Topic: Sowerby Sunburst/Sunray Trinket Registration 788735 dated 16.12.1933.

[Paul S.]

unfortunately, these three were the only pieces from the set in the charity shop this morning.        I assumed the glass was neodymium/alexandrite, but don't think that's correct since that description isn't mentioned in this link ........   https://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,65994.msg368989.html#msg368989  .....   and the 'pink' doesn't appear to change to smoky under fluorescent tube  -  but I would well be wrong.             Apparently, Neodymium started life - commercially - in the late 1920s, so it's possible this 'pink' may be just that.             Just about all the information of use is contained in the link, so won't repeat here  -  though it seems that 'pink' is probably one of the least common colours  -  I've attached some pix but this isn't an easy colour to get right.                 For how long Sowerby used this mould I've no idea -  the Registration details, on the glass, appear both on the lids and inside the base and look to be reasonably sharp, so likely these pieces are probably early to mid 1930s, but that's a tad guesswork.     

P.S.   just had a panic thought  -  I've assumed this is pink, but now thinking it could be sun-purpled  -  is the clear version prone to going this shade do we know.?

[Paul S.]

P.P.S.      Thinking out loud ....................    looking at some of the known photographed colours of 788735 - in the links - some of those have a washed out/pale look too.

[Anne]

Paul, those are interesting. It's not the usual Sowerby rosalin pink. I have a pair of Sowerby candlesticks from a trinket set that appear to be the same purple-tinge. They could be sun-purpled as you say, but I really don't know for sure.

May I add your photos to the GTS website please?

[Paul S.]

thanks Anne  -  looking at the thicker parts of these pots - particularly in the last of my pix - the colour does appear more 'pinkish', than the 'purpling' that comes from standing in the sun all day, nonetheless that may well just be purpling too.          Do we have supportable evidence anywhere on the GMB - of glass with a known manufactured date c. 1933/34 - that is definitely neodymium, though again coming back to the data on the GTS site, there isn't any mention of neodymium/alexandrite there.                 I did stand on a chair in the kitchen holding one of these up to the tube, but not sure I was convinced of anything  -  I might try again.
My thoughts on your sticks are that their colour - whatever it is -  has a very uniform appearance, so I'm tempted to think sun purpling from the manganese content, but who knows.   

I notice that in your GTS link for 'Sunray', 'pink' isn't one of the Known Colours - and coupling this with the absence of anyone finding something 'pink beyond doubt', I wonder if we are confusing ourselves and that quite simply there never was a trinket set produced in pink, and we are just looking at examples of sun purpling. 

Please do use my pix in whatever way you wish.

[Lustrousstone]

Looks very much like sun purpling to me, though pretty excessive for the UK. It's definitely not neodymium; the shade is wrong. Check it under UV

[Paul S.]

I had already given that a whirl but didn't seem to work  -  so tried again, in the dark, and yes, can now see the 'manganese dull green'.       So positive sun purpling responsible for this colour.   thanks. 

[Anne]

Paul, I did a quick scan of older posts on the board and found that we've discussed the lack of pink examples of the Sunray pattern before here http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,65994.0.html

I've also just been through all my reference photos and don't have a single piece of pink Sunray anywhere, which is unusual.

[Paul S.]

perhaps then the word unusual is the wrong word Anne   -  this absence, of anyone finding a set in'pink', is likely telling us this pattern never was produced in that colour.      The link to your GTS website does show examples of all the colours believed to have been used for this pattern, so it's very reasonable to assume that by now a pink - had it existed - would have surfaced.        As a matter of interest, what was the source of the list of colours for this set  -  a Sowerby catalogue perhaps?

Jayne, if you're watching, would you like this remarkable and perhaps unique garniture of sun purpled powder and cream pots (in exchange for a can of beer)?

[Anne]

Ah Paul, I never say never though... it may be that pink wasn't popular, had a short runtime, had some other technical issue and wasn't produced for long or, as you say, at all...

When I say Known Colours on the website it will either be (a) the list as given in a catalogue or (b) the colours we have photos of and can thus prove existed. 

Thinking about it, it might be useful to add into the description area both options, so to say Catalogue colours: and then Seen colours:  to make it clearer. 

As I keep saying, it's a work in progress and I'm open to suggestions as to how to make the site more useful. 

[Paul S.]

thanks Anne - despite trying in my old age to be less dogmatic, as you can tell it doesn't always work, and your GTS site is a massive resource of interest to many collectors.      Possibly the greatest draw for collectors, of anything, is not knowing what's out there and the surprise of what can be found  -  maybe a pink will turn up