Topic: Lavender Milk Glass

[antiques-in-nj]

I want to throw out a topic that is a bit of a mystery to me. I bought a lavender shaker that normally is only produced in milk glass.
\I was told by another collector that there is a process of altering the color of milk glass to a lavender color much like the sun purpled clear
glass we all know. I have never heard of that with milk glass and most people dont believe that is possible.
Any thoughts or comments?

Scott

[antiques-in-nj]

Here is a picture of the shaker in question.

[Ivo]

I don't believe it for a second. The colour shift in UV treated glass (desert glass, sun exposed glass) stems from Manganese, a decolouring agent used in clear batch. Milk glass does not need that - it has Titaniumdioxide as an opacifier and whitener. No way you could alter the reflective properties like you could tweak the absorption spectrum.

[antiques-in-nj]

Thanks for your input I tend to agree with you. The person who I always discussed this with just would not back down from his argument and I respect him for his beliefs but I never really agreed with him.

Scott

[jsmeasell]

Ivo is right on target. We will be making an opaque Lavender soon at Fenton Art Glass, and it is a color we first made in the mid-970s.

[antiques-in-nj]

Thanks, I know every once in a while a lavender example of an item in opaque glass of any color shows up.
In my opinion they show up rarely but they do show up and Im always drawn to rarely known colors of glass.

Scott

[David_W]

Hi Scott,
I accidentally jumped onto this thread just by doing a google search with "lavendar milkglass".  I can attest that beyond a shadow of a doubt that authentic lavendar (or medium-purple) milkglass was occasionally made at least as early as the 1880s. Several years ago there was a project in the downtown Louisville, KY area in which excavation was done, alot of digging and moving of earth in preparation for a new waterfront park project. During this excavation the blulldozers uncovered lots of trash....construction debris, broken bricks, broken bottles, lots of glassware and pottery shards, etc, and among the odds and ends I saved a small number of shards of EAPG of various colors (my "study collection") . All dated generally from the 1880s perhaps into the early 1890s. Evidently the area once served as a casual dumping ground, at least for a period of time.   Among the collection of shards is a broken base portion of lavendar milkglass, which I guess belonged to a bottle, cruet, jar, vase or shaker of some sort. The base is round, has a pontil mark and  is about 2 and 3/4ths inches in diameter. The color is almost identical to the picture you attached to your message. I am positive it is from the 1880s as there were various shards from typical colored 1880s American Pattern Glass like Thousand Eye, Flower and Panel, Daisy & Button, Wooden Pail, Three Panel, Queen, Barred Forget-me-Not and others, among the assemblage.   And of course this would have had nothing to do with later alteration by sunlight or any chemical / irradiation process......it had been buried for over a century. I have seldom, or never, seen this exact color in any item while browsing the antique malls, so I have been intrigued by it as well.  David_W

[antiques-in-nj]

Thanks so much for the input David! I find this color most interesting and certainly hard to come by. I only have one other piece in this color in a shaker and thats an Acorn salt shaker.
Ive seen a Challinor Tree of life syrup, sure wish I had that one! Better yet for what I collect it sure would be great to find other shakers in this color.
Thanks again!
Scott

[David_W]

Hi Scott,
I am not that conversant on shakers, and in fact have just recently been getting seriously interested in learning more about  EAPG in general.. .....I've been doing alot of reading lately. My main interest seems to be focusing on 1880s era pattern glass children's mugs, and spooners.
 I understand that Atterbury & Company made a number of "off-the-wall" opaque and translucent colors, and I was wondering if they might have produced some glass in this lavendar milk glass color.  Any thoughts / ideas? 
So Challinor & Taylor can definitely be attributed as a maker of this color?

Take care,
David

[Sid]

I was told by another collector that there is a process of altering the color of milk glass to a lavender color much like the sun purpled clear
glass we all know. I have never heard of that with milk glass and most people dont believe that is possible.
Any thoughts or comments?

Scott

Scott and Ivo

Have a look at the second window on this web page:

http://earofthewind.com/artists_portfolio

He says it is sun purpled milk glass and he lives in the desert so apparently it is possible to change the colour with uv rays.

Sid