Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => USA => Topic started by: Max on November 15, 2005, 01:03:52 PM
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This is a little uranium perfume bottle (about 5") I picked up recently. It's got a strange pitting all over - I can't work out why. Any ideas?
Mod: New images uploaded June 2010 (PS: I'd just painted the garage doors, so hence the vile fingernail!) :)
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Are you sure it is not sugar coated like this ashtray?
http://tinypic.com/fopx05.jpg
http://tinypic.com/fopwu9.jpg
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Are you sure it is not sugar coated like this ashtray?
http://tinypic.com/fopx05.jpg
http://tinypic.com/fopwu9.jpg
Hi Ivo :D
No, it's definitely pitted. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the surface of the piece was corrupted/corroded somehow. Almost as if it had been buried. I did consider that it had been, but to find a bottle in a dig with it's stopper seemed unlikely.
Maybe it was always like that, just a cheap piece of trinket ware?
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Could it be scavo, or a nasty accident at acid polishing? It does not look coincidental - if it is, the fitting of the stopper should have it too, and not close properly...
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Could it be scavo, or a nasty accident at acid polishing? It does not look coincidental - if it is, the fitting of the stopper should have it too, and not close properly...
You should have been a detective :wink: I didn't think to look at the surface of the stopper - it's very smooth! I wouldn't call the finish attractive, so perhaps it was an accident during polishing.
I have to go look up acid polishing now. :lol:
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I can only be negative here and say that I don't know what it is, but I've never seen anything like that done with acid. Anyway, why would anyone want to acid polish a mould blown article? Unless someone has invented something new while I wasn't looking, acid polishing only works with a high lead glass. Is it very heavy?
Adam D.
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Is it very heavy?
Adam D.
No, it's quite light Adam. Maybe it has been dug up then...I suppose we'll never know! :roll: Thanks for your input xx
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Looks too regular to be accidental, a failed experiment.
Lots of bottles with tops come out of digs but I don't this one did. I would lean towards a test piece that no one liked... or everyone that got one for Xmas threw it away.
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This is totally bonkers! I was Google image searching for a charger Ivo put up for identification, and suddenly an image of my perfume bottle came up!
How bizarre!!! It's attributed to: Boston & Sandwich Glass Co. cologne bottle, c. 1840-1870.
Please have a look at the link:
http://www.vaselineglass.org/factory.html You'll have to scroll down a bit...but it's identical...isn't it?? :shock: :? :D
PS: I've written to the website and included a photo. :D
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Not surprised. I just leafed through the B&S book and did not find it - but then I only have volume 1, not 2, 3 and 4 - but there are many stylistic similar items in the early B&S produce.
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Max, your's looks to me like 'ill' - difficult for me to explain as non-english speaking - I try nevertheless :oops:
in German we call it
Glasfraß
originating from Fressen - Fraß - the glass is self-diminiuishing - should take hundreds of years but...
I've got one piece which is obviously ill in this sense and the sensation about it is that if is held cased in a shelf, it SWEATS don't know what and how...
I am sure chemists could teach us a lot about this ?
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That is sick.
So does it smell of vinegar and feel sticky to the touch?
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Pamela,
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,395.0.html
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Frank - wow! thank you for this archive reading!
Ivo - it is 'oily - not really sticky' if sticky means KLEBRIG ?
regarding smell or even taste: I return with it here tomorrow ;o)
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That is sick.
So does it smell of vinegar and feel sticky to the touch?
OK. I've licked it. :shock: If anything, it tastes slightly salty, and is dry to the touch. I can't believe I've just licked it.
Pamela said: Max, your's looks to me like 'ill' - difficult for me to explain as non-english speaking - I try nevertheless
in German we call it
Glasfraß
Thank you Pamela. I remember a thread in which KevH talked about 'sweating' paperweights. It could well be 'ill' glass. Perhaps the surface shows general detioration due to being exposed to the air... :?
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Max they look the same to me. Let's hope Dave Peterson can confirm. :)
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I said:
OK. I've licked it. If anything, it tastes slightly salty, and is dry to the touch. I can't believe I've just licked it.
I feel bad. This remark seems facetious. It wasn't meant to be, as I remember someone saying they'd done that when a paperweight sweated.
I should remember my Golden Rule: Don't post when you've had a drink. :oops: :oops: :oops:
Apologies again for being a twit.
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this is my sick comb plate
http://www.pressglas-pavillon.de/toilettenservice/00575.html
It is only a few weeks ago that I discovered its sweat, after it stood in that closed cabinet for more than one year . (I reported earlier that my rooms obviously are self-cleaning - no dusting necessary since I moved there :D :D :D )
Unfortunately I washed it then and I guess we have to wait some months for new 'grease' to appear...
Today's testing of odour and taste led to nothing but 'dry' to the tongue same like attributing 'dry' to a red wine
I bought it many many years ago and before I moved to my museum last year, it always stood 'dry' in an open shelf
Ivo. you asked ?vinegar? to me that would fit with the above - is acetic acid volatile :?:
I should buy some Lackmus paper to be prepared for the next examination - and I shall not open this vitrine for a longer period 8)
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I scrolled down the entire list of comments and did not see the answer that is obvious, so will try to give it the once over here: Yes, it is a Boston and Sandwich Perfume bottle, and I have the exact same perfume bottle sitting about 5 ft. from me right now, only mine has a nice bright finish on it, and yours is literally and figurative SICK. This happens to glass when it has been stored someplace for a long time (like 20 or 3 years) due to being kept in a damp place (like a basement) and most likely wrapped in newspaper to 'protect' it from dings. The dampness of the basement in conjunction with the newspaper (which easily absorbs moisture from the damp air), conspired to give your wonderful perfume bottle a sickness for which there is no cure. The bottle is actually etched and no amount of cleaning will cure it. It is not a water stain like on the inside of a vase that has been used repeatedly and not cleaned properly. This is something totally different. I suspect if you could see inside the bottle, it would not be etched inside. The stopper was probably stored in place in the base of the bottle. There was also no newspaper in contact with the inside to keep it constantly damp. It takes lots of years to make this happen. By the way, for it's size, it is a pretty heavy bottle, and it is a high lead content. From what I have found, it had about a 40% lead content in the batch formula.
On another note, there is a power seller from Canada who occasionally has some vaseline glass in their auctions. they had a very nice perfume bottle (in shape and age) that they probably listed 5 times on FeeBay and never sold it. It too was sick glass. This seller typically has about 5 or 6 WORDS total to describe a piece and hopes the photos sell the item. The description was SAND URANIUM GLASS or some such rot. It was a good description, as the surface feels almost like it has been tumbled in sand for, oh, say, about 2 years, but in reality it was just damaged glass. A good perfume bottle like mine (with matching numbers on stopper and base) will sell for $250-400 US. In the condition yours is in, I think you would have to take off about 90% of that price to get it sold.
Whenever I see a piece that looks 'SICK' on ebay, I always ask the seller the condition of the surface and whether the photo is a true representative view of the piece. If it has been etched, I don't look at it again.
Dave Peterson
aka: Mr. Vaseline Glass
p.s. this is not just a problem with vaseline glass. It can happen to any glass stored a long time, in newspaper, in a damp location. For long term storage, attics are good, basements are bad!
Mod: Seller's ebay name removed, under GMB board policy.
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Thank you Dave, for a really great explanation and for taking the time to help me. Pamela and Ivo had mentioned sick glass, but I couldn't find anything about it on the net. Your words made it clear.
I never considered that newspaper, or any paper could do so much damage! Isn't it sad that the very thing that was meant to protect it did so much harm?
I wish there was a way to restore it, but I know this rare cologne bottle is beyond help. :cry: Luckily, I paid very little for this piece, so the value doesn't bother me - phew! I was just glad to rescue something so interesting looking from a charity shop - goodness knows how it travelled to the UK!
Thanks again to everyone who's helped on this thread. I've really enjoyed the postings and help. xxx