Topic: Frosted Green Uranium Vases

[NevB]

To carry on from Legsy's post this is a pair of 8" vases I bought a while ago. I say they are a pair but one weighs 1lb. 1oz. and the other 2lb 5oz. I think they are probably acid-etched or possibly sand-blasted, apparently both methods were used. The inside surface is smooth with a slightly sparkly finish and I've only just noticed a very faint floral decoration around the shoulders. The bottoms have been hand smoothed. As far as I understand it when acid etching wax was used to cover the areas not to be etched. They are actually green and the colour changed from my camera to my computer. I also thought they were probably French, early 20th. century.

[NevB]

Here's a photo under UV.

[flying free]

I think they appear 'sparkly' because the opaline has very tiny bubbles in it

Can't offer more about period but is there a large polished pontil mark on the base or is that just the effect of the photograph?

Strange to be such a vast difference in weight though- one is twice the weight of the other.  Would that be accounted for by being blown more thinly?

m

[NevB]

Hello flying free, the sparkly effect is made up of flecks almost like aventurine glass. It hasn't got a ground pontil, it looks like it's just been smoothed flat while still hot. The difference in weight is purely, as you say, down to the fact they are hand blown to a different thickness. I also have a "pair" of smaller vases which weigh 102gms. and 135gms!

[flying free]

Perhaps mica then?
Then kind of look a bit like hyacinth vases with the cupped top.

m

[glassobsessed]

Wasn't there a fashion for finishes like that around the mid 1800s too?

Would be big for hyacinths generally.

John

[flying free]

yes, and it's beautifully finished at the rim, cut, bevelled and polished.  I don't think they are French.  I think they might be Bohemian.

m

[glassobsessed]

That would fit.

[NevB]

I think the sparkle is perhaps just the crystalline structure of the glass. This type of glass was first produced in the mid 1800's but seems to be of a finer quality, these just look later to me. I've added a photo of my 14cm. vases which I think are earlier and possibly French or Bohemian. The larger vases may well be Bohemian too but I've not seen anything similar anywhere.

[flying free]

oh ok, I see what you mean.  No mica then.   I have a large blue opaline vase (enamelled) and have never pinned it down.  The vase is substantial and thick and has a beautifully finished rim like your vases.
Can you take a photograph side on from a bit of a distance so it shows the profile of the vases please? 
And are they very green, not at all blue?  Is it just your camera reading them as turquoise?

The pattern around the rim would have been enamelled I suspect and that has worn off.  I think it has possibly left the remains of whatever they used as an 'undercoat' pattern to ensure the enamel adhered and went 'off' properly however it was finished (i.e. it might have been hot finished enamel).
Are you sure the pattern is floral?  It looks like rhythmic swirls to me maybe?   A bit 'Etruscan' in design?
m