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Author Topic: Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?  (Read 12892 times)

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Offline catshome

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Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?
« on: August 17, 2006, 03:42:31 PM »
Hi - Just wondered if anyone had any tips for telling the difference between cobalt, bristol and irish blue glass................and any other types I may not have got confused by yet.  I would post a photograph but it's so hard to tell the actual colour of "blue" glass from a picture.  The bowl I have is a lovely purple/blue colour.  I don't think it's anything special but it got me looking at blue glass...........hence the confusion!

Many thanks
Cat
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Offline David E

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Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2006, 05:01:54 PM »
Hi Cat,

Not sure whether this is helpful, but whenever I photo Bristol Blue it always appears with a purplish tinge. This could just be my camera of course :roll:
David
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Offline Pinkspoons

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Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2006, 05:08:04 PM »
Holmegaard's deep blue of the 50s-70s also has a purple tint to it. It might be common to a lot of dark blue glass, I don't know as I only have Holmegaard pieces to work from.

Edit: That should read 30s-70s. The deep blue of the 1820s-1920s was brighter and lighter, from the pieces I've owned and seen.

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Offline David E

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Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?
« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2006, 05:12:16 PM »
The story goes that the glassworks owner would throw a gold sovereign into every fresh pot of glass to give it the distinctive Bristol Blue hue.

Here's a link that might help:

http://www.bristol-glass.co.uk/
David
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Offline catshome

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Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2006, 06:00:38 PM »
Thank you all.

Nic - I was very interested to hear that Holmegaard had made blue glass with a purple tint..............I'm particularly drawn to Scandinavian glass that's why I bought this - it's very simple (quite heavy).  I posted a couple of photos as you might have seen something like it yourself.  Still amazed I can't get it to photograph the colour it actually is!

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/albums/userpics/smallerDSCN1186.jpg

the bottom is :

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/albums/userpics/smallerDSCN1190.jpg

I'm off to check out the bristol glass site.

Thanks again
Cat
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Offline Pinkspoons

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Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2006, 06:12:50 PM »
Hi.

It's a very nice and simple piece, but unfortunately not one I recognise from anywhere. It's not Holmegaard, though. I can say that with relative certainty.

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Offline catshome

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Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2006, 06:14:49 PM »
Thank you for taking a peek...........it is rather nice and so much better in the "flesh"!  Cat
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Offline Pinkspoons

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Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2006, 06:23:00 PM »
Just for colour reference, here's a Holmegaard jug dating from 1950. The purple tint doesn't show up too well, unfortunately...


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Offline catshome

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Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2006, 06:30:47 PM »
Hi again Nic,

At the risk of this turning into a mutual admiration society.............NICE JUG!  I like the way the foot "lifts" the body of the jug - it looks more squat than I would have expected - is it distorted in the photograph?

I just realised that the halo on the white surface under the jug is the same colour as I had on the paper I put under my bowl - you can really see the purple there.  Funny how it doesn't photograph though.

Cat
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Offline Lustrousstone

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Identifying Blue glass..........Bristol, Cobalt, Irish?
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2006, 06:31:04 PM »
According to our friend Ivo (Glass fact file a-z), Bristol blue is so called because the colorant, zaffre (containing cobalt oxide), was produced in or imported through Bristol (1760-90 and 1820-40). It is a greenish blue to dark blue lead glass. So it is a cobalt blue, but you pays your money and choses your shade :lol:

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