Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Malta Glass => Topic started by: davidfish1212 on March 26, 2012, 02:07:31 PM
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Hi all,
I bought this vase at the car boot sale yesterday for a couple of pounds, the seller said it was from his mums and was an old vase, he thought 70's. It has no markings and has a Mdina look to it, it stands 8" tall......but there is something about it that has me doubting it is Mdina. Please could one of the resident Mdina experts ( you know who you are ;) ) please have a look and let me know their opinions, as their thoughts and opinions I trust, mine I still don't!! ;D
Cheers in advance,
David
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Hi David, this could well be Mtarfa glass, certainly Maltese.
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Neither but it is from Mtarfa ;D quite a few examples of other shapes in this colourway if you search the board.
John
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I think we cross posted John.
Mtarfa it is.
:)
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Yes, that reads like I am claiming it is not Maltese. :o
There are signed examples to be found.
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Thank very much for the quick replies, maybe I am finally starting to pick up some glass knowledge / vibe, I just knew it wasn't Mdina ( well I was at least 51% sure! ) Cheers again, David
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Ah, but this Mtarfa is the most Mdina-like Mtarfa. I believe it's one of their earliest colourways - it certainly has features in common with Mdina - the use of silver chloride to alter the colours of the glass - but you'll find the Mtarfa use is always cased - as it is here - so that you end up with slightly greenish blobs.
For a very long time I thought this was Mdina - then I found a marked piece.
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Thanks Sue, what you say about the casing I can look out for, it sits really well with the Mdina, I know what you mean when you say it is very Mdina like. I did a quick google and see it was started in 1981 by One of the Said brothers, are they still making glass and was it a fall out that the brothers started rival companies? I have noticed today when I went back to the vase that there looks to be the remnants of a sticky label on the side near the base of the vase, it looks to have been a long thin label, was this an early label, compared to the round oval ones?
Cheers, David
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I have no idea if it was a falling out or simply a new business opportunity.
Joseph Said still runs Mdina, (set up by Michael Harris) Paul set up Mtarfa. They were both apprentices of Michael Harris.
I am clueless about labels, sorry!
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They did use a rectangular paper label with rounded corners, you can see one on the vase in this ebay completed listing (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-70s-80s-Retro-Paul-Said-Mtarfa-Studio-Art-Glass-Sandy-Stripes-Vase-/350545665997?pt=UK_Art_Glass&hash=item519e265fcd) before it vanishes.
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Thanks again for the help and information, Glass from Malta has me hooked, even my young brother has nicked one of my Mdina lollypops for his flat over the, I thought, trendier bits.
Cheers, David
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Oops, supposed to say that he nicked a lollypop rather than any of the trendier Whitefriars glass that I have ;D
Cheers and thanks, D
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;D
I believe Mdina is trendier than wfs, these days.