06 Feb 2020 22:44
Tags collection donation rogerwillsmer
The museum has received its largest-ever donation of over six hundred pieces of glass. Long-time glass collector Roger Willsmer, 76, of Upminster, Essex, contacted us in mid-November 2019 offering almost his entire collection.
We have had donations before, but nothing of this magnitude. We are most appreciative of Roger’s generous gift and will care for it well.
The donation will increase the size of the museum collection by about fifty percent.
Most of it was made by Isle of Wight Studio Glass and some by Mdina Glass from the late 1960s to the 1980s. It includes many important pieces signed by Michael Harris, the founder of both these studios.
It will take about a year of planning to determine the best way to display a significant part of the new donation. In the meantime most of it will be kept in storage.
Because of space and resource limitations we will have to select what’s displayed in the exhibition, choosing the best pieces for permanent display while rotating the rest.
Anton Doroszenko
Museum Director