothy yellow with a band of Tiger around the middle).
Crystal Blue Stripe is the name given to this design, but later on. It didn't have a name at the beginning. It has been in production since MH's time there, and this is a fairly common shape to find. I don't actually know how long it was in production for - it might still be being made.
To date one, I go by the sort of mark on the base and have a look at how wide and how well the flange is made. Wide flanges didn't really appear at Mdina until after the Boffo's arrived, it was them who taught MH how to do these rather than buttons.
Given your flange is quite big and wide, I think it's more likely to be from well into the '70s or even later.

I can't actually see the script, so I don't know if it's done in a fine line or of it's a thicker version where the drill bit goes sideways and makes the mark all fuzzy. 

[Anne E.B.]

Many thanks Sue
From what I can actually make out from the script, it looks "fuzzy".  I just wonder if it has been aged a little, deliberately, as I've never seen so much wear
No matter, it was a bargain at today's carbon sale, and I love it and will love it even more when I remove the minute spots of white paint off

[chopin-liszt]

I have seen that sort of intense wear on Mdina before.
I think folk must move it around a bit, Mdina comes alive in sunshine, folk might well shift it fairly frequently, to catch a better light.
(They started using more crystal around '86, and crystal is softer than glass, so will gain wear more easily.)
But if this casing has a greenish hue, it's more likely to be the earlier glass and poorer quality cullet and just shifted a lot.
It does have lots of really nice bubbles. 
I like these and reckon they are underrated.

[Vitreo94]

I would agree with what Sue has explained already! This particular pattern I've found to be one of the most long produced designs, on my stall for sale I have 3 of these all from slightly different periods and the difference once known is much easier to separate them all out!

This one I would say was mid- late 70's. I have a piece that is perhaps 90's but much smaller and actually looks like an appentice's attempt rather than a more experienced glass blower's.

The appearance of this pattern is actually more 'Seaweed' like than this during Michael's time, they generally appear as heavy cylinder vases and have less regular patterning than the later ones.