Glass Colors
When it comes to glass, color is everything. An
example in a scarce color can at times command a price thousands
of dollars above a more common color. When you are dealing with
approximately 97 million different shades of a single color,
there is bound to be confusion. I’ll never forget the eBay
user who berated me in an email over a bottle I had described
as “amber.” He indignantly informed me that my bottle
was actually “brown.”
There is no standardization in glass color terminology and you
will hear as many different names for individual shades as there
are varieties of bottles. Take “ice blue” for example.
The owner of some 19th century firm—let’s say the “Crude
Dude Bottle Company”-- didn’t come into the factory
one day and tell his foreman “Let’s make our bottles
ice blue today.” No, more often than not, the source and
content of the materials used determined what color a batch of
glass would be. The simple fact is that “ice blue” is
one of nearly a zillion different shades of aqua. It can also
result from a really pale batch of cobalt. Teal. you ask? You
guessed it: 99% of such bottles were the result of an “off” batch
of aqua or emerald. In defense of this highly regarded color,
a few companies did mix a specific shade of teal as their trademark
color. The real trouble lies in the subjectivity of the answer
to this question; “when does a richly colored batch of
aqua officially become a shade of teal?” Your guess is
as good as mine. My apologies if you were expecting me to neatly
clear up this messy matter once and for all. I don’t have
the answer.
As if there wasn’t enough controversy already over color
shades and the terms used to describe them, let’s really
muddy the water by taking digital pictures of these countless
color variations. Digital images from both cameras and scanners
are notorious for butchering colors. And to further cloud the
issue lets take these already criminal images using a variety
of different light sources! Now we’ve got a real mess.
How glass colors are affected by digital photography and light
source
I found long ago that the only effective solution for repairing the damage done
by digitizing an image (usually a loss of saturation and/or levels but occasionally
hue,) is to have some color correcting experience with a good photo-editing software
program such as Adobe Photoshop. A little correction can go a long way where
color accuracy is concerned.
Different light sources can drastically affect the colors in a photo. Take a
bottle and hold it up to an incandescent bulb, then take it outside and backlight
it with the sun. The difference is amazing. Incandescent light lends a yellow
cast to colors, while fluorescent light imparts a blue cast. I shoot our product
photos under quartz studio lights and measure and set white balance (the camera
setting that compensates for color differences in artificial light) prior to
shooting. Most digital cameras allow a choice of only a few preset (estimated)
white balance settings. Mine allows an actual measurement of the light source’s
color. The result is that the camera “corrects” the light to emulate
natural sunlight.
Also, different computer monitors and their settings can influence the colors
seen by the user. That is one of the reasons why I try to picture bottles in
groups of different colors, for comparison purposes. If the bottle I describe
as “cobalt” looks purple to you, you can bet our monitors are not
on the same page. Comparison can be helpful in determining shade too. Is a bottle
I call ice blue really ice blue? Compare it to the bottle described as aqua in
the same group. The only solution to the complex controversy regarding color
shades is a good return policy! (click here to
see our liberal return policy)
Painted Bottles
Some years ago, colored bottles painted with a clear glass stain started showing
up in the UK. Bland aqua bottles could be spiced up with a new color and new
appeal as window bottles. While I’m sure that the practice originated from
harmless intentions, it wasn’t long before a few bad apples were--and occasionally
still are--using the technique to deceive bottle collectors. A common bottle
in aqua might increase in value many times over after being painted blue. While
most hasty jobs will show runs and other evidence of the treatment, other jobs
are very good and hard to spot. One key is the shade used. The reds and yellows
I’ve seen are obviously not shades seen in antique bottles. The colors
most likely to deceive are emerald and cobalt. I have a beautiful “cobalt” Vapo-Creseline
poison bottle that turned out to be too good to be true. There is an easy way
to check suspect bottles for paint. Use finger nail polish remover, or acetone,
on a white cloth and rub the glass. If painted, the color will show up on the
cloth right away. I once actually profited from buying a painted bottle intentionally.
At an antique show in the UK a small blue flask stuck out like a sore thumb.
No one was trying to deceive with this one though, as the price was about $1.50.
Someone obviously had decided it would look better blue than aqua. Closer inspection
proved the flask to be a scarce item itself, even in its original aqua. After
removing the stain, I sold it for $35. But, taking into account the Vapo-Creseline
buy, and a few others I’ve bumbled into over the years, I think I’m
still in the red when it comes to painted bottles.
Naturally and artificially sun colored glass
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, oxide of manganese was added to aqua
glass batches to produce clear glass or “white” glass, as it was
originally called. Bottles blown with this additive have the peculiar habit of
turning amethyst after prolonged exposure to the sun’s ultra-violet rays.
The result was a whole new category of bottles called “sun colored amethyst” or
SCA. Bottle collectors couldn’t get enough of these uniquely colored examples.
They began lining their windows with clear glass, patiently waiting for them
to turn amethyst. In Australia, they took advantage of the blazing outback sun
by covering their rooftops with clear glass, which eventually turned amethyst.
Impatient Americans discovered that the process could be accelerated, by bombarding
clear glass with artificially generated ultra-violet rays. Early on, hospital
x-ray machines were used and in modern times the same machines used to irradiate
food are put to work “purpling” clear glass. Artificially turned
glass is usually a deeper shape of amethyst (actually purple) than that of sun
turned, but depending on the type of machine utilized and the amount of “cook” time,
the results from artificial rays can produce shades identical to true SCA. Around
1910-20 manganese was replaced by selenium as a clearing agent. Selenium blown
bottles will turn various shades of amber when exposed to ultra-violet rays.
These shades of amber are invariably unlike any produced in antique glass and
are easily identified.
Despite the widespread knowledge that most amethyst bottles now in circulation
came about their color artificially, they remain extremely popular. Amethyst
adds a special touch of color to a grouping of bottles that is irresistible to
many. As window bottles they are hard to beat. There remains considerable controversy
between those who maintain that artificially colored glass has no place in the
collecting world and the seemingly greater majority who whish to own it. Many
bottle shows have a disclaimer on their fliers forbidding the sale of “purple” glass.
Yet at every show, purple bottles are on the tables and they consistently enjoy
brisk sales. While we respect the opinions of those who believe artificially
turned glass has no place in this world, we hear a much louder voice that doesn’t
care how it got that color -- they just want it. We voice our position on the
matter by buying and selling such pieces when available.
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