Topic: Webb's Alexandrite

[Frank]

Hi Pamela,

Not glass collectors confusing names this time but the same name used for differing types of glass by different glassmakers. I think there are discussion and examples of the other types here before but not any examples of Webb's version. Jims picture is a bit unclear on the colours yet, but in any case he is trying get information in Webb's Alexandrite irrespective of his piece being an example of it or not - although it would be very nice for Jim if it is. As can be seen above there is very little precise data currently published.

Stevens & Williams also produced a different Alexandrite.

Halama (Czech) use the term as a colour name.

Alexandrite by Boyd`s Crystal Art Glass

Alexandrite by Morgantown Glass Works

Others use Alexandrite to mean Neodymiun glass... it gets very confusing!

see also http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,2195
and http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,1247.0.html

[Jim Sapp]

I am impressed with this group!  

I was not aware of the "brown edge" effect.  The does indeed have a rich chocolate brown around the top opening.  I had not noticed it until it was mentioned.  The top upening is fire polished and the lower rim is wheel polished.  I will do my best to get additional photos to show both the blue shading and the brown edge. (The brown edge could be difficult.)  

One of the difficulties in getting a good photo of the color is the shape itself.  Unless, you photograph from the "inside out" you are looking through two layers of glass.  I suspect that is the reason it looks so dark to many of you.

Thanks for the tip on the brown edge.....I am very pleased.

[Jim Sapp]

Here are a couple photos showing the colors of the fairy lamp shade.  Photographing the blue (from the inside out) is a real problem for me.  However, the brown edge is clearly shown.  http://www.fairy-lamp.com/Fairylamp/Temp/Alexandrite_Colors.html

Again, thanks for the tip on the brown edge!!  :-)

P.S.  I am not real familiar with this discussion board.  Is there a way to be notified when someone replys to a thread you are participating in?

[nigel benson]

Hiya,

Well, that'll teach me to be more like my normal circumspect self    Ok, ok, take away the  NOT from my entry above. So, it wasn't up-side-down at all; just not possible to discern the colour change - ain't that top and rim deep in colour(s)?

You're a lucky guy, Jim!!

'night all, Nigel 

[Jim Sapp]

I have put all the known references to Alexandrite on-line at http://www.fairy-lamp.com/Fairylamp/Temp/Alexandrite_References.html  As you all have pointed out, very little is known about Webb's Alexandrite.

It is interesting to note that none of the references mention the "brown edge" effect.  Is it safe to assume it is a "signiture" of Alexandrite?  Or, is it an artifact produces by the skills, or lack of skills, of the glass maker?  Does anyone know what causes the brown edge?  Any ideas what might be in the glass formula?  

So many questions.....so little time.

[Anne]

P.S.  I am not real familiar with this discussion board.  Is there a way to be notified when someone replys to a thread you are participating in?

Hi Jim,

Notifications were off whilst we fixed (hopefully fixed!*) a few issues with them.  They are now back on across the board so when you post a reply you can either tick the box below the reply screen to be notified of replies, or you can click the Notify button top right of a topic to be notified of new posts in the topic, or top right of a forum to be notified of new posts in that forum. Hope this helps.

* If anyone still has problems with notifications please start a new topic for my attention in the Cafe, thanks!

[Jim Sapp]

Thanks Anne!  You were very helpful.

[mrvaselineglass]

Jim
Did you do the blacklight test?  I would be interested to hear the results.
Dave
aka: Mr. Vaseline Glass

[Jim Sapp]

I'm sorry Dave, I don't have a blacklight.  However, there are several "rock shops" close by, perhaps I could use one of theirs. If I get access to one, I'll let you know the results. 

[Bernard C]

Jim — I realised that I omitted two useful pieces of information from one of my sources.   Here is the full extract (my additions in square brackets):-

Newby, Martine S., From Palace to Parlour — A Celebration of 19th-Century British Glass, The Glass Circle, 2003, exhibition item No. 190 (with good quality colour photograph, taken at an angle which clearly shows the deep chocolate brown rim):-

190.  Thomas Webb & Sons 'Alexandrite' plate that is shaded from straw opal in the centre through fuchsia pink to blue at the frilled rim, polished pontil mark underneath the base.
Stourbridge, late 19th century
Rim diameter 15.5 cm [6"]

Extremely rare type of heat sensitive glass that is basically straw-coloured but which can be reheated at the furnace mouth to produce a fuchsia pink and then further reheated to produce the blue.   It has been estimated that all the know[n] examples of this type of glass may have come from a single batch.

This exhibition was held at The Wallace Collection, London.   Simon Cottle, Head of Glass at Sotheby's, was then the Chairman of the Glass Circle, and contributed the detailed introduction and acknowledgements sections of the book, so must have been aware of the final sentence above.

I find the implications interesting.   Are they suggesting that the Webb factory was unable to repeat this beautiful glass, perhaps because of an unknown contaminant, or a mistake in the weighing out of the raw materials?

BTW the book is excellent.   I have two copies, and would buy a third if I found a second-hand example at a reasonable price, as I wear out books.   It may still be available new through membership of the Glass Circle, and possibly from Broadfield House Glass Museum, although I cannot find it on their website.

Bernard C.