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Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => British & Irish Glass => Topic started by: flying free on October 25, 2009, 03:24:59 PM

Title: compote and bowls white with black rims - ID = Neil Wilkin
Post by: flying free on October 25, 2009, 03:24:59 PM

I was wondering whether these would be opalino and Italian? They are all translucent and have been hand blown I think.
Cased in clear with the pontil snapped off tidily and not left rough.  I have two footed bowl and the compote.
Or are they contemporary perhaps?
Any help on who could have made them would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
m

Title: Re: is this Italian opalino? compote and bowls white with black rims
Post by: flying free on December 07, 2009, 10:50:30 PM

bumping politely  :)

the footed bowls are 12cm diameter and 6cm high.  The compote is 5" wide by 4.5" high.

any thoughts at all welcomed.  I have searched extensively :spls:.  They are handblown, are impeccably made (the foot of the compote is perfect - how could it be so perfect it almost looks machine made?), very fine but weigh more than they look and have an amazing 'ping'.

Many thanks
m

Title: Re: is this Italian opalino? compote and bowls white with black rims
Post by: Lustrousstone on December 08, 2009, 07:31:38 AM

For what it's worth my gut instinct is not Italian. I would not expect a snapped pontil, rather a polished one or none at all. Perhaps English and studio. These are possibly hand mould blown rather than free blown

Title: Re: is this Italian opalino? compote and bowls white with black rims
Post by: flying free on December 08, 2009, 10:48:16 PM

Thanks Christine.  I have been searching studio glass but nowt so far apart from making me feel envious.  However, next search will be to read about mould blown glass.
Can I ask a question though - one of the footed bowls is a couple of mils smaller than the other and both are just very slightly smaller than the compote.  Would this variation be normal in mould blown glass?  I'm not actually sure what I'm looking for as you can tell. ::)  And would the stem and the stands of the small bowls be  blown separately then and applied as they look as though they are applied?
I shall be off to research more  ;D  Thanks again.

Title: Re: is this Italian opalino? compote and bowls white with black rims
Post by: langhaugh on December 08, 2009, 11:07:15 PM

When I saw the piece I thought of the pieces in this link, http://www.vetriglass.com/artists/tts_bowls.html but they're not quite the same. They show possible origins you could look at, however.

The bowls are part of the production work that Boyd Sugiki does. He's very much a Murano influenced designer, so Murano isn't completely out of the question. Some Murano companies, Salviati springs to mind first, didn't polish the pontil, although I wouldn't make a case for this being Murano based on that. They're blown into a mould, BTW, but there are individual differences.

Nice piece, though.

David

Title: Re: is this Italian opalino? compote and bowls white with black rims
Post by: flying free on December 09, 2009, 09:33:02 PM

Thank you David.  What a great link as well and I love those bowls nearly as much as I love these

http://www.gilliesjonesglass.co.uk/beautifulBowls/product4.htm

m

Title: Re: is this Italian opalino? compote and bowls white with black rims
Post by: langhaugh on December 09, 2009, 11:49:33 PM

Thanks for your link, too. Very nice pieces. It's amazing how much good glass is out there.

David

Title: Re: is this Italian opalino? compote and bowls white with black rims
Post by: Tigerchips on December 10, 2009, 01:13:12 AM

This reminds me of my piece of Phoenix Glass...
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-782

I'm not sure if it has a sharp pontil, i'll check tomorrow morning.

Title: Re: is this Italian opalino? compote and bowls white with black rims
Post by: Martyn K on December 10, 2009, 02:53:37 PM

Reminds me of mine.....

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,18977.msg109988.html#msg109988

Fantastic quality aren't they.

Title: Re: is this Italian opalino? compote and bowls white with black rims
Post by: flying free on December 10, 2009, 07:37:56 PM

Tiger thanks - I shall look them up as well
but .....
Martyn!, I think that's it!!!!
I am probably, nearly, 99.9% certain they are the same maker.
How exciting :)
and many thanks to all
m

Title: Re: is this Italian opalino? compote and bowls white with black rims
Post by: flying free on February 11, 2010, 10:19:57 PM

Hi
Martyn I thought you would like to know that I
contacted Neil Wilkin recently to ask about these bowls.  Sarah Wilkin very kindly came back to me and said Neil has confirmed he did make the bowls.  Also to say many thanks to Adam (aa) for suggesting Neil Wilkin made them in the first thread.
I am thrilled of course.  They are incredibly beautiful.  
m

Title: Re: compote and bowls white with black rims - ID = Neil Wilkin
Post by: Martyn K on February 12, 2010, 11:00:51 AM

Thanks for that...I contacted them about ours but the email must have gone missing, so very pleased you managed to get a positive result.
Thanks again to Adam also.