Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Malta Glass => Topic started by: woodie on August 12, 2009, 12:22:28 PM
-
Hi all
Can anyone tell me if this is a M Harris signature on a Mdina bottle paperweight. All the research I have done so far indicates that it is but I am still not positive.
Thank you
-
If you can't read it, it's not Michael Harris. His signature was always neat and legible. I assume you mean a paperweight with a knob on top, if so I think those are post-Harris
-
Hi
I have seen two signature that were confirmed as M Harris, and apparently he sometimes did not sign in full, my local auction house feel it is M Harris as the distinctive M with the curve off of it is one of the known traits of his signature. My weight which is one with knob on top, has the same M, and there is the joined up rris at the end which again is distinctive of his signature.. I have owned it for some time now and when I purchaed it, it was from a lady who had been to Malta in the early 80,s and purchased it from a small shop there...
This is a difficult one as there are so few full signature to rely on.
Regards
woodie
-
Quite a number of people on this board knew Mike Harris well and are familiar with his signature. Although I'm not a handwriting expert, there is nothing in the image you have posted that makes me remotely consider that it says M Harris, so I am going to stick my neck out here and state categorically that this is not a Michael Harris signature.During the period 1977- 1986 I must have sold several thousand pieces of IOW and Mdina so I have a fair idea of what one should be looking for, but if, subsequently Mark Hill or Ron Wheeler reviews my opinion and tells me that I am wrong, I will be happy to send you a nice piece of glass by way of apology. ;)
If you can't read it, it's not Michael Harris. His signature was always neat and legible.
I am, however, a little baffled as to which part of Christine's post you didn't understand......
my local auction house feel it is M Harris as the distinctive M with the curve off of it is one of the known traits of his signature.
Well, I think we would all like to know which auction house is so knowledgeable about Mike Harris signatures. Please do let us know! ;)
-
OK I only was saying what I had been told if you feel so strongly I will accept that it is not.
I was only saying what I believed and that I was uncertain thats why posted it, so I could get feedback.
I dont want to say who my local auctioneers are as they are nice people and were only trying to help me out.
Im sure they did so with the best intentions.
Regards
woodie
-
I apologise if I have upset anyone this was not my intention, I purely wanted to seek clarification.
-
Hey, don't give up so easily! There's a free piece of glass at stake here and to be fair I have emailed both Mark and Ron to have a look and give a definitive opinion! ;D
-
Hi there
I am a collector in Mdina piece but by no means an expert but without even having to compare it i am 100% sure its not Michael Harris. Although am i being stupid but is it a phoenician piece as thats what the sig looks like to me Phoenician malta, infact im gonna stick my neck on the block and say im around 93.6% sure it is phoenician, which is also a maltese glassblowers
michelle
-
sorry me again can you put a picture of the actual piece on
thanks
michelle
-
Hi sorry had to take photo and then crop it to sufficient size. It does have phoenician sticker on it so obviously I am wrong.
Thank you for your assistance as always.
(Would have liked a free bit of glass... :cry:)
Regards
Woodie
-
ohh pretty anyway, i do like the maltese style, i have a few pieces of phoenician here and there but main collection is Mdina and Michael Harris pieces
here is there website http://www.phoenicianglass.com/
all the best
michelle
-
oh oh oh aa do i get the free piece of glass??? :24:
-
May we add the signature picture to our Maltese labels/signatures gallery please? We have examples of Michael Harris, Mdina and Mtarfa there but no signature for Phoenician as yet (just a label.) http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/thumbnails.php?album=546
-
Hi Anne
By all means I dont mind
-
Anne i think i have a couple of different labels on pieces when i dig them out i will email them to you
michelle
-
Super, thank you both. They all help build up a good reference collection for us to use on the board. :)
-
Hi,
Thanks for drawing this to my attention Adam.
No this is not Michael Harris' signature or name and, yes, it does say Phoenician. So, it is indeed a piece of Phoenician, rather than Mdina, glass.
Thanks,
Mark
-
Forgot to say, well done all, as applicable and in a completely non-patronising manner, for spotting and commenting so accurately.
-
It always amazes me that once you know what a signature says, you can't see how you didn't realise in the first place
-
I quite agree. It's incredible. Some of the looks I've received from people 'in the know' before are quite hilarious -- and more than a little withering! So I now spend ages trying to decipher scripty things I can't read, even showing them to members of my own family with complicated, near-illegible handwriting to see if they can read it first!
-
:-[
A bit late here, but it definitely reads "Phoenecian, Malta".
(I did realise that the second I saw it, not as a post script to other's posts)
-
I did too but i often doubt meself and then dont want to look a wally infront of all you big brained experts ;D hence the 93.6%. Lustrousstone ive dont the same thing so many times, put it on here and somebody tells me instantly, and as soon as they say it the mark/signiature as if by magic changes into what they say it is. I often find the more i look the worse it gets too
michelle
-
Hello all esteemed members
Thank you for all your help I see now(admittedly rather late) that it does say phoenician, I think I had convinced myself that it said M Harris, feel a bit of a numpty now :-[
At least I can now list it correctly and thanks again.
Embarrased Woodie
-
Don't be embarrassed Woodie we all want to find that signature, sometimes I think it helps with signatures if you start with no preconceptions about which one it is (all very Zen like).
John.
-
originally I did list it as just Mdina glass with unknown signature, then I was told it was Harris, so it sort of snowballed, but you know what happens to snowballs - they end up a wet slushy mess......
::)
-
:)
Just sorry you had your hopes raised to the heights, then dashed. Catherine Hough's signature always gets me :huh: , no matter how often I see it - not on pieces in my sticky paws, I should add - and I have to refer back to stored images of confirmed signatures of Said and Dobson on Mdina every time, these things get us ALL.
-
I think I had convinced myself that it said M Harris, feel a bit of a numpty now :-[
Welcome to the club Woodie. We have all been there and done that. Frankly, speaking for myself, I basically just live there. (In Numpty Land)
Carolyn