Topic: Vaseline Uranium vase , polished pontil , English Bohemian or?

[Andy]

Saw this on fleabay for 99p, i thought, i bet that glows under uv, so had to buy it to prove myself right
Glows very brightly, its got a polished pontil mark to the base, and is very nicely made.
Any ideas to origin?
Cheers
Andy

[Paul S.]

Hello Andy
Last April Dirk was very helpful in suggesting that something I had that looks very similar to yours was possibly......"a semi-opaque uranium glass named "chrysoprase" after the mineral.      The colour was very popular in the 1840's. producers of "chrysoprase" -glass were e.g. Harrach in Novı Svet / Bohemia and Schachtenbach-Hütte / Bavaria", and I understand from Ivo that Baccarat were the original inventors of this particular colour.     I only hope that someone confirms this suggestion is correct

[Andy]

Thanks Paul, Ive had a dig around on here,
quote from Ivo,
"Chrysoprase is the opaque Annagreen colour developed by Baccarat in 1848 and I do not think it was produced in great quantities.  Very easy to misspell for english speakers"
and Frank,
"Harrachov glassworks introduced chrysoprase c 1827 a coloured glass that is a mixture of uranium glass with bone or alabaster glass"
from this thread,
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,3159.0.html
I know its 19thc, but could be 1840s,50s , earlier than i thought.
I will keep digging,
Cheers
Andy
(what fun you can have for 99p   well a few pounds p+p on top)
ps also, its a lovely shape, must have taken a lot of skill to blow it!

[Ivo]

i'd sooner date that one in the 1890s - and if there was a stopper it could be a barber bottle. Harrach looks right for decoration or whats left of it - but it could also be French.

[Andy]

Ivo,
Youre right again  :thup:
Its missing a stopper, the inside neck is ground!
Id never heard of Barber bottles , rather than embarrass myself to ask if they are exactly what the name suggests, i just googled it, very collectable 
 http://www.bottlebooks.com/barber.htm
says "These bottles graced the shelves of Barber Shops in the early part of the twentieth century. "
although i would have thought a little earlier, as you say.
Shame i havent got the stopper
Cheers
Andy

[Andy]

Barber bottles , from another link
"Sometime after 1850, glasshouses, particularly in Sandwich,
Massachusetts, Glassboro, New Jersey, and the area around Pittsburgh,
began to manufacture highly ornate bottles for the storage and dispensing
of bay rum, witch hazel, cologne, and other mixt
es employed by barbers."
From
http://www.antiquebottles.com/poch/12.html

So, popular 2nd half of the 19thC !
 

[Paul S.]

Andy - appreciate the couple of posts since I stared typing, but think some of this at least is relevant.
yes, isn't that an irony (px?) that the postage costs more than the item .    I've seen a few pieces of this type over the past year or so, and probably wudn't now buy any unless it was exceptional.  But how surprising that pieces made back in the middle of the C19 shud have survided so well  -  at least I don't see any with chips.   I rushed to look in both of Barrie Skelcher's books thinking that without fail he wud have 'chrysoprase' in the index  -  but no.   However, within the text he does refer to a C19 Webb's mixture called 'Chrysoprase Green', so this must be the same thing as like what we are discussing.     But just to confuse matters Skelcher goes on to index what he calls 'Green Opaline' - which contains U., and looks very much like 'Chrysoprase' - so now I am confused.     He also mentions something called 'Chrysophis', in several shades of green or yellow.
Perhaps Lustrusstone will clarify this for us - altho I believe her recent review of one of these books was less than complimentary.

[Andy]

Thanks Paul,
i hadnt heard of Barrie Skelcher before, just had a read of some articles, and put a book on
my Amazon wish list, its an interesting subject, and i can fully understand the desire to collect it!
 

[Lustrousstone]

I gave up on understanding what chrysoprase glass was a long time ago.  :pb: i just tend to call it uranium jade glass. I have about 8/9 different examples, as in shades of green, some by known manufacturers, the rest unknown. I tend to go with Ivo on this one.

Barrie's first book is fine. His second was much less well researched and put together.

[Andy]

Thanks Christine,
I like your term for it , and i will swop the book on my wish list  :thup:
Cheers
Andy