Topic: Can someone here help me identify this?

[azelismia]

on ashes being in it; Piper, I've never actually seen funerary ashes but from what I've heard they look like they don't look like cigarette ash. they are chunky... if it looked like cigarette ash it probably was.

[Pinkspoons]

I spotted a lamp base with exactly the same colouring and ilk of decoration being sold on German eBay, which probably indicates that it's likely continental European (American glass rarely travels to Europe, it seems).

The lamp fittings looked c.1910 - 1930-ish.

[Frank]

... funerary ashes but from what I've heard they look like they don't look like cigarette ash....

Mostly from the coffin too.

[Glen]

(American glass rarely travels to Europe, it seems).

Lots of American Carnival Glass did!

Glen

[Pinkspoons]

Okay... besides carnival glass... and ceaseless amounts of Anchor Hocking! 

[Piper]

What a relief!! The ashes looked like cigarette ashes. I was feeling rather guilty thinking that I washed someone's ancestor (or part of their ancestor) down the drain.

From what I have gleaned about this vessel here is that it is opaline glass. I researched opaline and it does look like olive colored milk glass and it is bright reddish when you look through it. Opaline glass is usually french, right? Baccarat is a French company and it has a Baccarat sort of look to it. So it could be Baccarat. Probably made in the late 19th or early 20th century. I'd say the decorations are Art Nouvou style which is consistant with that time period. Opaline glass was also at it's peak during that time. This vessel could have been some type of cerimonial piece bust most likely has a perfecly normal domestic use. It's probably not a perfume bottle though.

How did I do on my first glass research project?
-Piper.

[heartofglass]

Hi Piper, & welcome to the board.
This is a nice item,late Victorian in style, C.1890s, maybe a bit later. Looks like it once had a stopper of some sort.....it's not a typical perfume bottle shape, but it does look like it must have been intended to contain something....
There is a lot of this type of decorated opaline glass about, typically the items are pairs of vases or lustres, but there were also various bottles & lidded containers for the dressing table.
A lot of the bigger vases got converted to lamps at a later point in their lives.
I think it is of Bohemian origin rather than French.
The French opaline glass tends to be in pastel shades such as pink, pale blue, milky white,etc.
These brownish-greens & beige colourations in opaque glass are sometimes referred to as "Fireglow", due to their fiery opalescent appearance when held up to the light.
B.t.w, with regards to ashes, all opalescent glass contains bone ash,(animal by-product from meat production) in order to create the opalescent effect. Arsenic was another ingredient.
Such horrid stuff to make such pretty glass!

[Pinkspoons]

I've just had a look back through eBay and, typically, can find neither hide nor hair of the auction I was referencing - but I am fairly certain the piece I mentioned was designed to be a lamp base, rather than a later conversion.

[Piper]

Hi Heartofglass,
Yes!! Fireglow does describe it perfectly!!! And I'm sure it did have a stopper in it once because there are faint scratches around the inside of the neck. Thank you, I think it's a pretty thing too although my husband and mother-in-law thinks it's ugly. But, you know what they say about opinions

Bone ashes and arsenic in glass? I never knew that. It's rather interesting though. Did the arsenic make the glass poisonous? Is that why you never seem to see this sort glass used for food preparation and serving?

It's ok Pinkspoons. I can never seem to find anything twice on the internet either unless I save the page to favorites.
-Piper.

[heartofglass]

Hi Piper,
glass, especially of the antique type,contains many weird & often toxic substances. Consider vaseline glass, which owes it's glowing yellow-green colour to uranium!
These subtances are actually in quite small concentrations, however, & they shouldn't be harmful. They are "locked up" in the substance of the glass itself. Minute amounts of leaching of these minerals or compounds may occur, for example, vaseline glass does give off radiation in the form of alpha, beta, & gamma rays.
The amount of radiation given off by vaseline glass is very small, & not thought to be harmful.
However,these minerals were very dangerous to the glassmakers who worked with them, especially in the old days when there were few concerns about worker's health & safety.
If the glass is cut, using wheels, or sanded, the fine dust particles created may be ingested & would be detrimental to one's health.
As for an item sitting safely in a cabinet or on a shelf as a decorative piece, it shouldn't be a cause for concern. However, I wouldn't recommend using items like this to contain food or drink.The use of lead in crystal glass has been an prominent example of this particular issue. Manufacurers have had to reduce the amount of lead in order to make it safe to use for drinking glasses, & old lead crystal is seen as potentially unsafe for food & beverage use.
Glass chemistry is still a rather mysterious science, more like alchemy in many ways, & much of it's practice is not fully understood. Glassmakers also like to keep their methods secret!
Arsenic (in various oxide forms) was used, along with other minerals such as tin oxide, to create opaque milk glass.
The bone ash also contributed to creating a milky effect with fiery opalescent qualities.
Hope this helps!