Topic: Cut glass, crystal fogged or sweating

[Deb of Oz]

Hello Glassies
I am clearing an estate and have found something weird. In the one cabinet (ie same storage conditions) there are all kinds of cut glass and non-cut glass jugs, glasses, dishes etc all of which:
-- have not been used for the same amount of time
-- some items have a 'coating' which washes off, that makes the glass look fogged or sweating and is slippery or icky to touch
-- not all items are affected to the same degree
-- yet other items right next to them are bright and shiny.

Can anyone tell me why this is so?
Does it tell me something about the glass quality or manufacture?

The cut glass dates from 1948/1949; the non cut 1965-1975.

It's too late to ask for a picture of the 'fog'!! And anyway, it just looked dirty and dull.

Thank you

[Anne]

Hi Deb, this sounds like "sick" glass... see here for more about it: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,395.0.html

[Deb of Oz]

Thanks Anne - brilliant link. I didn't think to search for oily or wet - used sweat, sweating, fog, fogged. (Hope listing all the keywords here will help the next person.) How brave people are to lick an icky surface. I did note a smell I've always thought of as 'china cabinet smell'.

Sydney is so humid it doesn't surprise me. It confirms my suspicion that this is cheap glass - the stuff from the 60s & 70s definitely was - and will help me with the sorting out. After washing, they have a different 'look', less 'crisp', than the clean pieces which made me suspicious.

BTW sorry about the double post - it took so long to post I thought it failed and clicked again.

[Pip]

Sydney is so humid it doesn't surprise me. It confirms my suspicion that this is cheap glass - the stuff from the 60s & 70s definitely was - and will help me with the sorting out. After washing, they have a different 'look', less 'crisp', than the clean pieces which made me suspicious.

Hi, I *hope* you're only referring to the glass you're currently going through and that isn't a sideswipe at all 60s/70s production!  :spls:

[Deb of Oz]

Sorry Pip!!

The stuff I am referring to is waaaay out of your orbit.

Under the circumstances one feels one is judging the person who owned the stuff not just the items themselves.

[Pip]

s'ok Deb - it was a tongue in cheek remark :-)