Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Anik R on June 16, 2011, 02:25:04 PM
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This magnificently strange glass owl came my way as a gift from a very generous soul outside of Poland. :) I wish I knew how to adequately describe the object... The inside is made of clear glass. It then has a thin layer of goldish-beige not evenly spread over the bird. That layer is covered with turquiosy-green glass of varying thickness. Then, in some places over the green, is another thin layer of goldish-beige. Does that make sense? It's 9cm tall and weighs 458g.
I found a similar owl (though in a different colourway) in Frank's Glass Zoo labeled and signed Mdina. My owl has not got any marks, but it has got quite a lot of wear to the base.
All thoughts welcomed. Thank you for looking. :hi:
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I don't actually know when or for how long this lovely range of surface decorated pieces was produced. They mostly seem to be owls, apples or miniature bottles in various shapes - there are a few on ebay just now, easily found under a search for Mdina - but they're not always available. They make quite good money!
I've got an owl and a tiny "squashed flat" flanged bottle.
The silvery, yellowy, goldy lustre-y effects are the result of the glass and silver metal reacting (silver metal ions dissociate from the chloride ions in intense heat - it's the silver chloride salt which is used - but I don't know precisely how this particular effect was achieved.
At the moment these are filed under; "Collect now, find out about later."
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Thank you, Sue :kissy:.
Before posting, I did search "owl" and "Mdina" on ebay UK, but did not come up with anything which I thought pointed me in the right direction. I also did not see another piece with the same marble-like decoration and colours. I guess in my excitement, I missed something. :usd:
I really do like this owl -- the bum indentation at the top of its head adds to its quirkiness. ;D
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Hi Anik :hi: Sorry I haven't been in touch for a while......will put that right soon!!
In the meantime, I have one of these little owls with 'Gozo Glass' etched on the base, so the Maltese attribution seems to be accurate.
They are cute, and I am off to see if I can find where I have put him..........only about 600 pieces to look through :wsh:
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Could we see your Gozo one, pretty please Rosie?
My two bits are clearly inscribed Mdina.
Anik, the bits on ebay aren't owls!
http://global.ebay.com/STUNNING-MDINA-MALTESE-GLASS-VASE-SIGNED-WITH-LABEL/180679386520/item
http://global.ebay.com/3-Vasen-Mdina-Malta-1960-70/200472061729/item
http://global.ebay.com/Mdina-Design-Glas-Vase-Malta-signiert-Handarbeit/250818984092/item
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Certainly Sue....I will take a pic of him....he is smaller and is clear glass with the applied colours....a bit scuffed when I bought him, but OK as he also has a label!! (Probably means he is more modern though!)
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Gozo was founded by Michael Harris and Leonard Mulligan (who started Phoenician glass) and Rupert Brooke as a retirement project in 1989.
I suspect this was perhaps a short-lived range at Mdina - you really don't see much of it about - and it's always expensive. The marks on my owl and flask are in different scripts - but both are scripts which are often mistaken as reading "Molina". I reckon '80s/'90s, but I could well be wrong.
Anik's owl is Mdina - right down to the bum head.
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Anik, the bits on ebay aren't owls!
Sue, I looked at ebay... honestly I did... and not just for owls, but for glass with a similar design/effect. But in my elation of being undeservedly spoilt with such lovely gifts, my eyes and brain took a momentary holiday. :spls: I ended up overlooking what I had been looking for.
By the way, Michelle has got a similar-shaped owl, labeled Mdina, in her album: https://picasaweb.google.com/112538457954992188877/Mdina#5582073838419219730
Rosie, I'd also like to see a photo of your Gozo owl... and Sue, may you post a picture of your owl as well? Pretty please...
:hi:
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A couple here Anik
https://picasaweb.google.com/107067405711297858658/PAIRTURQUISEBLUEMDINAOWLS#5533898706543758722
Had a few over the years, nice but again struggled to get anyone else to think so ;D
Chris
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Here we go then, but he is quite different now that I have found him....swirls of colour in clear glass:-
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I like all of yours better than I like mine!! :cry:
Chris, when did you list yours for sale? I didn't see them! :thud:
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I think he's lovely Rosie!
Mdina owls in this colourway do turn up. You just have to be patient and keep trawling.
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I had a little chuckle when you mentioned Molina....I often see that and tell the seller that Molina make Bongs for smoking hash!! Boy do they change it quickly!!
Anik, you owl is so pretty and very special....I hope I am lucky enough to find one like that.....and what a lovely friend to have given it to you....so you see, you get what you deserve...... :kissy:
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Had a few over the years, nice but again struggled to get anyone else to think so ;D
Chris, these owls probably aren't 'beautiful' in any sense of the word, and certainly not everyone's 'thing', but if you ask me, I'd say they are absolutely, positively, undeniably charming! :) They are such odd-looking things... I'm terribly pleased with mine.
Rosie, thank you for taking the time to photograph your Gozo owl... :kissy: It's a perfectly good owl -- just missing the bum on its head and the fabulously weird effect with colours. ;D
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Well Anik, it made me get the camera out to photograph the Scandi birds.....have you looked at the lovely blue one John showed in the thread......it is really lovely!
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Oh Rosie... (http://www.sympato.ch/smileys/Yeux.gif) now that's a BEAUTIFUL collection of BEAUTIFUL birds!!! And so, so, sssooooo many... wow!
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My owl and my pot.
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The scripts on the bases.
(the owl has 2 paper labels, one a normal Mdina one, the other just a residue of another which may belong, it might not, but it does look as if it could well have been one of the labels which had biro written numbers on it.)
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Definately going to have to get one of those 'bum head' owls....lovely Sue, thanks for sharing....you, Anik & Chris are very lucky to have them.
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Anik's bumhead owl is nicer than mine - this surface decorated stuff doen't seem to be very consistent - but my tiny wee pot is just gorgeous - it's heavy - something about it says;
"I am not simply a small thing, I am a complete and properly-scaled miniature."
It's a real shame really big bits don't seem to have been made at all!
It's a real shame my owl's label is in the middle of his tummy.
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Last October Rosie one sold on Ebay for a pittance after a couple of listing think I donated the other one did post the larger one here you must have missed it?
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,35895.msg197018.html#msg197018
It had a paper label on too Sue written in Biro, Handmade In Malta M55 think it was nicer than yours and Aniks it had a lot of Gold streaks ;D
Love the 'bum head' description Anik
Chris
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Sue, thank you for the photographs of your owl and pot... your owl is just as interesting as mine and Chris'. I like them all... :)
Just one little question... why isn't my Mdina owl signed? I don't think there is anything wrong with it, i.e. I don't think it's a second.
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Not all Mdina is or was signed. It's a time issue, if there's time they are and if there's not they're not. I don't know whether they all get labels though. I just checked 16 pieces of mine and 9 are unsigned and only 2 have labels.
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Hi all
just thought i would add that mine has what i think it the original price sticker on the base have added a picture to the Mdina album on my picasa. Label reads price m 3.50c each
My owl is also signed (fine tip swirly writting), and has his label right in the centre of his belly. I believe this paper label was used from 1968 untill the 1990's when it was replaced by the plastic ones
Well I like them too, i was quite pleased when i found this chap, and he sits in the cabinet with some of my nicer pieces of Mdina quite proudly.
michelle
https://picasaweb.google.com/112538457954992188877/Mdina#5619320727772968178
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Christine, thank you for clarifying... Perhaps I should add 'Mdina' to the bottom of my owl so that future generations know what it is???
Of course, I'm only joking... ;)