Topic: MDINA GLASS

[michael hill]

hi, just joined,  i love mdina glass and have a few nice old pieces,  i was lucky enough to find a large mdina onion shaped glass with stripes running down to the base,  the stripes are like a turquoise blue and have a yellowish colour in between,  i found the vase at a car boot and was hoping to find out the artists signature,   i have seen michael harris's   and its nothing like that,  it just looks like a jumbled set of letters after mdina glass malta, only letter i can really make out properly looks like an s at the end and maybe an H,  not sure at all.   just wondering if anyone thinks it might be worth researching ?    i can do some pics later if needed.

[chopin-liszt]

It sounds like the proper thing, a Mdina Onion vase.
The scribbled "signature" on the bottom is likely to be a mark made by either Eric Dobson, or Marie, Vicente Boffo's niece who officially worked in the packing department.
Bigger and more complex peices were deemed to need an "artist's mark on them, to single them out, but it was never the maker who signed them. The only exception to that is finding Michael Harris' signature. He didn't like doing it and only did when asked to, or for things that were supposed to be exported to america, because they demanded signatures.
Michael personally thought the work should speak for itself.
We don't know if the mark is supposed to represent anybody's name in particular.

[michael hill]

many thanks for letting me know,  it has a lot of wear underneath and i think it might be one of the earlier pieces,  do you think its worth posting some photos ?   cheers,  mick.

[chopin-liszt]

Yes please. We like seeing photos of glass. All Mdina items are unique, so your Onion will not be the same as the one I had.

Here are images of the two different "squiggles" which are found on the bases of these superior items. And the Onion I had.
(sorry, got my pics tangled)

The first image is of Marie's mark, the second is my ex-Onion, the third is Eric Dobson's mark.

[michael hill]

many thanks for the photos,  it definitly is not the one at the bottom with the date on,  it looks very much like maries with the letters all jumbled up together,  the shape of the vase is almost exactly the same as your ex onion exept may be a little more bulbous ? i will get my camera out and post some pics,   cheers,  mick.

[chopin-liszt]

Looking forward to seeing it. 
These are not at all common, and one of the best and most desirable early pieces.

[michael hill]

that's very nice to know,  i saw one similar in a cabinet, i think it was in a museum recently and it said some of michael harris's early works were on the left hand shelf and the one similar to mine was on the right shelf so maybe its reasonably early ?    do you think it at all possible for him to have created this piece ?   many thanks again for all your help.

[chopin-liszt]

My ex-one has no marks on it, but I did suspect it was MH's work, but only from the elegant curve of the slope from the body up to the rim.
Yours has a mark on it that doesn't actually tell us much about who might have made it.
They're big and complex, only somebody with considerable skills could have made them.
That does limit who could have, a bit.
I've seen them really rather wonky, with bulbous lumpy bottoms and stretched out top parts, completely different shapes. 
I'm curious to see yours.

[michael hill]

this one is pretty large and heavy,  around 7.5 inches wide and just over 11 inches high,  it looks to be really well made even all over pretty bulbous the colours look fantastic when hel up to the light,  i'm going to try to get a couple of pics done tomorrow,  just got a new camera and had a few problems with it.

[michael hill]

tried loads of times to reduce photo size to be able to post but nothing worked ?