Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Tami on February 05, 2007, 01:52:13 PM
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Is uranium still being used in new "glow" clothing buttons currently being manufactured in the Czech Republic? If not, what other material would be used to make this buttons glow under a black light? Thanks, Tami
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I know uranium glass is still being made and produced. Dave (mrvaselineglass) Peterson submitted an article on here some time ago about some new glass he'd purchased. I'll see if I can find it...
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Fenton use uranium to colour their glass. Summit Art Glass used to use it before they folded recently. I understand that its use is strictly controlled, of course, but it certainly is in use today.
Edited to add - also Boyd - I have some of their recently made vaseline Carnival novelties.
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Jack Loranger in the USA still makes uranium glass items... http://www.hotglass.cc/
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I have seen modern cheap French glassware with a fluorescent green coating on clear glass that actually glows bright green under a UV light and there is all sorts of UV reactive jewellery for disco wear. BUT I would doubt that any of them contain uranium, it's too expensive. I would guesss your buttons don't contain uranium either
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Desna show pieces in Uranium yellow in their current online catalogue:
http://www.desna-glass.cz/pages/en/katalogen.html
Steven
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Yes but they're aiming at the collectors market like the Amercian stuff.
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Hi,
I thought it was now illegal to use uranium oxide in glass making in EU countries
Regards
Chris
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I'm not sure since when tthat might have been, but a modern item:
http://www.czech100.com/?lang=en&page=icons&id=97
Regards,
Marcus
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See here www.ujp.cz/?id=599&lang=en (http://www.ujp.cz/?id=599&lang=en). Uranium oxide for sale to the glass industry, together with links to users
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There are still vaseline glass beads coming out of the Czech republic (or they have a HUGE backlog of inventory). They could also make the buttons by melting down cullet (scrap) fairly easily. I had not heard of a ban in the EU about using uranium oxide as a colorant. That is news to me if it is true.
I have been quiet on this board for about 2 months, due to moving. I am now relocated and have the computer set up again, so will check in regularly when I have something to offer.
Dave
aka: Mr. Vaseline Glass
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I'm not sure since when tthat might have been, but a modern item:
http://www.czech100.com/?lang=en&page=icons&id=97
Georgeous examples! But...
:o The artist has managed to successfully combine contemporary design with craftsmanship. ;D
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I have been quiet on this board for about 2 months, due to moving. I am now relocated and have the computer set up again, so will check in regularly when I have something to offer.
Nice to hear from you again - I did wonder where you'd gone.
I couldn't find your article on the new uranium glass you had made - can you remember it?
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David, was it the new frame Dave had made for a uranium glass piece you were remembering? That thread is here: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,7151.0.html
Dave, nice to see you back, hope the move went well. :)
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Yes indeed - welcome back. Missed your expertise, Dave!
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In recent weeks our 'anna-green' sensors have been going crazy. And our provisional conclusion is that we are seeing a 'flood' of new 'uranium green items turning up in the 'antique' trade here. It's difficult to prove cos we haven't found a modern mark on any of them yet, but they seem to have a distinctive and different colour ( a little darker and deeper than most genuine examples). Our suspicions are also aroused when we find easily damaged 'plastiques' (i.e. sculptural items) which are in suspiciously good condition.
The designs are similar but not identical to popular VSL posy vases, Walther centrepieces, and Brockwitz (-attributed) patterns and good enough to fool many a passer-by..
We have found such 'art-deco' items in rose-pink which bear modern Czech lazer-sandblasted marks, and suspect that these are now generally being offered through the antique trade here (most are unmarked).
To date no single seller has declared their item as modern, even if we can show them a modern factory mark on the base, they want to argue!
It still seems a bit odd that a vase which will sell for 10 euros if it's correct/period, is worth the effort of 'faking'!
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There's plenty of vaseline ("uranium yellow") coming out of the "Desna" factory today, especially those vases with the female figures on.
http://www.desna-glass.cz/
Glen
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It is not a question of faking - just the continued production of popular product designs. If a book list "Classic Czech Perfume designed 1932 and still in production.", you can be certain that it will be offered on a stall as Czech 1932. Most price tickets are quite small and it would be very hard for a dealer, particularly with cold fingers in the morning air behind his stall, to write a lenghty description and still leave room for the price. Of course in some cases, the books also economise on ink and only leave the design date - it is only human nature to suffer myopia in such cases. Older is better than new!
The same phenomenon happens here on the GMB when literacy challenged dealers are told that their treasure appears in a 1906 catalogue, the explanation might then continue at length with why only a limited production was produced at that time with the mould being rediscover 90 years later and production restarted. On eBay it becomes 1906. The dealers was looking for the answer to 3 questions Who, When, What is it worth, they have no time for more.
This begs the question is older better than new? Not always, sometimes the quality of materials used is better in modern times. But also it should be the aesthetic of the design that is valued, a hypothetical date of production is largely irrelevant in that respect. It might be that particular colours were not produced beyond a certain date, or introduced at a specific date. The collector as opposed to investor is often valueing these minor details more than the actual age. Items that are in production for decades are no longer uncommon, perhaps collecting ideals that grew in an age of more handmade goods are themselves in need of change. But while collectors are treating the modern production, perhaps even continuous production, of classic designs with disdain then the dealers will certainly cater to those whims. Only the specialist dealer will have sufficient knowledge to sort his stock of pressed pink "Pandora's box" into its 8 decades of production. The general dealer will ever stick to 1927 as that is what it says in 'The Book'
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The 'faking' element (which I referred to) is entirely on the part of the dealer, and the misleading description they attach to such items
Of course, the point here is the specific myth that needs to be dispelled, namely:
"Uranium green is always indicative of pre-war production".
Though this IS true for the Dutch factories (for instance), it doesn't extend to Czech glass!
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a very happy Welcome back, Mr. Dave Vaseline :D
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Speaking of new uranium glass: Bayel from France (officially: ROYALES DeCHAMPAGNE CRISTALLERIES) made a recent line of birds that incorporated uranium glass in their designs, either the tail or the head. On this parrot, the tail portion closest to the body is brilliant vaseline yellow, fading to a greenish blue (we call the color 'teal'). the entire tail glows under a blacklight, as there is uranium glass under the blue color. the slight highlights that can be seen around the head are internal reflections. The entire body is clear except for the tail portion. I also have a cockatoo that has a yellow & green head that has a satin finish. These retailed for $150-200 US $. I bought this (pictured) parrot at the GLASS FAIRE in Birmingham UK almost 3 years ago, and got the Cockatoo a year ago.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/parrotUV.jpg (http://www.vaselineglass.org/parrotUV.jpg)
This piece was made in the Czech Republic less than 2 years ago. It is in the old style of a base glass of vaseline,with a blue glass overlay (like Val St. Lambert used to do it). It is contemporary and very limited edition. I may have even written about this piece in the past, but if not, here it is.
http://www.vaselineglass.org/bluevase05.jpg (http://www.vaselineglass.org/bluevase05.jpg)
the people who arranged for it to be made had to find 5 different craftsman who each did part of the process, and they had to find a factory that would make the blanks for them. It took 3 years and several trips to the Czech Republic to get the whole process worked out. There were several shapes made, and the overlay was either red or blue.
Dave Peterson
aka: Mr. Vaseline Glass