Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Malta Glass => Topic started by: fatbelly on April 07, 2018, 10:22:53 AM
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Hello.
Purchased two items that I thought maybe connected to M Harris.Is this a Mdina candlestick or a piece likely connected to M Harris.
The colour on this one is what I would consider not typical Mdina due to the dark blue and the amount of iridescence I presume from silver chloride.
Stands a tad over 6”.
The base has a snapped Pontil and measures 3.75”d.
Weighs 422g
Any help appreciated.
FB
The other stick is listed separately as it’s slightly different.
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Same as my reply on your other thread about the candlestick.
This one to me at least is more unusual, don’t usually see them in this colourway, but anything is possible at Mdina, don’t know what you’ll see next!
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I like this one better. They are unusual and fairly scarce.
I cannot add anything to what has already been said. :)
John and I have noticed that the knops on chalices can be either left "ropey" or flattened a bit, these knops appear to be flattened a bit.
I don't know if unflattened knops appear on the candlesticks or not.
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Hello Both.
Thanks you for confirming my beliefs about the piece.Its not always straight forward with Mdina and Harris with dates etc etc.
The lustre on this piece is something I have never seen the like on a pi3ce of Mdina I will post a better picture later catching it in the light better.
FB.
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There seem to be unusual colours in this one too.
Look around the base coloured part, where there is an odd shade of blue streaking through some yellow. It shows up in your first two pics. It's not cobalt, it's duller and greyer than that, but it's not teal either.
There is some of that exact blue in my tiny MH Fish, which was dated '68 by both Tim and Elizabeth Harris.
But it would depend if that colour is exact in the photo. I've just looked at photos of the tiny fish and the colour doesn't show up correctly.
The iridesence you describe is a deposit of silver ions onto the surface, they escape from inside the glass as it is manipulated to allow that to happen.
It was originally a mistake, but a serendipitous one they tried to repeat when possible, although it's dangerous.
Breathing in that sort of substance as a gas is no good for anybody's health.
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The knop looks amethyst, it can takes on a blue appearance especially when thick, much like this paperweight.
John
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I was looking at the first image, at the bottom of the knop, just up to the left of the stem, there's a yellow section with two blue streaks in it. It was that shade of grey-ish but deep blue I was blethering about.
There are other blues than can appear too, as John says. It was just those two streaks intrigued me.
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I will take come more images in more natural light to show the colours.It does tend to change colour when angled but I wouldn’t have specifically said amethyst but it may appear so with certain light.It will be interesting esp with all that lustre which hopefully the new images tomorrow will convey correctly.
Thanks to both for your knowledge and imput.
appreciated
FB.
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Having a really close look at the colour I belive it’s a dark grey blue that looks dark purple on the highly irridized surface parts.I cannot get it to show purple like in the image of the paperweight shown by John either in natural light or strip light.That colour just isn’t in this piece.
I have added some more pics for the boards data base I hope they show just how irridized the piece is.
All your views and help was and is appreciated.
FB
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Found a pic which sort of shows the colour. It helps that there's an amethyst bit and a teal bit beside it.
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I think you are spot on.The darker edges where the glass is thinker on the blue vase is about a perfect match for it without the lustre.
Nice pieces shown too.
FB.
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It's not the teal Fish, but the very small one on the right. It has that grey-blue in the wings. You can compare the blue with the teal one, just above it. :)
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It’s much darker than that.I see what you mean but looking close up the actual colour is dark grey blue swirling with the yellowish swirl and the iridescent finish.Its not teal from what can see close up its very difficult to capture.If the iridescent finish wasn’t there it would show mostly dark blue but that might just be the thickness of the glass.
Anyways i think it’s lovely little piece of Mdina and I’m happy it’s a Harris period piece.
Thanks for the imput and taking time to help
Appreciated.
FB.
Do you believe it would have a pair out there somewhere or were they made as single sticks?
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Each one will be absolutely unique. Such things would be absolutely impossible to replicate accurately, the individuality of each bit depends on exactly how that bit was worked, down to the last tiny flick of a wrist or finger. :)
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Here are two of mine . The one on the left has a wider bowl and more of a chunky look the second photo shows how different it looks with flash !
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Nice!
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With many pieces of Mdina the colour perceived will depend on whether the item is backlit or not - whether light passes through the item or it bounces off the surface, the effect is dichroic. To show that effect with the paperweight required a strong source of light - in this case the paperweight is sitting on my phone.
In these two photos of the same vase the first is backlit - the light source is behind the vase, in the second the lights are in front next to the camera.
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John........
What an amazing vase and image, beautiful.
Regards,
Patrick.
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Hi John.
Yes i agree with that but no matter how I passed light through the stick it never came up amethyst.It would be better if it did as that’s the colour my wife prefers.
Nice pic affects on your vase.A thing of beauty.
FB.
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Only ever seen these trailed knops made in amethyst or green/blue. Yours is not the green, it is however to my eye quite obviously the amethyst. If you put a strong light source right up close behind it that is what you will see, a torch light on a phone works well because it is intense and localised.
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Have already used the iPhone torch on it and it really doesn’t show amethyst
I will happily accept your opinion that this is amethyst as you say if you have only seen two colours and that’s all the colours that were ever produced then I cannot argue the point and am happy with that fact it’s just a beautiful piece of glass to me.
I just cannot get this piece of glass to show amethyst like your weight or vase.
Sorry but i have tried.
FB :)
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It really is very simple, place a bright light source directly behind the knop as close as you can get safely and then see what colour it shows from the front.
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Yes I get the simplicity of what you are saying and as said I have already done that.Im happy to accept what you say that Mdina/Harris only produced sticks in two colour ways and this is obviously not the other colour so only amethyst is left.
Thats all good I can accept that it makes no specific difference to me in real terms.Amethyst it is.
Thanks for all your help it’s appreciated.
FB.
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I can see amethyst in your very first pic. It is a very brown sort of amethyst.
Look at your first pic, it's the strapping inside the knop, at around 10 minutes to the hour. Dark-browny amethyst.
How two folk actually see any colour is highly unlikely to ever be the same. ;D
For all we know, what I call red might be what you see as green. You can't get into my head to see how my brain creates something visual out of different wavelengths of radiation. We may all have completely different rainbows in our heads, but we call the same wavelengths the same thing. :)
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These candlesticks were designed , when first made, by Mr Boffo. Mr J Said also made them at a later date. I think that , probably, my example to the right (photo above) could be a later version. One key difference... between my two.... is the fact that the join on the stem is covered by the trailed knop (the one on the left , my photo above ) the other, to the right, has the stem join showing. Also the trailed knop has been flattened with wide tongs (one to the left) !
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I would like to revise my previos comment on these candlesticks . The one on the right in this photo is very similar to a dated example from 1972 . Having shown all of these three to John we came to the conlusion that they are all early period Mdina canldlesticks form the early 1970's . Thanks for everthing John ! :)
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They share the same construction as the chalices the difference is essentially in the size of the bowl. Did the chalices change much over time?
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They went from having flared bowl shaped tops to smaller, more bucket shaped tops, and on those, the knops were often a bit thinner and wider. It was just because the stems were shorter though, a big deep knop wouldn't fit in.
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My bucket-shaped top is huge http://lustrousstone.co.uk/cpg/displayimage.php?pid=577
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;D
It is also more flared at the rim than most bucket tops. And has more complex colours than most, which tend to be mostly the deeper teal blue with the ochre streak.
It is huge, but still not as big as the bell chalices.
Possibly something from inbetween? 8)
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This one is the biggest I have ever seen :o. It's in the Isle of Wight museum and I have estimated the height at 11 inches tall ..at least ! The standard height of the earlier ones being 8.5 to 9 inches in height. It could well have been an exhibition piece but a real show-stopper nontheless !!
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The candlestick,s come in various shapes and colourways here are a few of mine.