Topic: UGB/ Sherdley kingfisher bowl and gazelle bowl by Harold Stabler

[Chris Harrison]

No, I don't think the one I saw was re-fired.  Just sprayed. 

There's a lot of colour fakery in the bottle world, especially with blue and green poison bottles - or inks - or Codds - or soda syphons - or amber/brown if that's a rare colour for a particular bottle.  See BBR magazine for more info.

It's usually done by spraying with lacquer.  I occasionally find it with pieces of pressed glass, too.  Bought a nice bright yellow Vizner piece at a car boot last year.  When I washed it, the colour came off in strips!

[Anne]

The brown ones I've seen are brown glass too Chris. The only painted glass I have found was a coronation plate with the remains of gold and red paint, which washed off too. (I've seen fully painted ones of these so presume they'd been goofus'd.)

[Chris Harrison]

I was only teasing, Anne.  Given the calibre and experience of the people commenting on this thread, I didn't really imagine that you'd all been taken in!

However, I suspect that there's more colour doping around than people imagine.

[Lustrousstone]

It would be interesting to see such a piece of pressed glass, as the only thing I've ever found that was designed to deceive is this http://lustrousstone.co.uk/cpg/displayimage.php?pid=84.

It's not uncommon to find pressed glass with an official sprayed on finish that doesn't last as well as it might, some of the Chance stuff for example.

[Anne]

Oooh Chris, you are naughty! You'll be creating a new internet glass myth if you're not careful!

[Chris Harrison]

Not a myth, I'm afraid.  Google "lacquer for glass" and you'll find plenty of products available for crafters, so that they can colour glass, mostly for stained glass effect and home decor.  These probably won't fool anyone who knows about glass and looks closely.

However, there is a potential for colouring nano-lacquers, such as the clear coatings that are applied to your car bodywork and windscreen.  These adhere extremely well, can be applied thinly, and are very durable and scratch-resistant.  So long as the mixture is applied to a piece of glass in good nick, and coats both inside and out, it would be virtually invisible and require you to chip or break the item to detect the treatment

New coatings are being developed all the time.  Some require curing in a kiln or kitchen oven.  Others do not.  It might not bother glassies too much, since values are relatively low, but some bottle collectors have collections worth thousands (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mj2y/features/poison), and they get quite twitchy when the subject comes up 

[Chris Harrison]

I've just been reminded that I put Her Indoors's favourite purple vase in the dishwasher.  It came out clean and colourless.  Fortunately IKEA still had them in stock!

[Anne]

Heh heh heh I did that with some nice blue iridescence tumblers Chris, and they came out clear!  Some of the coated glass has a slightly plasticky feel so you can tell it's coated. Others are a bit trickier.

[Chris Harrison]

Here's one that someone seems to have been monkeying with.  A cheapo pressed vase that's commonly found in clear. I picked it up for 10p thinking that the purple was unusual.   It has an imitation star-cut base with a number 2 in the centre. 

Once home, I realised that the colour had been added by dipping the vase in something.  One side is very dark, almost black, while the other is much paler.  The inside is coloured, too, and has a tide mark where the liquid was tipped out of it.

It clearly has some kind of coating.  It's not a "cloud glass" effect.  I've tried attacking it with a screwdriver and sundry sharp objects, but with no effect.  It's certainly not at all plasticky.

I wonder whether it has been baked on.  Or is just a very durable lacquer?

Anyone know of anything similar?

[Anne]

Hmmm not seen one like that before Chris... you do find some curious things!