Topic: Help please with Mdina Chalice signature........

[glassobsessed]

Not folded but a clear trail I believe, seems standard on chalices I have had through my hands.

The signatures are not consistent because various people did the signing. The last one Sue shows is in the hand of the lady who did the signing for many years through the 1970s (sorry forgotten her name but her Mdinas are what we think of as the 'typical looping Mdina'), I think this is just her version of Dobson's name.

[flying free]

oh thanks John
m

[chopin-liszt]

 
I was thinking you were referring to a folded foot, m. 
And I'd completely forgotten about the trail of glass around the rims of these big early bell Chalices. I've just checked all of mine, and every single one has the trail.
Were you thinking of Marlene Bristow, John? She left Mdina when the Harris family left and went to IoWSG with them, or was it somebody else known to be at Mdina, going on after that into the later '70s?
  I know Marlene did just about everything apart from glassmaking and that her organisational skills and incredibly accurate and detailed memory made her a truly amazing asset to the company. I don't know if she got given a job as part-time engraver as well... ?

[flying free]

  yes sorry Sue, I didn't explain that very well.
I've never seen one of these so wasn't quite sure what I was looking at.
m

[glassobsessed]

No not Bristow, this ladies script carries on through pretty much all of the 70s and probably into the 80s as well.

Trailed rims not feet sorry, a folded foot would be a first.

[chopin-liszt]

No worries m, it's my brain on a go-slow. 

Thanks, John. Not Marlene.
I did think the thin loopy script went on for a few years after they left. There was also the great thick one, in the '80s, which looked like the same writing - just made with a vibrating tool that did a side-to-side thing.

[WhatHo!]

Hi, in my opinion this signature is unlike any other ive seen, do you not agree? Although its being said that all sorts were signing these this doesn't look like any Dobson signature I know of and in fact I can clearly read Ettore as the signature. I know it goes against the grain that Ettore would sign one of these but I think here it has to be considered a possibility?
I also have some other facts that could be relevant to this discussion about the Boffos and Mdina, which I will put in a new topic.

[glassobsessed]

There was a 'general reluctance' to sign in the early years at Mdina - part of the Harris philosophy. Michael Harris' signature is found on some but by no means all of the well executed and larger items. Many items for the American market were simply engraved Mdina (with a diamond point). So the majority carried no marking at all.

So far that is pretty much all that has surfaced as far as I know from 1972 or earlier, apart from a couple of items that also include personal inscriptions (one of which I have here).

I am suspicious of the signature on this goblet, there is something vaguely familiar about the goblet, perhaps it was sold on ebay in recent months. The signature does not look 'right' to me, hard to say exactly why but it's position is odd for one thing. It could read Ettore or for that matter Eric Dobson, if it read Ettore that would really make me suspicious....

John

[Patrick]

[/quote]

I am suspicious of the signature on this goblet, there is something vaguely familiar about the goblet, perhaps it was sold on ebay in recent months. The signature does not look 'right' to me, hard to say exactly why but it's position is odd for one thing. It could read Ettore or for that matter Eric Dobson, if it read Ettore that would really make me suspicious....
John

Yes you are correct...... here is link to the Ebay listing.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281440054939?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649
 I made an offer of 150 Euros that to my surprise was accepted.

The writing does go diagonally across the foot but but I think if someone was going to do a fake signature he would try and do it as those that are freely available to view online.

Maybe Ettore was the only available person available to do a signature for a passing 'Tourist Sale' ?

Regards,

              Patrick.

[chriscooper]

Personally I don't think it resembles any of the 'known' Dobson signatures and could easily be read as Ettori ?
Maybe  'never let the facts get in the way of a good story' could be used in reverse here.
Maybe the thought that a lot of the early stuff may in fact have been made by Boffo or Jim Munnelly and not Michael Harris at all doesn't sit too comfortable with the MH purists could be a factor