Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => British & Irish Glass => Topic started by: brucebanner on April 23, 2016, 01:39:55 PM
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Any thoughts on this, I think it might be a fake.
Dated 1990.
Regards Chris.
14 cm in height.
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A couple more pictures.
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It's very hard to say. ???
The pontil scar is right, but the tool used to make the letters isn't the same as the thicker one used on my unique numbered Glasform pieces.
The formation of the letters looks about right, but it also looks really, really like somebody trying to copy his way of writing.
So I can't tell if he was writing badly because of using a tool he wasn't familar with, or of somebody was trying to put a signature one a piece with the right sort of tool mark on it.
I'm not aware of him using a white liner in vases, but then, there's a lot I'm not aware of. ;D
It looks a bit wonky, from your pic showing the inside and rim - John Ditchfield doesn't tend to do unintentional wonky.
The finish on the outside looks about right. :)
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Ok M i'll send the pics to glassform see what they think.
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I'm not M, I'm Sue, ;) but I think asking Glasform directly would be the best way to go.
It could be a Glasform piece which was originally unmarked, but somebody decided it would sell better with some marks?
There are clues to it being right, but also clues to it being wrong.
I take it there is no attempt to write "Glasform" on it?
I can't remember when it was he stopped signing everything.
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Thanks Sue.
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Had a good result on this one, I spoke to Mrs Ditchfield secretary this morning, Mrs Ditchfield looked at the photographs I sent and has confirmed this is the real thing from the 80's pre Glasform, it's an early one I just read the date wrong. I'll try the talc trick and see if I can get a better date it should be 1980.
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Could the "date" possibly be a unique number, rather than a date?
I'm very pleased for you that it's not a lemon! ;D
(And very relieved that I didn't decide that it wasn't. Too much was right!)
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No she said it was a year date, and should read 1980, I will try to take a better picture when I get in, it's very fine though.
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A couple of pictures of the date.
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Yes, it says, 1980. For once, I find the thumbnail images better than the larger ones for reading that date!
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It can take a glassmaker a little while to get used to using a tool to make a signature. :)
I have an early piece by Steven Foster, bought from the shelves at Broadfield House after I'd spent a lovely afternoon watching him and Ian MacDonald working.
He had a lot of trouble with it and his S came out like a "J"; Foster came out reading "Foetar".
A couple of years later, Ian was signing a piece I was buying from him at a fair - and he had even more trouble getting a mark made. The tool kept slipping and his writing went all spidery.
I know his signature is there, I still have trouble even finding it.
I'm fairly sure (now ::) ) that I've seen pretty primitive productions of "J Ditchfield" before too.