Topic: Not all uranium glass reacts to UV

[krsilber]

I'm confused.  "Vaseline glass" in the UK refers to glass with zinc, but no uranium?

I think I misunderstood earlier about the added colorant making it not vaseline.  They were saying it wasn't because it's green, rather than just because it has something else in it.  Duh, Kristi!

[KevinH]

See this message under the Archives forum for a "what's Vaseline" thread from 2005.

[Frank]

Still hoping to see some Red Uranium glass http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,19512.msg113360.html#msg113360

[krsilber]

I swear I have a link somewhere that shows some red uranium glass, but I can't find it at the moment.

I did find a long, dry patent I had bookmarked which talks about UV absorbant and fluorescent materials (and gives lots of "recipes"!).  Some may find it interesting:  http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?wo=2006120663&IA=WO2006120663&DISPLAY=DESC
One passage in particular talks about a number of rare earth metals and the colors they fluoresce:
"(a) Inclusion of praseodymium (Pr) in the soda lime glass composition gives a number of results depending on the light source, white light will give yellow green fluorescence, and U.V. or green/yellow light is reported to give orange fluorescence,

(b) Neodymium (Nd) fluoresces red yellow in soda lime glasses,

(c) Europium (Eu) will fluoresce either a brilliant red or a weaker green depending on the chemistry of the glass,

(d) Samarium (Sm) will also cause the glass to fluoresce giving pink/orange light but the total iron content of the glass needs to be low to prevent the effect being 'quenched'.

(e) Ceria will also fluoresce into the blue region, and this may be the one of most interest, but there are requirements to control the glass chemistry.

(f) Uranium also gives excellent green/yellow fluorescence in soda lime silica glasses but has issues for commercial uses because of its radioactivity. However, a lot of the citron yellow glass from the 50's and 60's is based on adding uranium to the glass."

[mrvaselineglass]

Frank, in reading through Bleeker's patent info, he mentioned "anything from a light Henna to a deep ruby red", so that covers a lot of ground.  I think this piece qualifies as uranium glass without being yellow green.

It is a WMF piece (with label), under varying light conditions, including UV light.

http://www.vaselineglass.org/wmftrio.jpg

The little POOCH dog is a piece made by Boyd, in the mid 1980s.  They called their color GOLDEN DELIGHT and it is also made with a heavy dose of only uranium as a colorant, and it also glows a very bright green.

KRSILBER:  I wrote both of those quotes you found regarding the date of 1924 (earliest reference found) and also helped craft the definition for the Vaseline Glass Collectors Inc.

The Oxford unabridged dictionary gives one of their definitions of VASELINE as a "yellow-green uranium glass" (paraphrased here, but I did find it in that dictionary).  It is also the only dictionary that I have ever found it in.  If it is in the dictionary as a definition, it must be true!

Dave Peterson
Mr. Vaseline Glass

[Frank]

That WMF seems to fit the bill, delighted thanks!

[krsilber]

And it's in an English English dictionary!

I've heard so many times that "vaseline" is a stupid recent word, coined by ebay sellers or some such nonsense...I wish I'd known years ago that it was used in 1924.  I really don't understand why people have a problem with it.

[mrvaselineglass]

it was USED before 1924, in order for it to become commonplace enough for the author to mention it as a 'dealer's term.  Fenton was the first American glass company to actually use the word VASELINE as the name of a glass color.  I don't have a specific reference handy, but I remember once James Measell telling me that it was back in the early 1930's that they used that color name.  They now call their uranium glass TOPAZ. 

Mr. Vaseline Glass

[Ivo]

dictionaries reflect usage. If a particular word has turned up more than once in the previous period, it is included - even if it is a misnomer, as Fenton obviously found out when they switched to Topaz. Widening the definition to include all uranium coloured glass is a recent occurrence, and the ensuing confusion wholly artificial.

[mrvaselineglass]

IVO: I agree.  ebay usage of people calling green uranium glass as 'vaseline' has amounted to the definition evolving to 'anything yellow OR green that glows under a UV.  There is just as much green depression glass being called 'vaseline' as there is yellow glass.