Topic: Burmese? ewer with enamel and gilt decoration — Id & date please

[Leni]

But there IS UV in sunlight!  So you WILL see a reaction - particulary at dawn and dusk - in your uranium glass, without a UV torch!    

I can only conclude that this reaction was observed, and that was why uranium salts were used in this type of glass - to exploit that.  Otherwise, as you say, Christine, why use such an expensive ingredient     

[heartofglass]

I agree, Leni. I have noticed the u.v phenomenon occurring naturally in my home early in the morning & at twilight on uranium-containing glassware. It really does glow from that extra red in the spectrum that is visible at these times. In fact, the phenomenon is exaggerated by the fact I have pink curtains. When that morning or twilight light glows through the pink fabric onto the uranium glass (both the clear and opaque custard type) it brings out the green glow in the glass.
It even occurs on the seemingly pure white glass that contains uranium too.
Bernard, I still believe this item to be Bohemian. As for glass refiners, there is a decent list in the Truitt's first book on Bohemian glass. Pattern books & catalogues, if you are fortunate enough to find/access them may help with an i.d on the design. It is quite distinctive, especially since it involves applied frit decoration.
(I am sorry to hear that you do not have any Burmese, Bernard, it is one of the truly great glass types, quite magical to behold in person. I hope that you will have some come your way sometime. I am fortunate to have 5 pieces of the original Webb, several modern Fenton pieces & one mystery item that is probably American & recent but not Fenton.)

[Lustrousstone]

the fact that you can't tell until you get your UV light out.

What I actually meant was "the fact that you can't always tell until you get your UV light out." A great many of my pieces look fabulous in the right daylight, but some you'd be really hard put to tell under the most suitable of natural lighting conditions.

[krsilber]

Oh, I'm glad to hear about that from you three!  I've asked others whether they notice the same thing - their glass glowing at dawn and dusk - and never really got a very good answer.  I've only had a few pieces of uranium glass, mostly green, and I thought I saw it glow a bit, too.

Even apart from the fact that it can glow without a special bulb, I think it's a really nice colorant.  When considering the expense of using it there are a lot of unknowns.  It might not have been so expensive relative to other colorants back when it was common, and it's possible it was easier to work with or had some other effect on glass quality that we (or I, anyway) are unaware of.  Otherwise it's hard to imagine why it was so common in green Depression glass, which by and large was inexpensive.

Has anyone come across any advertising that mentions its glowing properties?

ON TOPIC:  The shape of Bernard's piece is really bugging me because it looks so familiar, but I can't place it.  I've looked through Truitt's vol. 1 and couldn't find anything similar in terms of shape or decoration.  To me the style is more delicate, with finer lines, than typical Bohemian enamel work - but of course, that varied widely.  It reminds me of some Mt. Washington glass, but I haven't found a match.  I do have something very similar that was attributed to Mt. Washington in an archive of glass photos I've gleaned from the internet, but it's hard to know how good the attribution is.  I wish I could post it!  The style of decoration is the same, right down to the addition of bits of glass.  ...Just found another MW-attributed one in my photos that has some of the same decor.  Maybe there's something to it!  I'll go look at my CMOG photos now.

[krsilber]

Hmmm, I wish I'd looked into Mt. Washington before!  My Corning photos weren't particularly elucidating, though they do show a somewhat similar use of glass beading.  I'm attaching a blurry photo - I know it's not the same, but there are the round red beads as well as some odd-shaped ones.  Also attached is a photo of MW Burmese and Peach Blow just for a sample of their work.

More evidence:  I found a photo in Avila's Pairpoint Glass Story that shows a vase that looks to me like a perfect match color-wise.  Although it's shown with their Pearl Satin Glass (MOP), it doesn't have air traps.  In the section about MOP it says they used three layers, opal inside, then colored, then crystal (colorless).  However, on the piece shown next to the good color match it looks to me like the crystal is in the middle layer.

[Bernard C]

Another similar piece, probably by the same maker, see http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,21310.0.html

Bernard C. 

[krsilber]

Another similar piece, probably by the same maker, see http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,21310.0.html

Bernard C. 

Hmmm, I think would be jumping to conclusions to say it's the same maker.  Compare the bottoms.  Bernard's is much more uniform in color than Andy's.  Looks to me like the way they were made is somehow different.

[krsilber]

This is Ken's comment from Andy's "little peachblow vase" thread:
"I'm not inclined toward Bernard's Peachblow vase being Mt. Washington in color or form. Mt. Washington Peachblow interiors are peach shading to white or simply peach. Mt. Washington did not use crystal handles on either Burmese or Peachblow, the handles were the color of the product & finally the Ewer shape of Bernard's piece is not representative of Mt. Washington shapes. The Sisk reference "Mt. Washington Art Glass" which is considered the Mt. Washington bible (primarily because of so many art glass/Mt. Washington contributors) shows many examples of color & form for Peachblow in the 270 pages."

I don't think it's Mt. Washington Peachblow either.  I think it's MW Rose.  I don't have anything like your book, but the shaded Rose shown in Avila is dead-on.   Do you mean the shape isn't one of theirs, or you don't think it's in their style?  Does the book show all the shapes?  Wow, that would be a nice reference to have!  Does it have cut glass in it as well?

One reason I think it's Mt. Washington is the style of decoration.  Fine, delicate painting and the use of odd-shaped pieces of glass as accent.  But maybe that was used by other makers and I just haven't seen it?

Ken, would you please start a thread with your crayfish vase?  I'd be intersted to see if anyone knows who dunnit.  I've seen a few great crayfish-themed pieces in the last year (just saw another in a book I was leafing through), and I always think of yours.

[Bernard C]

By the same glass house and decorator and in the same time frame see topics:-

Crying over spilled vases!!

Cased Glass Rose Bowl Id Help Needed

Bernard C.