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Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Malta Glass => Topic started by: AndyD on August 22, 2018, 10:16:06 AM
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I wondered if anyone could tell me if this bottle green Mdina vase might be an experimental colour. I've not seen it before.
The dark spots are mostly bubbles and when turned in light seem to disappear. It's not signed but the button rim would suggest it being an early piece.
Thanks
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Looks circa 1969-70 to me, so certainly early. Not sure if I’d class it as experimental but more unusual than the blue/ green and amethyst ones.
Colours vary through different quantities of compounds mixing with others so perhaps it was an experiment in that regard. Otherwise the shape appears normal.
Lovely piece though!
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Have a very careful look at the base and turn it around in the light. See if it is polished completely flat, or if it has a sort of flat batutto effect.
I would suspect this is MDG, and an unusual shape for them, especially with a button rim, given Boffo was perfectly able to make lovely fine slim flanges. But he was training others at the time. If the base has the flattish batutto effect, it's MDG.
Mdina didn't have any green glass, early on, as far as I know. And I've looked. ;D
Mark's book says there is, but that is because green MDG had been seen but not identified as MDG, because we hadn't discovered it existed then. The only time green does appear in Mdina, to my knowledge, is when a swathe of clear amber results from silver reactions in a casing over a teal gather.
This is the right shade of green for MDG. (Malta Decorative Glass)
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I personally wouldn’t say MDG, never seen them imitate a sidestripe before. Button tops were Michael’s choice of finish until the Boffos taught him how to finish with wider flanges.
They certainly did have green, I have an experimental tricorn bowl completely in pastel green wth lots and lots of bubbles. Bought from Artius Glass a couple of years back and verified by Tim as Michael’s work at Mdina.
Also not aware of MDG actively using Silver Chloride either, happy to be proven wrong though.
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They imitated many Mdina shapes - I have a green tricorn bowl, I've had goblets and a chalice (without the strappy knop).
I'd be interested in seeing your green bit. I have been on the lookout for anything green that was before Said introduced the bought in colours and green appeared then in the splodgy stuff.
But i think the base finish on this side-stripe would be the decider.
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I’ve seen a lot of MDG, got a few bits for sale as it happens but never seen a sidestripe one, or indeed a piece with a button top like this. I believe I posted it some time ago on another topic. I’ll have to post it on here when I’m home. It’s very large and very heavy.
I agree, the base finish will be the decider, and intriguing piece whatever the outcome!
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I had a large collection of MDG before we knew what it was. I'd just assumed it was Mdina, but I was collecting early, nothing much was known or written about it then. I bit my nails waiting for Jackson's 20th century factory glass to be printed just to get the wee bit in that.
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I have some MDG and have sold a few pieces so am aware of the base finish you mean. This one has a flat polished base and has some faint blue in the top of the rim. I'm sure it's a Mdina piece. I will add a couple of images later.
Thanks
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Image of the base and rim.
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Well that is the first bit of true green early Mdina I've seen. (Unless it was made at a later date, but it's clear green, not the opaque of the splodgy stuff, so that's unlikely.)
The blue arises from silver ions in the casing - it's the "electric-blue cloudy" bit. :)
Never say never! ;D
However, never saying never also means we can't rule out MDG managing a flat base. ???
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I think I will stick to the early never seen before Mdina maybe made by Michael Harris. ;)
Thanks again for the info and knowledge.
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I don't think there is any reason to think MH made it.
My guts suspect MDG managed a flat base.
But I'm open to more evidence. :)
Mdina is still full of surprises, even after 22 years of it.
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Correction; 20 years. My finger twitched. ;D
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Andy, how tall is it?
John
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Heres a couple of photos; The experimental Green Tricorn bowl, bought from Artius a couple of years back, made by Michael. Also my sterotypically coloured button top sidestripe (IMO) also by Michael.
Just to clarify what I mentioned about button tops earlier, it's true that it was indeed Michael's preferred finish earlier on. But however the presence of it doesn't necessarily mean he made it. Michael was after all teaching many of his employees how to make what we wanted, so it's only natural there be perhaps less well executed button tops that are by them and not Michael himself.
If I had to give my oppinion on the green sidestripe I would have said it wasn't by him. It's not as well executed as the one I've shown which leads me to believe he didn't made it. Lovely however, nonetheless.
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This one is only half green. ;)
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Thanks for showing the tricorn. Is it signed?
This is my "half-green" pulled ears vase. Like John's, the green emerges from the mix of colours.
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Hi John, it's 11.5 cm tall and wide. A little smaller than this one.
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Hi Sue, not entirely sure, to my knowledge the answer is no, but when you look at this base wear its hard to tell if there is anything there or not ;D
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This one is 10cm, everything about Andy's vase strikes me as Mdina. The only variation (very nice I would give it a home kind of variation) is it looks so green.
Can't think of a sidestripe from MDG and so far have only seen their green along with a distinct pattern.
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I see what you mean about the base wear on the tricorn bowl. ;D
The colour is different to the green of the side stripe, but I'd not argue about the attribution. Is the glass itself clear? (rather than opaque).
I did find myself wondering if it came from a batch of bottle cullet glass they had that was simply a good bluey-green colour? :)
I've got a small green MDG cut-ice lollipop, (uncut, just marvered into shape) and I've taken some pics to show the colour, because it's not all mixed up with other colours - there is some silver nitrate in it, it just doesn't interact with the clear green too much.
When I got it out for photographing it just now, I found the base is a little odd. One bit is it is the normal batutto style, but at an angle to that, there is a plain flat bit.
Honestly, really, properly flat. I've taken pics.
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That pattern I was wittering on about is present just not well defined...
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:) Yes. The true, clear green colour shows up through it very well, it's not all affected by the silver salts.
The shape (cut-ice lollipop) helps confirm that MDG did make several Mdina shapes too. And half its bottom is actually flat, not batutto-ed.
I have no doubts Andy's side stripe is Maltese and from the correct time period. :)
I really want to get my mitts on it to see if it's a silver reaction with the hot clear casing over teal that gives rise to the green, it's perfectly possible, given the electric blue bit.
But it would be a very unusual way for the glass to have reacted and for it to be all over would make it really incredibly special.
The only other possibilty is that it's a hitherto unseen shape of MDG with a non-batutto-ed bottom.
Either would be very special indeed and it is one or t'other. ;D
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The only other possibility is that it's a hitherto unseen shape of MDG with a non-batutto-ed bottom.
I would like to show this MDG lollipop that is 'ice cut'.............the faces are fully 'battuto' but the base has none and is flat .......
Cheers,
Patrick.