Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Piper on December 04, 2006, 10:04:28 PM
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Hi, I'm new here. I don't know a lot about glass. I got this in a box lot at an auction. I think it's beautiful. I was hoping that someone here might be able to tell me what this thing is and maybe something about who made it.
This pretty piece is 5 7/8" high. It is reverse painted olive green. The flower decorations are hand painted on the outside. It has 3 beautiful blown glass star shaped feet. The only marking on it is the nimber '5' hand painted on the bottom.
Thank you for any help you can give me.
-Piper.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r288/zatzafraz/Picture.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r288/zatzafraz/Picture023-2.jpg
mod: images far too large - please use links only
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Is the imnner surface painted or is it coloured. If painted there should be signs of it breaking up?
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The glass must be colored because I can see no signs at all of paint breaking up. you can also see signs of the same coloured glass on the feet where the gold has worn. I've never seen glass of this color before. Do you have any idea what this item is? Could it be a purfume bottle?
-Piper.
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I'm getting more and more confused by this item. The glass appears to be colored olive green but when you look through the bottle at a bright light the light shines through a bright reddish-orange (amber) color. If it was colored glass wouldn't it appear green through the light? The glass is quite thick and is glossy. Also the number '5' on bottom is painted over the pontil which appears to have been ground and polished. The glass makes a very clear "ping, ping, ping" noise when I flick it with my finger. It doesn't thud it pings. I don't know if any of this will be of any use in identifying the bottle but I thought it might help.
-Piper.
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I think your glass is coloured and I've seen American and Bohemian glass in this sort of coffee looking colour although usually paler. If if has a reddish glow when held up to the light then it's some sort of opaline glass
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Slightly off the wall thought: The three legs perhaps might convey some ceremonial aspect, or at least a nod in that direction? I've been wondering if it was designed as vessel to keep ashes in as a keepsake?
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Hi Piper, while looking at glasshound web site there was a piece of hand painted glass that was only numbered on the bast by Baccara, so if someone could give Blaire a nudge he might have some clue, also i think it is a dresser box, for hair pins ect.
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clue, also i think it is a dresser box, for hair pins ect.
A hair-tidy type thing would be more probable than an ashes container I should think. :D
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:-[ Um, it did have some ashes in it when I got it. I just thought that maybe someone used it as an ashtray. I hope they were only cigarette ashes because I washed them down my kitchen drain.
Lustrousstone, it isn't really coffee colored. It's the exact color of a green olive. But I do think that it is opaline. It looks like opaline glass.
Thanks to everyone for all their suggestions and attention to this item. I'm so glad I found this forum!! I'm learning so much about glass from these boards!! I didn't think I 'collected' glass. But as I took a good look around my house, it's amazing how many glass items I've surrounded myself with. I guess I am a collector after all :) I'll be here a lot. I may not post much because I don't know a lot. But I'll be around reading other people's posts and learning from them.
-Piper.
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Piper said:
Um, it did have some ashes in it when I got it. I just thought that maybe someone used it as an ashtray. I hope they were only cigarette ashes because I washed them down my kitchen drain.
Hmm...burial at sea, eh? ;D Don't worry about it anyway, this item could have any number of uses, or just be purely decorative. :)
We're glad to have another collector on the GMB, feel free to add items for discussion or just 'show and tell' - we always love seeing people's glass.
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on ashes being in it; Piper, I've never actually seen funerary ashes but from what I've heard they look like they don't look like cigarette ash. they are chunky... if it looked like cigarette ash it probably was.
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I spotted a lamp base with exactly the same colouring and ilk of decoration being sold on German eBay, which probably indicates that it's likely continental European (American glass rarely travels to Europe, it seems).
The lamp fittings looked c.1910 - 1930-ish.
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... funerary ashes but from what I've heard they look like they don't look like cigarette ash....
Mostly from the coffin too.
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(American glass rarely travels to Europe, it seems).
Lots of American Carnival Glass did!
Glen
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Okay... besides carnival glass... and ceaseless amounts of Anchor Hocking! ;D
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:) What a relief!! The ashes looked like cigarette ashes. I was feeling rather guilty thinking that I washed someone's ancestor (or part of their ancestor) down the drain.
From what I have gleaned about this vessel here is that it is opaline glass. I researched opaline and it does look like olive colored milk glass and it is bright reddish when you look through it. Opaline glass is usually french, right? Baccarat is a French company and it has a Baccarat sort of look to it. So it could be Baccarat. Probably made in the late 19th or early 20th century. I'd say the decorations are Art Nouvou style which is consistant with that time period. Opaline glass was also at it's peak during that time. This vessel could have been some type of cerimonial piece bust most likely has a perfecly normal domestic use. It's probably not a perfume bottle though.
:D How did I do on my first glass research project?
-Piper.
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Hi Piper, & welcome to the board.
This is a nice item,late Victorian in style, C.1890s, maybe a bit later. Looks like it once had a stopper of some sort.....it's not a typical perfume bottle shape, but it does look like it must have been intended to contain something....
There is a lot of this type of decorated opaline glass about, typically the items are pairs of vases or lustres, but there were also various bottles & lidded containers for the dressing table.
A lot of the bigger vases got converted to lamps at a later point in their lives.
I think it is of Bohemian origin rather than French.
The French opaline glass tends to be in pastel shades such as pink, pale blue, milky white,etc.
These brownish-greens & beige colourations in opaque glass are sometimes referred to as "Fireglow", due to their fiery opalescent appearance when held up to the light.
B.t.w, with regards to ashes, all opalescent glass contains bone ash,(animal by-product from meat production) in order to create the opalescent effect. Arsenic was another ingredient.
Such horrid stuff to make such pretty glass! :o
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I've just had a look back through eBay and, typically, can find neither hide nor hair of the auction I was referencing - but I am fairly certain the piece I mentioned was designed to be a lamp base, rather than a later conversion.
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Hi Heartofglass,
Yes!! Fireglow does describe it perfectly!!! And I'm sure it did have a stopper in it once because there are faint scratches around the inside of the neck. Thank you, I think it's a pretty thing too although my husband and mother-in-law thinks it's ugly. But, you know what they say about opinions :D
Bone ashes and arsenic in glass? I never knew that. It's rather interesting though. Did the arsenic make the glass poisonous? Is that why you never seem to see this sort glass used for food preparation and serving?
It's ok Pinkspoons. I can never seem to find anything twice on the internet either unless I save the page to favorites.
-Piper.
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Hi Piper,
glass, especially of the antique type,contains many weird & often toxic substances. Consider vaseline glass, which owes it's glowing yellow-green colour to uranium!
These subtances are actually in quite small concentrations, however, & they shouldn't be harmful. They are "locked up" in the substance of the glass itself. Minute amounts of leaching of these minerals or compounds may occur, for example, vaseline glass does give off radiation in the form of alpha, beta, & gamma rays.
The amount of radiation given off by vaseline glass is very small, & not thought to be harmful.
However,these minerals were very dangerous to the glassmakers who worked with them, especially in the old days when there were few concerns about worker's health & safety.
If the glass is cut, using wheels, or sanded, the fine dust particles created may be ingested & would be detrimental to one's health.
As for an item sitting safely in a cabinet or on a shelf as a decorative piece, it shouldn't be a cause for concern. However, I wouldn't recommend using items like this to contain food or drink.The use of lead in crystal glass has been an prominent example of this particular issue. Manufacurers have had to reduce the amount of lead in order to make it safe to use for drinking glasses, & old lead crystal is seen as potentially unsafe for food & beverage use.
Glass chemistry is still a rather mysterious science, more like alchemy in many ways, & much of it's practice is not fully understood. Glassmakers also like to keep their methods secret!
Arsenic (in various oxide forms) was used, along with other minerals such as tin oxide, to create opaque milk glass.
The bone ash also contributed to creating a milky effect with fiery opalescent qualities.
Hope this helps! :)
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Hi Marinka and Piper,
Here's a link to Tony Hayter's article on (true) vaseline glass, which references the UK National Radiological Protection Board's study that determined that uranium glass is safe under normal conditions.
http://www.1st-glass.1st-things.com/vaselineglass.html
Cheers.