Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: vanmann on June 17, 2015, 12:35:17 PM
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Hoping that someone can confirm this signature as Mtarfa. If not any other suggestions please. I can never understand how someone can create an exquisite piece of glass yet are unable to write a single legible word!!!!
All thoughts appreciated, John
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No expert, but it's Isle of Wight (IOW) isn't it? Far better known for JiPs
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Not IoW. I would say Mtarfa
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The writing underneath doesn't look like any "Mtarfa" I've seen, but they did use a lot of odd looking writing anyway.
The style of JIP looks far more Alum Bay IoW than any other, but Alum Bay JIPs are very finely blown, with kicked-up bases.
IoWSG did not make JIPs.
I do not remember ever seeing a Mtarfa JIP.
Is the beast either very heavy or very light, Vanmann?
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390 grammes, 20 cms tall so fairly substantial. I would not have expected Alum Bay to have flat ground base, but I may be wrong on that
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It's the overall shape that is reminiscent of Alum Bay - the colours less so, and I would have expected Alum Bay to be very finely blown. I think we can rule them out.
I really wouldn't like to say Mtarfa either, given the mark on the base, but I don't know what else it might/could be.
I'm clueless, I'm afraid.
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I agree that the sig is ambiguous and I thought 'IOW' was there- perhaps not on second glance. Here is a link to some JiPs from Alum Bay (https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=alum+bay+glass+%22jack+in+pulpit%22&espv=2&biw=1263&bih=1054&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=dqeBVavvH8j7Up-bg_AI&ved=0CCAQsAQ) (perhaps).
Here's one for Mtarfa JiPs (https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=alum+bay+glass+%22jack+in+pulpit%22&espv=2&biw=1263&bih=1054&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=dqeBVavvH8j7Up-bg_AI&ved=0CCAQsAQ#tbm=isch&q=mtarfa+glass+%22jack+in+pulpit%22) (perhaps).
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I do recognise some Mtarfa colourways amongst those - so Mtarfa is the most likely after all.
(Although I'd like to see a marked piece in this colourway, in a different shape, to be 100% sure.)
I don't know how to condense a link to a search. I deleted the JIP bit of David's search and plugged in "signature" instead. Some odd, crude marks did appear, which might be similar to this one?
I can only ask others to do the same, and try to see if they can compare the squiggle. I can't compare squiggles because of short term memory problems. By the time I look at the second thing, I've forgotten what the first one looks like.
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In my opinion certainly not Alum Bay - plus the fact that as far as I know, they never signed their glass - at least not run of the mill items - and as Sue has said their bases almost always had a 'kick'.
I would suggest this is a slightly unusual Mtarfa signature, or some Maltese copy - the flat base is very like the Maltese pieces.
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First thought was Alum Bay too but the base...
What about Valletta?
John
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Two other Mtarfa JIPs on the board here:
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,29031.0.html
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,52900.0.html
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The blue and white one (I think it is white anyway) would be the same colours as your fish on a pedestal Anne.
I raise your two Mtarfa's with a Valetta: http://blog.peterlupinski.com/?tag=valletta-glass
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Doesn't the signature read Valetta? thats what it looks like to me :)
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No idea! It's not my area of interest at all, I only knew about the two JIPs I mentioned above as I'd just moved the topics from Glass into Malta whilst doing a bit of housekeeping on the board. Even the Mtarfa fish isn't really my thing, I just thought it was worth picking up as a reference being signed. :)
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I think that John, supported by Roberta, has cracked this.
The mark on the base quite easily reads Valetta, once you're looking for it.
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Thank you all very much, certainly now looks like Valletta glass
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They are always much easier to read once you know what they are supposed to be! ;)