Topic: Blue Opaque Vase W/Molded Gold Detailing

[Lustrousstone]

Those are dictionary definitions, not mine. What you would measure would be the amount of light transmitted, or something similar. The three words themselves are absolutes in their strictest definitions and unrelated to colour. I'm just being a pedant about the words. Slightly and highly can't be applied to translucent - think  about it. Does highly translucent mean lets more light through or less. Highly opaque would be taken to mean lets less light through, but highly transparent would be taken to mean lets less light through.

[Frank]

I would always say that opaque means no transmitted light, translucent that you cannot see through it but light can pass, transparent means you can see through it. In my opinion only the last can have degrees, of obscurity and would be measured in terms of neutral density and colour filtering.

It is harder to tell with gilding if it is fired or not, the best indication of original decoration although cold decoration is also found. In general cold decoration is more prone to flaking than fired gilding. A minute testing by scraping at the very edge of some gilding gives a possible answer. If it chips of cleanly it was cold and possibly later decoration. If only a surface layer scrapes off leaving some gilding bonded to the glass it is probably fired on. Note possibly and probably.

[Glen]

This is interesting:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy00/phy00856.htm

[Frank]

So there we have it "frequency-selective absorption", I can't see it getting popular on eBay though

[krsilber]

That doesn't address translucency, though, or the difference between translucency and transparency.  All frequency-selective absorption tells you is what color something will look (or if it transmits UV or other radiation).

...The resulting measurements may be used to determine a "translucency gradient" for the material....

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6111653.html