Topic: Isle of Wight Azurene paperweight?

[catshome]

Time to find out if I have learnt anything from the constant questions...…

When I originally bought this 3.25" high egg paperweight, I thought it was obsidian.

Having done a bit of searching, I think it's a Michael Harris Azurene piece.  The decoration is on the surface.  Not sure about the colour - can they tarnish?  Under magnification, I can see hints of dark blue in the gaps in the foil.

No label or signature, some wear to the base.  The information I have found for the Azurene pieces gives a production period 1978-2012 (link below).  I think this is earlier, rather than later.

I feel as though I'm sitting an exam!

The picture on its side is deliberate, as it loses some of the detail when I rotate it.  The colour in the top picture appears accurate on my screen - it doesn't have a bright gold finish.

[catshome]

Base picture - the white triangle was an attempt to give the camera something to focus on.  The blue is reflected light.

[chopin-liszt]

If you rub the brownish surface with your thumb, it will come up silver - it's just tarnished. There is silver foil on the outside and it will oxidise in air.
Then you'll have to wash your thumb. It might be better to clean it that way than to use silver polish which will wear it down faster.
But the oils in your skin are enough to remove the surface tarnish.
Oh, I do think it probably is IoWSG. Large eggs were in production for several years. The book covers '82 -'95 and they are in all the catalogues for all those years.
They are not part of the maximal and minimal things.

[catshome]

Ooops…..the missing link from my first post  http://iowstudioglass.wikidot.com/azurene.

Thanks for the info and cleaning tip Sue, will have a go and see what happens.  What do you mean by "maximal and minimal things"?

[chopin-liszt]

Maximals and Minimals were a specific range of small Azurene animal paperweights - but eggs don't count. Maximals were a little bigger than Minimals. 
I think they were mostly gold foil alone though. Examples below. 

http://iowstudioglass.wikidot.com/minimals


Michael Harris, working with William Walker on getting Azurene working, invented a special vacuum marver for introducing silver and gold foil to the surface of a hot glass gather.
it had tiny little holes in it and air was blown under it. This created a tiny vacuum - enough to hold the delicate leaf flat, in place for lifting.
Then he spent ages working out how to get the temperatures right so that the silver didn't burn and turn blue and yellow. Silver burns at fairly low temperatures, compared to some other metals.
Gold does not burn or tarnish - it's much easier to deal with than silver is.
But some of the earlier work, where the silver does get burnt actually looks rather good.
My cylinder which got burnt in the glory hole is not counted amongst those.