Topic: Mdina Axe Fish Vase

[Linnet]

Vase bought as present which is lovely but no signature. Are there fakes about?

[glassobsessed]

Welcome to the message board Linnet.

Photos of the fish vase in question really are needed if you want certainty.

There are many unsigned fish vases from Mdina, off hand I can not think of any glassworks that has reproduced the design apart from Isle of Wight Studio Glass and that was also started by Michael Harris. They are not something you can fake in your garage without considerable kit and a few years of experience. If you had those things you would far more likely be producing original work of your own.

We occasionally see faked signatures on genuine items but they are few and far between.

John

[Linnet]

Thank you John very helpful, I take your point on the quality/no signature why would you fake if your skills were superb? It really is lovely.
L

[ahremck]

Linnet I think that some artists can not create their own style for years .  They can copy others closely so they do.  I like Chris Pantano's work in Australia.  I could name about 4 other artists who "copied" his works for years - often almost slavishly.  They eventually created their own styles.

Ross

[chopin-liszt]

 
A very good point, Ross, which is extremely relevant to this piece.
It is later than the more traditional style of Fish vase designed by Michael Harris, and is developed from those.
This has the Tiger pattern inside, a Dobson design, the wings are much thicker (deeper) than the original, they are shaped into a more triangular outline and are blue rather than clear.
These are not terribly common "Fish" to find, and date from later '70s into the earlier '80s.
I don't really know if they have an official name.

Axe doesn't belong anywhere as a name- that was an accident and we're trying to eliminate the word from the Mdina vocabulary!

[glassobsessed]

Wishful thinking on my part then! There is also the argument that there is nothing new under the sun...

I don't remember if this one was signed or not.

[chopin-liszt]

The one I have left is marked "Mdina 1979". They're sometimes seen with the "artist" signature added by Dobson or Marie, sometimes they're unmarked.