Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: Wuff on November 25, 2021, 01:34:30 PM
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Attached are images of two paperweights with a signature I don't recognise. Due to some resemblance with the Summer Fruits Greenberry design of Isle of Wight it was suggested to me the signature could be "MHs" from Michael Harris, signing some sort of test piece ... a suggestion, but definitely without any proof. Hence my question: has anyone seen this signature before and solve the mystery?
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:) Michael Harris was an experienced engraver before he took up hot glass. Any marks he made on glass are neat and tidy, he used a diamond point pen. This mark is a bit... dremmelly.
I'll find a pic of some of his engraving/writing and post it.
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I think it could be Mount St Helens
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Thank you both, Sue and Christine !
Michael Harris: yes - I had my doubts, which is why I asked here :).
Mount St Helens ... Hmmm ... it's definitely not the MSH signature I'm used to.
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I think it's upside down and the signature is a curly H then W :-X
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Upside down? ... quite possible, of course ... but what would it stand for then? I attach the rotated version.
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are they both signed?
The decor on the first one doesn't look like summer fruits to me.
Are they lightly iridescent glass?
A photograph in daylight would be better maybe?
Having looked at Christine's suggestion of Mount St Helens, they did seem to sign in a varying way, with that kind of 'not flowing' way (use of dremmel is it?) and the base of their pieces looks similarly finished.
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Are they both signed?
The decor on the first one doesn't look like summer fruits to me.
Are they lightly iridescent glass?
A photograph in daylight would be better maybe?
Yes - both are signed, identically, for the second weight the image of the signature is rather small, however - still attached (both orientations).
Yes - not Summer Fruits - the idea was that it could be a test piece for the technique - but I have abandoned this idea in the meantime.
Yes - looks like irridescent surface - but I also have these images only.
I have to add that I don't have the two weights within reach (have been asked to help with an identification) - so can't do daylight images.
I will comment on the MSH suggestion in more detail separately.
Thank you for your considerations - Wolf
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Oddly for some reason (and I'm probably wrong!) I can imagine inscribing that sig as an H W would be easier and flow more easily and then doing the star than it would be doing it the other way up. Do you know what I mean?
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Having looked at Christine's suggestion of Mount St Helens, they did seem to sign in a varying way, with that kind of 'not flowing' way (use of dremmel is it?) and the base of their pieces looks similarly finished.
I have to admit that I find the attributions somewhat confusing: there was a "Mount St. Helens Volcanic Ash Glassworks" founded in 1980 after the eruption by the glassblower Steven Hank Claycamp: he discovered that the volcanic ash contained 68 percent silica and consequently developed a procedure to include it in glass for his paperweights. He was joined by Lloyd "Brian" Gladson in 1990 - who later (around 2003) took over from the retiring Claycamp. In 2008 Gladson was still active - but in a news article (unfortunately not dated) it is mentioned that the studio had to be closed as the lease was not extended - so certainly today the studio is no longer in operation. I have found just a single signature image online (didn't search all that long) "Mt. St. Helens Glass 1981" - I assume this to belong to a weight made by Claycamp.
Already before 2008, however, other studios have used MSH ash in their weights, e.g. Glass Eye Studio and Roger Vines. Signatures with just "MSH year", "MSH ash year", or "MSH ash Vines year" (example from my weight attached) show up really often. Questions: was any of these weights made at the "original" studio - or all by Roger Vines (studio) or other artists? Did GES only state that MSH ash was used - or did they actually indicate that fact in the signature?
But back to my original question: none of the signatures I have found in this context shows similarity to the signature to be identified - not even close to it.
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Oddly for some reason (and I'm probably wrong!) I can imagine inscribing that sig as an H W would be easier and flow more easily and then doing the star than it would be doing it the other way up. Do you know what I mean?
Agreed - but who could be HW - any idea?
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Just been looking up sand blasting and came across this heavy vase that looks to have a very similar signature, maybe from a different hand. Looks like the vase was Caithness. http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,16350.0.html
Vase: http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7943
Signature: http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7942
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Thank you for the suggestion, Ekimp, but I don't think the two signatures are close enough to indicate the same studio or artist.
Nor do I believe, the vase to go with the signature is Caithness: it was suggested the vase could be Caithness CT151. But if you compare the image on http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7943 with the attached image of CT151, you'll agree it's not the same vase (despite daffodils as theme in common). Whilst I might be wrong (my main topic are the paperweights, not glassware) I don't remember having seen this shape from Caithness before. Colour could be Harvest Gold - but this is very difficult to say from photographs, were the lighting has a big influence.
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Yes, I have no idea about their Caithness attribution.
I thought the signature on the linked vase looked like yours except that they haven’t lifted the stylus when making the character after the ‘M’ as though maybe the same mark made by different people, one with more precision than the other. Although it doesn’t have the additional ‘*’ it does have a different symbol. Wouldn’t help much anyway if the vase is unknown :)