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Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: spencerline on October 30, 2011, 01:23:40 PM

Title: Early Mdina?
Post by: spencerline on October 30, 2011, 01:23:40 PM

Hi this bottle is 14" tall, triangular and has a flat ground base. Can anyone positively identify it? cheers Kev

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: glassobsessed on October 30, 2011, 01:34:19 PM

Mdina, Tricorn bottle, circa 1970. There you go, that is twice now from me!  ;)

Lovely bottle and they actually deserve the tag 'hard to find'.

John

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: jonchellycain on October 30, 2011, 08:43:36 PM

Hi Kev
Welcome to the board. Nothing to add on the piece that John has not already said. It is a beautiful bottle an I am certainly very :mrgreen: it's one of the shapes which has so far evaded my Mdina collection.
Michelle

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: spencerline on October 30, 2011, 09:02:54 PM

Hi Michelle, thanks for the welcome, im sure another will turn up for you have you been collecting for long? Kev

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: jonchellycain on October 30, 2011, 09:27:58 PM

Since I was born lol but that was anything and everything. Been collecting all things related to Michael Harris (mdina Gozo, IOW) for around 6 years. Glass in general around 10 years.
Are you a mdina collector or general glass collector
Michelle

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: spencerline on October 30, 2011, 09:37:30 PM

Hi Michelle, I began collecting Murano and other things around 15years ago and picked up a bit of Mdina and one or two unknowns along the way. I havent  purchased any glass for around 5 years because I have been travelling but I think I will add to my collection again soon.

I like the look of the IOW Attenuated bottles and am thinking of one of those next, ive gotten the bug again now weve settled in the Algarve, Kev

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: jonchellycain on October 30, 2011, 09:49:09 PM

My attenuated bottle cracked quite a few years back it had a small chip on the base when i bought it which must have weakened it or it had an unvisible fracture, i picked it up to clean it and it cracked right through
I have a couple of IOW blue and White swirl which are pictured in another thread, but somebody has added an enormous blue and White swirl attenuated bottle, I've personally never seen one that big before
Here is the link
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php?topic=27429.new;topicseen#new

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: spencerline on October 30, 2011, 10:10:49 PM

Hi Michelle thanks for the pics, I have just been on Ebay and there are 4 bottles the biggest at 18.5". The nicest one is the one with the label in tortoiseshell its probably early 80s with a ground polished base, it has the shortest body and longest neck.

The other 3 bottles are early pontil bases I think before the coachbolt but not as slick as the later model. It is meant to be the other way around bodies growing and necks shrinking but this is proof that its not the case, like your blue swirl bows with a different pontil mark. Kev

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: glassobsessed on October 31, 2011, 09:04:03 AM

Quote from: spencerline on October 30, 2011, 10:10:49 PM

the one with the label in tortoiseshell its probably early 80s with a ground polished base

The base will not be ground and polished, all the attenuated bottles have a snapped pontil mark, there is simply not the depth and quantity of glass present that would be necessary to grind and polish a base flat.

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: chopin-liszt on October 31, 2011, 11:45:27 AM

And the 14" shorter ones are scarcer - so tend to have a bit of a price premium on them.

A flat polished base would suggest Mdina rather than IoWSG.....

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: spencerline on October 31, 2011, 01:14:25 PM

This  Label was only put on in the 80s but for me the later bottle is the best example of these bottles having the shorter body and in comparison exteremly long straight neck, better than all the earlier bottles ive seen. You are correct of course about the pontil mark on the bottles but the other glass produced in the 80s had the bases ground and polished.

I suppose as a collector I should be looking for a Seaward design in a  37cm size as the smaller bottles sold less. But for skill and aesthetically pleasing to me I like the 80s bottle on ebay, what to do? lol

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: glassobsessed on October 31, 2011, 01:21:27 PM

There is an attenuated bottle that looks just like Tortoiseshell in a local antiques center, the base is polished flat and the body is round like a cylinder. It was made at Mdina, IoW tortoiseshell is very similar to Mdina's earthtone colourway - not surprising as they were both developed by Michael Harris.

The seller is convinced because of the creamy brown colours that it is IoW not Mdina, odd really because I bought both my IoW attenuated bottles in tortoiseshell from him and they differ dramatically.

For me, gently sloping long shoulders are desirable, like this one: https://picasaweb.google.com/Johnmj100/EarlyIsleOfWightStudioGlass#5484549765600200162
but for the shorter variations I love the 'club' shape: https://picasaweb.google.com/Johnmj100/EarlyIsleOfWightStudioGlass#5511635700408967090

John

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: spencerline on October 31, 2011, 01:55:25 PM

Hi John, they are both super examples of the IOW bottles  are they yours? Kev

Title: Re: Early Mdina?
Post by: glassobsessed on October 31, 2011, 02:14:19 PM

They are indeed. ;D

The Aurene bottle is signed "IOW glass England", so it was once one of the Studio's archive pieces.