Topic: lidded uranium box?

[bat20]

Hi all,got to say the best find at the boot fair today was two books on glass dead cheap,but a bit of a blank on the glass front apart from this little 10cm uranium glass box with a roughly polished pontil,it has a couple of chips on the inside of the rim and funnily enough i've never found one without sadly.I'm guessing Bohemia but i'm not sure about the date,any thoughts,also could i ask do chips on the inside of glass box's affect the monetary value much, or is there a bit of a amnesty on them! many thanks.

[flying free]

Just a quick question first does it have an iridescent surface?  or is it just the photo making it look like it.
That would be a bit unusual so just wanted to check before making any comment at all
oh and, is that base flat polished rather than just a mold blown base?
It actually looks as though it's ground and polished flat with a sort of pontil mark indent in the middle?
I have something similar so need to know 
m

[flying free]

see questions above
but I've just reread your post more slowly  , the 'roughly' polished pontil answers my question.  I don't think it's 'rough' but I do think this piece is quite old.  And I'm wondering where it originated (or at least the enamelling more specifically) because I have a little pot, quite small, that I believe also dates to quite old, c. 1850 ish and is enamelled in the same style.  I've been trying to research it for years.  Yours is the first time another has popped up that is enamelled in the same way and has this curiously polished flat base with the odd pontil mark in the centre

[Paul S.]

can't say that I'm seeing a 'roughly polished pontil', or come to that a pontil of any kind  -  looks more like a
mould effect of some sort.

this shade of almost opaque green looks similar to the 'chrysoprase' uranium pieces that we've had on the board  -  and some of those can date to c. 1860 I seem to remember - they're often typified by having gilded  designs  -  and Bohemian was one of the suggestions I think.

[flying free]

I think it's similar to my box Paul and mine looks odd but is definitely a pontil mark.  What makes it look strange is it is not exactly round in shape and the base has been polished flat, so it looks strange somehow - hard to explain.  It's not a way I see bases finished which is why it struck me on this piece as it's the first one I've seen like mine.  But I think it is definitely not a molded mark despite it looking like that.
edited - re looking again, perhaps on this one it is mold blown and then the base has been polished flat leaving that indented area that looks like a pontil mark but isn't.  That might explain why my 'pontil mark' always looked odd to me.  My pontil mark looks polished but oddly shaped, not circular and it doesn't have the mold rings showing that this one does though.

And re the uranium glass, it could be something like Josephinenhutte or Schactenbach for the the glass maybe, but the enamelling is very distinctive - again the only piece I've seen like my box.  I'll add some pics in a mo.  I had been wondering if my box was Persian for example.  But I've no way of knowing if they made opaline uranium glass.  My box is white , incredibly beautiful opaline glass quality.
m

[flying free]

Paul, just in case you read my post before I edited it, I edited it just now

The rim edges on both the lid and the bowl on mine are highly polished cut and bevelled beautiful and minutely both sides.

The pic of my pontil mark makes the polished pontil looks a bit grainy because of the lighting but it isn't at all, it is highly polished smooth, just not round in shape.

Pics of box added
m

[Paul S.]

o.k. think I'm with you m.

I'd agree that it looks to have a large outer area of the base ground/polished flat, but not certain, and bat has gone rather quite on the subject  -  it was just that I wasn't seeing a central pontil scar or depression that was mentioned at the outset.
The large ground area is what you'd expect to see assuming this is Continental  -  which is where a lot of the Chrysoprase came from.
It is that sort of green that makes me think of that particular product..............but, this is not my area really, so will leave to others with more expertise

[Paul S.]

sorry, wasn't with you - hadn't seen your pix.

Your bowl does look to be opaline, and nothing to do with uranium  - could be French, possibly  -  but I'd still go with Bohemain/eastern European for bat's green example.

[flying free]

 
I think they have both been enamelled in a similar 'region' because of the type of enamelling and style.
It's possible they are both Bohemian but I'm going to do some investigating on the 'Persian' theory 
m

[bat20]

Hiya!sorry i'm a liverpool supporter so after chelsea losing today it's been all football chat!Very interesting replies and i must admit having looked at the decoration it does have an Arabic feel to it,maybe worth looking at some tiles?No iridescence m its a sort of frosted texture,your glass has some very similar features especially the semi circles with curly bits,on mine the other way up,the base i think is also like yours polished flat with almost a not very well polished out pontil mark.when i got it it had three little paper pads on the base,perhaps it came from a trinket set on a glass tray?so no wear to really judge the age.There are remnants of gold on the knob which is shinny so maybe it was totally gold at some point.