Topic: Ebay - Vaseline Table Lamp

[antiquerose123]

Just thought I would post this here for you guys to see....and what you think of this?
Ebay:  Ebay-Click Here

 

[Paul S.]

I suspect that Lustrousstone may wish to comment on this  -  but in her absence would suggest that we are back to the old chestnut of Yanks versus Brits. and nomenclature.    Judging by the yellowish/greenish colour, then this piece contains Uranium to some degree -  possibly - and if this is the case should flouresce in the presence of ultra violet light.     That anyone should choose to call it vaseline glass is subjective  -  it may well look like the gooey stuff that you buy in the pharmacist/chemist  -  but for the sake of ease of undersanding would better be called simply Uranium glass.   As a less serious suggestion, if the bulb holder were changed for a three pin bayonet fitting unit, then it would be possible to purchase an 80 or 125 watt U.V. bulb  -  plug in - and hey presto each time you switched on you would get a wonderful flourescent glow (provide the glass is U.V. of course), and would give a new meaning to bedtime stories      On reflection, however, in the light (no pun intended) of the dangers of short wave radiation  -  probably not to be recommended. 

[Paul S.]

opps  -  in fact I forgot to mention something more important.     How do we arrive at calling this piece 'rock crystal'  - have I missed something here, and is there a locality in the world lumps of this stuff occur naturally?

[Lustrousstone]

McKee certainly did make uranium glass and that is the colour American purists would call vaseline. Rock Crystal is the pattern name, see here and  here  There is even a lamp on the second link, which works better because it's a deep ruby and you can't see the cable. The uranium one could come and live at my house. McKee is handily marked; at least my single piece is.

Mod: Links to clicksnipwow removed as site is no longer connected to glass. Please visit http://chataboutdg.com/forums/ instead

[obscurities]

Judging by the yellowish/greenish colour, then this piece contains Uranium to some degree -  possibly - and if this is the case should flouresce in the presence of ultra violet light.     That anyone should choose to call it vaseline glass is subjective  -  it may well look like the gooey stuff that you buy in the pharmacist/chemist  -  but for the sake of ease of undersanding would better be called simply Uranium glass.

Just a comment on terminology:
If referred to as Vaseline glass, I think of it as a reference to color only.... although much early "Vaseline" glass does glow when subjected to UV. There is also glass out of Italy and now China, and I am sure other locations, which could be called Vaseline based on the color, but is not UV reactive in the least. I have an Italian dish you would think is going to glow brightly, and in fact is not in the least UV reactive....

Since the presence of "Uranium" would cause the glass to glow when subjected to UV light, calling all glass this color "Uranium", IMHO would lead to a great deal of confusion, as I think it would lead many people to assume it would glow with UV light....

Craig

[chopin-liszt]

I was confused with the "rock crystal" thing - until I read the ad and it refers to the kind of flower on the pattern.
Only glass with uranium in it should be called Uranium glass. 
And it's not remotely (or even closely) dangerous.

[Paul S.]

Craig - quite obviously my reference to 'glowing', was only if the material contained Uranium - apologies if my explanation was less than clear, and like Sue I mis-interpreted the meaning of rock crystal.      My comment about the potential danger, was not of course from the glass (I have shed loads of it in the house) but rather from the U.V. bulb, which apparently if you stare at for too long may damage eyesight.    Certainly if the envelope breaks you should never look at the naked filament.  However, it was a less than serious comment, since no one is going to use a three pin 125 watt U.V. bulb at their bedside......at least I don't think so (I am not referring to blacklight tubes).
As a suggestion to ease the confusion, how about this.......
All green glass (irrespective of shade) containing U..... we call simply Uranium glass ..........all green glass (with a yellowish hue) but without U. ....we call Vaseline glass........glass which is simply green (without any hue) we call (wait for it.............green glass)     Might this avoid some of the terminology problems, which as Craig points out, is presently less than clear because of the situation where some 'Vaseline' glass does have U. and some doesn't, but is all lumped together as 'Vaseline' glass.    See you all tomorrow after my boot sale (weather permitting).

[Lustrousstone]

As a collector, I call it all uranium glass regardless of colour if it contains uranium and there are more shades beyond yellow and green. It's the American purists who only collect glass that is coloured solely with uranium (i.e., transparent yellow) that call it vaseline. They have a strict definition of vaseline; the rest of the world is just confused about what it is, as Craig demonstrates  :kissy:

I confess to using vaseline and uranium in ebay listings though.

[chopin-liszt]

There are also the terms "Annageld" and "Annagrun", which I personally like very much. Both refer to glass coloured with Uranium. The German chap who, I believe, first used uranuim to colour glass named the two basic colours produced after his wife, Anna. Geld for gold and grun for green, obviously.
You know where you are with those.  :thup:

[Paul S.]

hello Sue  -  will you forgive me for being Mr. Picky:)    Think the guy you have in mind was Josef Riedel - who at the time he lived was in fact a Bohemian (and probably very proud of his nationality).    You're right about his wife though, but I think in fact it was 'Annagelb', rather than 'geld.    Annagrun being the yellowish green sort apparently, and Annagelb being the greenish yellow sort.   You say that  'you know where you are with those'.   But I'm confused  -  the attached pictures are of two pieces that I've acquired over the past year or so - both flouresce deep green (or would do if the torch was working o.k.) but I'm not sure now which sort they are  -  they aren't green or yellow really.     Of course, they may be nothing to do with Riedel's names at all.    Can you help please.   I'm assuming that this geenish yellow (or vice versa) refers to the daylight image, and not the colour you get when they flouresce   .. after all Riedel would have known nothing about ultra violet light, of course .    What do you think, and thanks for your time by the way.   .......sorry, seem to have lost the ability to add pics.     will try again in a minute.