Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: ian.macky on April 14, 2019, 08:33:49 PM
-
Hi all. I was contacted just now by someone trying to ID a large cylindrical hunk of white/clear "beach glass" (i.e. frosted-looking) that was apparently found at Lake Erie (in the U.S.). It's nothing I recognize, so ideas are welcome.
-
That's a serious chunk of glass, Ian! I can't imagine what it might have been for at all... let's see what others think.
-
I was wondering how on earth the label had survived. On peering at it closely, I finally see it's a bank note.
I had realised it was big. I did see the orange.
It definitely has a surface texture that is deliberate. Could it be a garden seat? Table? Bird bath? (if hollow)
I'm not sure about the wisdom of chunks of glass that large, out in all weathers and subject to any sudden temperature changes.
-
Having slept on this and thought about it some more, three ideas come to mind:
1. Glass left over after a glassworks closed, and this was dumped.
2. A plinth for something big that's been separated from its object (perhaps object broken).
3. Ballast from a ship.
Probably none of them but just putting them out there as thoughts....
-
"leftover" glass in a huge lump like that, would have needed quite a lot of time in an annealling oven. I can't see anybody wasting fuel like that on something "leftover".
And the texture on the sides looks deliberate and designed, I can't see it being used as ballast.
(Unless it was just something they'd picked up somewhere and repurposed.)
It could well be a plinth. :)
Now I want to know what might have been on top of it!
-
Was the lake very cold when they found it?
-
Two random ideas, natural rock crystal or optical glass before it is broken up for use.
How it got there, no idea.
Tim
-
I don't know how flat the top is but imo it would look great with a glass top on it!
-
It takes a long time to anneal glass, and the thicker the section the longer it takes-- until finally it becomes prohibitive. It's hard to see how something this big would have been a production item (as a pedestal, seat, etc). As an example, "A 25 inch blank, 2 inches thick, is annealed for 9 days."
If it was just leftover glass (as from the bottom of a crucible), dumped at the end of a season (or when the crucible was no longer usable) I'd expect it to be in sad shape, damaged, with inclusions, etc. But it looks like a nice solid hunk of glass with no defects (aside from the funky surface)...
...though the surface has a sort of tree-bark look to it, which looks like it may be intentional, as does the cylindrical shape.
Too fragile for balast. Rocks are just as heavy and much tougher.
I'll see if I can find out more.
And yes, this would look great in my yard!
Found a story: Largest Piece of Beach Glass Found in Lake Erie to Be on Display at 2019 Great Lakes Beach Glass Festival
https://www.relishinc.com/blog/largest-piece-of-beach-glass-found-in-lake-erie-to-be-on-display-at-2019-great-lakes-beach-glass-festival/ (https://www.relishinc.com/blog/largest-piece-of-beach-glass-found-in-lake-erie-to-be-on-display-at-2019-great-lakes-beach-glass-festival/)
Ashtabula, OH is on the shore of Lake Erie.
-
More from the woman who asked about this:
The owner of the glass sphere has contacted Corning ( on Lake Erie ) and
they lay no claim to it but told her it went through annealing from 8 to 20
months due to the purity of the glass
University’s are also stumped
A Shipwreck “ expert “ thinks it was from a wreck
A fresnel lens has also been eliminated
May always be a mystery
She also provided a pic from when it was found:
-
;DI knew it would have needed a LOT of annealling, but not as much as 8-20 months!
Wow.
Has anybody looked at any records of lost and found adverts? Somebody is surely missing it. ;D
Has anybody any idea if it is leaded glass or crystal?
If the material composition was known, that might help at least age it to certian periods.
It doesn't look old old. It does seem more like modern art.
-
The large blank for the Palomar telescope mirror took 10 months to anneal! The first attempt famously
failed (which failure is on display at CMOG): http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/about/history.html (http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/about/history.html)
There's no way this is just an art piece, and the crystal clear glass is no accident.
I'm leaning towards a blank for some sort of large optical device, a lens or prism or reflector or something... perhaps it has internal defects and was unsuitable and so discarded...
...but that doesn't explain what it was doing on the beach at Lake Erie. Why not just re-use it as cullet?
-
Art pieces are getting more and more adventurous. ;)
-
Given all the other info you've found, Ian, I'd be thinking it's come from a vessel that sank whilst carrying it, and it's been washed ashore. Are there records of ships lost on the lake that could be checked?
-
On the top/first photograph the top of the object looks as though it has a circular indent in it, as though it was purposefully there for something to sit on it indented slightly to keep it steady perhaps?
Can anyone else see that?
I can imagine a giant (glass?) ball shaped object sitting comfortably on that maybe. Maybe a large glass fountain type thing?
-
Yup. :)
Hence garden seat.
It's certainly intriguing lots of us. I can't stop thinking about it. ;D
-
I'm with Sue on this one.....completely obsessed with this thread. It's such an unusual item that there must be someone, somewhere, who knows the whole story. I was thinking about the weight of it and how it could have ended up where it was found but, without knowing more about the area, I am stumped. There does not appear to have been much in the way of press coverage since it was found in October 2017. Really hoping this is a thread that does have a resolution.....there are already enough glass mysteries in the cupboards here!
Cannot wait for the next instalment...
Cat
-
I've just found a two year old news article about a small plane going missing over Lake Erie.
But they were into baseball, I couldn't find anything to suggest they might have had this beast with them.
I would imagine the sorts of folk who can afford private planes might have also have been able to afford massive lumps of glass that require that amount of annealling to be privately commissioned - for whatever purposes they fancy.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/31/small-plane-lake-erie-missing-cleveland
But it would appear not to be the only vessel which has vanished in or over the lake.
-
Might be worth exploring: http://www.eriewrecks.com/eriewrecks/
-
I thought if we could find out who has gone missing over the lake we might be able narrow down who might have had this made. :)
They haven't come back looking for it, or put out any ads asking if it's been found.
Of course they might think, (if they're not gone themselves), that it is just lost forever at the bottom.
-
World’s Largest Piece of Beach Glass
If you go onto your computer and ask what the largest size of “BEACH GLASS’ ever found is, you will see the largest (until recently) was five (5) Pounds. IN 2017 the largest piece of BEACH GLASS” was found on the beach of Lake Erie between Ashtabula Harbor and Conneaut Harbor, Ohio.
COME TO THE ASHTABULA MARITIME & SURFACE TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM.DISPLAY IS A “275 POUND” PIECE OF “BEACH GLASS”!
http://ashtabulamaritimemuseum.org/exhibits Ashtabula Maritime Museum (http://ashtabulamaritimemuseum.org/exhibits Ashtabula Maritime Museum)