The Delight of Bristol Blue

 

QUESTION: I recently purchased a piece of what was described as “Bristol Blue” glass through an online antiques auction. I collect antique glass but this vase struck me as something unique. Although it looked like Victorian enameled glass, it resembled porcelain and the description said it was made in England in the late 18th century. I would really like to know more about this piece. I didn’t think glassmakers produced enameled glass that early Was it produced in Bristol, England, and thus the name, and who made it? And just how far back does Bristol Blue glass go?

ANSWER: Those are all very good questions. Let’s begin with the name. Even though this type of glass has Bristol in its name, glassmakers throughout most of England produced it. The blue in the name refers to the coloring used in the glass.

In the first half of the 18th century, near Redcliffel Backs, Temple Meads, Bedminster and other suburbs of Bristol, England, the squat chimneys of glasshouses and potteries silhouetted the landscape like giant beehives. But it was the age of porcelain, and anyone who could afford to buy it did so. Porcelain factories enjoyed the protection of kings, and European elite emptied their purses for priceless porcelain treasures. The arrival of an affordable substitute in decorated rnilch glass from Germany delighted Bristol glassmakers. For the first time, they had a perfect porcelain substitute  within their reach. 

The Venetians first made glass as an imitation of porcelain prior to 1500. Experts believe they used tin oxide as the agent to produce the white opacity in their glass. Eighteenth-century English white glass, called enamel glass in advertisements of the 1760s, was an intensely white, brittle material, generally a potash-lead mix, rendered opaque by the addition of lead arsenate. The porcelain-like, opaque glass  produced by the glassmakers of Bristol, was soft and smooth to the touch yet retained the fine heaviness of English crystal. It was an instant success, forcing the Bristol glassmen to borrow decorators from neigh-boring potteries to keep up with the public's demand.

England's glass excise tax of 1746 raised the duty on clear glass but didn’t tax opaque and colored glass because there was so little of it being made. This offered an excellent economic incentive for its increased production.

Chemists long knew that a powdered coloring could be premixed and supplied to glassmakers for addition to clear glass of their own making. But it was 18th-century German chemists from Saxony, who refined impure oxide of cobalt to produce a blue powder of unparalleled purity and uniform consistency. They exported their product, called “smalt,” to England, where a British merchant distributed it under the name "Bristol Blue."

The Bristol glassmakers quickly added the new deep-blue color to their already successful line of opaque white glass. Vigor & Stevens, of Thomas Street and Lazarus Jacobs, and later his son Isaac, of Temple Street, produced pieces primarily in deep Bristol Blue.

By the end of the 18th century the manufacture of blue glass became fairly common throughout England and continued to be marketed under the name of Bristol Blue. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to identify glass made in Bristol from a piece manufactured elsewhere. The original term “Bristol Blue" referred simply to the coloring agent sold to glassmakers rather than to their finished products.

The early shapes, manufactured around 1770, emulated Chinese and English porcelain—pear-shaped covered vases, trumpet-mouthed beakers, and cruets—all   produced in sets. Glassmakers also produced scent or smelling bottles and snuff boxes, often facet-cut, with enameling and gilding, in both white and blue glass.

Early Chinese porcelain painters greatly influenced the 18th-century Bristol designs. The Chinese artists working at the Imperial Porcelain Factory excelled in delicate miniature enameled decoration on their opaque white glass. They often employed motifs of figures, birds, and European flowers much admired by the Emperor Chi’en Lung, who ruled from 1736 to 1795. Since most English glasshouses made their opaque white glass in competition with porcelain, most used the same styles and even the same artists to decorate both.

Glass decorator Michael Edkins linked the white and blue glass under the mutual name of "Bristol." At first, he apprenticed to an enameling firm in Birmingham, England, but at the age of 20, he took up residence in Bristol and settled down to decorate pottery dishes and tiles. At that time, artists painted the pieces with pencils made of bristles from the noses and eyelids of oxen. Graduating to glass, Edkins began decorating "enamel and blue glassware." He worked both independently and for Isaac Jacobs, Little & Longman, and Williams, Dunbar & Company from 1782 onwards. Instead of using enamel paints that needed to be fired, Edkins used standard oil colors, or plain gold gilt motifs, applied with unfired varnish, which he called "cold" decoration. 

Generally, artists decorated Bristol Blue ware with unfired or lightly fired gold varnish. Cruets and decanters often sported the name of their contents as well as intricate garlands and wreaths of plain gold. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Ancients" in the 2021 Spring Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Shave and a Haircut Two Bits

 

QUESTION: My grandfather loved to collect old shaving mugs. By the time he died, he had collected over 100 of them. One of them belonged to his father. As his grandson, I’ve now inherited his collection. As much as I admire it, I’m not sure what to do with all those mugs. What can you tell me about shaving mugs in particular? And what advice can you give me on caring for his collection?

ANSWER: Curating someone else’s collection is at best challenging and at worst a nightmare. What you have inherited is the result of years of searching for just the right mugs. Collecting is an emotional process but a collection is a just a group of objects. What you need to do is make his collection your own. And that means learning everything you can about shaving mugs to start. 

Only after you have become somewhat knowledgeable will you be able to curate his collection. Curation is the inventorying of the collection, as well as its improvement. To improve his collection, you’ll want to cull out any pieces that are chipped or damaged in any other way by selling them in order to purchase better mugs. 

There was a time when a man could stop at his neighborhood barbershop and get a shave and a haircut for two bits, 25 cents. Today, it’s nearly impossible to find a barber who still offers a shave with a haircut. That went out with the advent of the safety and electric razors.

Most homes had no hot running water, so one had to boil water in order to shave. The soap used to fit into a cup, and with the hot water and a brush, a man could get a good lather to shave with his straight razor. So men began going to barbershops to get a shave.

When a man went to the barber for a shave, the barber used soap and a brush in a mug to work up a lather which he then applied to the face. Many of the shaving mugs were personalized and kept in a rack at the barbershop for the barber to use when shaving the men who owned them. From 1870 to 1930, shaving mugs were both a necessity and a status symbol. Almost all men owned one.

Mugs that men used at home are came in various shapes and didn’t have the owner's name on them. Some were in the shape of a mug with floral designs while others were plain. Many grabbed a mug from the kitchen cupboard for their shave, but as they were able to afford to go to the barbershops for a shaves, mugs with names and other information on them became popular possessions.

Hygiene was another stimulus for the proliferation of personal shaving mugs. It was thought that a shaving rash that some customers developed came from the use of the same soap on different customers, so barbers started selling individual shaving mugs and soap to customers, keeping in a mug rack in the barbershop.

In 1890, these would have sold for 50 cents to $2.50 each. This service benefitted the barber’s business since customers would generally return to the shop where they had a mug rather than go to another where they didn’t. 

The mugs used in barbershops were of many designs, but all had one thing in common—they were hand painted and had the owner's name on the front of the mug.  Some had just the owner's name while others had floral and scenic designs on them, or symbols of fraternal affiliations and illustrations of the owner’s occupation. It seemed a natural progression from mugs that depicted a man's occupation to those advertising a service or product.

Men sitting around the barbershop could easily identify who delivered milk, repaired shoes, sold meat, or owned the livery stable. This exposure probably led to an increase in the advertised customer's business, since so many men who went to barbershops lived in the area.

Early manufacturers of barbershop products also desired to increase sales, especially shaving soap. The Knights Company gave a free glass shaving mug to anyone who bought their shaving soap, thus encouraging them to continue to buy more soap. There were a variety of glass shaving mugs that barber’s gave free to customers who purchased shaving soap. 

Wildroot had a double bowl advertising mug that it offered in the 1920's. One of the bowls held the lather while the other held hot water. Later, they offered a Fire King shaving mug with a barber pole and the words "Ask for Wildroot" on the mug face. In the 1930's, Shulton Old Spice sold sets that included a mug and soap. Several other companies followed with their own mug and soap. 

In the 1950's, the Sportsman Company went a step farther and offered hand painted occupational mugs that showed various occupations using the name of the occupation rather than the name of the owner, such as Policeman, Lawyer, Doctor, etc. 

Some collectors consider hand painted shaving mugs both advertising and occupational, a type of folk art.  Artists painted them in barber supply houses on blank mugs obtained from Europe, since the United States had a very limited ability to produce porcelain at the time. Koken Barber Supply and Kern Barber Supply in St. Louis, Volden Barber Supply in Cleveland, and Berninghouse Barber Supply in Cincinnati were some of the major producers of mugs, and generally have their marks on the bottom of the mug.

Mugs from 1870 to 1930 are highly collectible, and while occupational shaving mugs are the most sought after, mugs showing advertising are also popular with collectors. The shaving mugs collected today come primarily from that boom period, and their popularity has risen dramatically. Prices range from $20 o $10,000, so there's plenty of opportunity for beginners as well as advanced collectors. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Sparkling World of Glass" in the 2021 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Mysterious Glow of Vaseline Glass

 

QUESTION: My aunt recently died and left me several things, including two beautiful twin yellow-green glass vases. I don’t know much about them but someone said they’re made of Vaseline glass. Does that mean they use Vaseline to make them? Can you tell me more about this beautiful glass?

ANSWER: No, your vases aren’t made of Vaseline. The most common color of this type of glass is pale yellowish-green, which in the 1930s led to the nickname "Vaseline glass" based on its resemblance to the appearance of Vaseline brand petroleum jelly as was formulated and commercially sold at that time. 

The addition of uranium dates back to Roman times. Professor R. T. Gunther of the University of Oxford discovered a piece of glass containing one percent uranium dating to 79 C.E. in an excavation of an imperial Roman villa on Cape Posillipo in the Bay of Naples, Italy in 1912.

Starting in the late Middle Ages, workers extracted pitchblende from the Habsburg silver mines in Joachimsthal, Bohemia. This was then used as a coloring agent in local glassmaking. Austrian druggist Franz Xaver Riedel experimented with pitchblende and obtained a yellow substance later identified as uranium dioxide. He added it to glass and became the first major producer of items made of yellow-green uranium glass, which he named "annagrün" (annagreen), in honor of his daughter Anna Maria. By the middle of the 19th century, this new coloring agent became popular in both Europe and America.

Vaseline glass is also called "uranium glass." This mineral added to glass is what makes it glow bright green under blacklight. The normal color of uranium glass ranges from yellow to green depending on the oxidation state and concentration of the metal ions, although this may be altered by the addition of other elements as glass colorants. That bit of uranium in the glass also makes it slightly radioactive.

With improvements in mass-produced, affordable glass, the popularity of vaseline glass rose. During the second half of the 19th century, interest in the glowing glass peaked. The fashionable glass was appealing both in sunlight and in the evenings. Victorian homes were lit by gaslight, kerosene or candles, which produced soft light-The human eye sees yellow-green most easily since it is in the center of the spectrum of colors, so under flickering light con. lit ions, the Vaseline glass seems to glow.

Large glass companies like Fenton Glass and Mosser Glass made vases, tableware, tooth-pick holders, clocks, whimsies, shoes, hats, parasols, inkwells,. compotes, and more in Vaseline glass..But between 1890 and 1910, the middle class became more interested in pottery and porcelain. With the development of Incandescent lighting, the steady light frequency made Vaseline glass appear plain.

The government confiscated all supplies of uranium during WWII for the Manhattan Project and halted all production of vaseline glass for from approximately 1942 until the ban was lifted in November 1958. From 1959 onward, glass companies began making vaseline glass again. However, because of the expense to obtain uranium dioxide, production was and is still very limited.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Celebrating an Olde Fashioned Holiday" in the 2020 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Sparkle of Findlay Flint

 

QUESTION: My mother loved collecting antique glass. She collected what she liked but didn’t pay too much attention to each piece’s history. I now have her collection and display it proudly. I’m trying to figure out exactly what I have. Some are readily identifiable but there are several that are puzzling. A friend told me they may be Findlay Flint glass. What can you tell me about this company? And what types of glassware did they produce?

ANSWER: While glassmakers like Heisey and Fenton are well known, there were plenty of others nestled in the Ohio River Valley. One of these was Findlay Flint Glass of Findlay, Ohio.  

Not a single glass factory remains in Findlay today. It was once home to 22 glass manufacturers, including five tableware companies, not all of whom were in production at the same time. But from 1889 to 1891, sixteen factories operated at once. The town boasted being the second largest glass producer in the country. Findlay's glass factories disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared, but in their brief existence, they produced hundreds of pressed glass patterns which are widely recognized and collected today.

It all started with the discovery of natural gas in the Findlay area in 1884. The rapid rise and fall of Findlay', glass industry was directly linked to the city's natural gas supply. But it wasn’t until 1886 before residents drilled wells to tap into the fuel source. The first was the great Karg well. A Geological Survey of Ohio in 1890 estimated it produced 14 million cubic feet of gas per day. Reports said gas escaping from the well could be heard as a roar five miles away.

City leaders believed they had an inexhaustible gas supply and lured industries to town with the promise of free or inexpensive gas. Glass companies in particular saw this as an incentive since they required a tremendous amount of heat. Multiple glass factories  soon sprang up, bringing thousands of new workers. Housing boomed and stores thrived in the gas boom town.

No one imagined that in just a few years, Findlay's gas would be in short supply, but only two years after drilling the Karg well, some local wells began failing.  By 1890 city officials saw trouble ahead. Fearing serious gas shortages, they urged glass companies to convert to other fuels. A few years later, the situation worsened. They had no choice  but to cut off the gas supply to industries in order to satisfy the needs of residents. Although a few glass companies remained for several years. Findlay’s shining moment in the glass industry abruptly ended.

The Findlay  Flint Glass Company was the last tableware factory to locate in Findlay. Organized mainly by local people, it opened in 1899 producing a full line of tableware and employed 192 workers.

Unfortunately, the company didn’t last long. Business had already slowed down by December 1890. And in 1891, city officials warned of possible gas shortages. The end came on June 6, 1891, when a midnight fire started in the shipping department and destroyed the factory. The owners had planned to rebuild the factory to produce glass bottles, but the intense heat of the fire ruined the limestone foundation so the factory was never rebuilt.

Even though Findlay Flint Glass produced glass for only about 22 months, it produced a large quantity of glass in several fine patterns. One of its major patterns was the Block and Double Bar which can sometimes be found with ruby flash. Though the company made its Pillar pattern midway through its production, it introduced Pattern No. 19 only a few months before the fire, making it extremely difficult to find today.

Stippled Forget-Me-Not, originally called Dot, was another popular pattern made in several colors including white milk glass and a fiery opalescent glass which are both difficult to find. Besides the regular tableware line, there were three baby plates with Stippled Forget-Me-Not borders. One featured a baby in the center, another had a cat, and the third had a stork.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the Retro style in the Fall 2020 Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

A Bolt Out of the Blue

 

QUESTION: I was browsing through an antiques mall when I spotted what looked like round glass globe lampshades. The dealer’s booth that contained them displayed at least a dozen. Some were opaque and others were clear glass and some had patterns. Unlike other 19th-century lamp globes that have a wider opening at the bottom and a narrower one at the top, the openings on these globes were the same narrow size on top and bottom. What sort of gas lamp were these used for?

ANSWER: Believe it or not, these globes aren’t for use on gas lamps but are part of a lightning rod installation. And unless you live in a rural area, you probably have never  noticed them on top of buildings.

Some lightning rod balls date to as early as 1840. Originally sold as ornaments for lightning rods,  today they can be found in a wide range of shapes and colors. Toward the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, the use of lightning rod balls became common. 

In the 19th century, manufacturers embellished their lightning rod assemblies with ornamental glass balls. The main purpose of these balls, however, was to provide evidence of a lightning strike by shattering or falling off. If a property owner discovered a ball missing or broken after a storm, he or she would then check the building, rod, and grounding wire for damage.

A lightning rod is a lightning attractor or conductor. If it’s placed high on a building, it will draw the lightning towards it instead of other structures. The lightning rod comes in contact with an aluminum or copper plate on the roof. A grounding cable then runs inconspicuously across the roof, down the side of the structure, and into the ground.

There are around 34 shapes or styles of lightning rod balls. Traveling salesmen going from farm to farm in horse drawn wagons sold them from 1870 until the Great Depression closed businesses.

The most common lightning rod ball was 4½ inches in diameter and was smooth and round. The most common colors were opaque white, and opaque light blue. The next two most common colors were transparent cobalt blue and transparent red, sometimes known as "ruby" red. The holes in the top and bottom of the ball were the same size, and the hole and the area around it were called "collars."

Most balls had copper, aluminum, or sometimes    

brass "caps" on both ends. The purpose of the caps was to protect the ball and to cover up the rough glass edges created during its manufacturing process. Small metal rings, each with a set screw,  mounted on the lightning rod above and below the glass lightning rod ball to hold it in place..

In the 19th century, a farmer's barn was usually larger than his house. The lightning rod assembly was essential to protect these wooden structures from electrical storms. The glass lightning rod ball, placed at the center of the rod, was simply a decorative addition.

Sold by nearly every lightning protection company, the plain round ball was the moist common and came in three sizes—3½ , 4 and 4½  inches in diameter. Produced in milk glass, transparent glass and sometimes in porcelain, the standard ball was white or blue milk glass, and examples of these can still be found for $25-60. Both milk and transparent glass balls also came with a flashed coating—a process in which another color coated the original, such as blue over white, resulting in an opaque effect.

Transparent glass offered the widest range of color options, which ranged from clear to various shades of amber, cobalt blue, green, teal and red. Some clear balls now have an amethyst tint, the result of the sun's exposure to the manganese used in the glassmaking process. The deeper the shade of purple, the more desirable the ball is today.

Some manufacturers embossed their round balls with their name or further enhanced them adding quilted, pleated, or swirled patterns. While these can usually be attributed to specific manufacturers, they’re most often referred to by their shape, such as Chestnut„ Doorknob, Ear of Corn, Quilt Flat, Ribbed Grape, Onion, or Staircase. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the Retro style in the Fall 2020 Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Water, Water Everywhere

 

Fenn water bottle with ring

QUESTION: I discovered this unique water bottle at a local antiques co-op. While most antique water decanters are solid cut or pressed glass, this one comes apart into two pieces. A metal ring, with a rubber gasket to make the seal tight, screws onto the base. The mark on the bottom edge of the top section reads: “Perfection Bottle Co., Wilkes-Barre, PA Pat March 30-97.op part.”  What can you tell me about this type of water bottle?

ANSWER: You, indeed, have found a unique water bottle. Though a revolutionary idea, this type of water bottle appeared in stores for only a few years.

From the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, water bottles were standard items in many American Victorian households. They appeared on dinner tables either alone or with matching glasses and in bedrooms often with a glass that sat upside down over the top of the bottle. They also could be found on the nightstands in hotel rooms and steamship cabins, and on tables in railroad lounge cars. 

Cut glass crystal water bottle

At first, manufacturers made them of elegant cut glass, but that was too expensive for the average person. Some turned to using pressed glass in a variety of patterns which lowered their cost.

However, cleaning these crystal beauties posed a serious problem with hygiene. The bottle’s narrow neck made it hard to get a brush down into it, making it almost impossible to clean the inside surface of the bottle’s bulbous interior. But that changed in 1896 when William B. Fenn came up with the idea of a separating water bottle—one with pieces that could unscrew for easy cleaning.  On March 30 of the following year,  he applied for and received a patent for it.

Fenn’s separating water bottle had an ingenious design. He made the neck and base two separate pieces, with the bottom edge of the neck fitting inside the top rim of the base. A rubber gasket formed a waterproof seal between the two parts and a metal ring screwed over the joint to lock the pieces in place. 

Ceramic water bottle

Even though Fenn used glass for his original design, he stipulated in his patent that any material, including ceramics and porcelain, could be used for the bottle, itself, and any metal could be used for the joining ring as long it wouldn’t corrode.

It took nearly three years for Fenn's bottle to be available to the public. Priced at $4.50 each when they first came on the market in 1900, they were well beyond the means of the average person. Realizing he had to do something to increase sales, Fenn redesigned the pattern on the bottle so that it could be pressed instead of cut. Suddenly, the price per bottle dropped to 50 cents per bottle, or 34 cents each for a dozen, making the Fenn water bottle affordable for everyone.

Fenn’s invention was so successful that he decided to expand production. By October,1902, consumers could purchase a decanter

Fenn Royal water bottle

and stopper in four sizes—half pint, and one, two and three-pint versions. And during 1903; He expanded the line further to include other glass containers, such as   syrup pitchers and cruets, as well as bitters, cologne, and barber bottles, each with a different pattern.

The separating water bottle came in three models—the Royal, with a delicate design imitating cut crystal, the Imperial, also sold in two and three-pint capacities but without a pattern, the Optic, with a succession of single, convex protruding, vertical panels with rounded tops and bottoms, and the Colonial, featuring nine rounded panels with flat bottoms around the base. Each came in two and three-pint sizes, except the Colonial which also came in a half-gallon size.

In 1903, the Perfection Water Bottle Company and the Sterling Glass Company combined to create the Perfection Glass Company of Washington, Pennsylvania, with William Fenn as one of the initial investors. But the new company was only to last until 1907 when it closed its doors for lack of sales.

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The Whimsy of Murano Glass

QUESTION: My mother had this colorful little glass owl, and I had it sitting downstairs for many years on a shelf and had forgotten about it. Actually, I never liked it. But I knew nothing about it. I've tried and tried to find out about it online, but discovered nothing that would help me identify it. Do you know anything about it? Is it from the 1960s or 1970s?

ANSWER: Your owl vase comes from the Island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. While Murano glass has been made for several centuries, collecting antique pieces may be a bit over the budget of most people. However, pieces like this one from the 1960s are much more affordable and do pop up at flea markets from time to time.

Murano glass objects have gone up in price in recent years. Those items made in the 1950s are especially popular because of their reasonable prices. Typically, Murano pieces are low bowls and ashtrays with abstract shapes. Some are rounded or blobbed, kind of like an amoeba. Others have pointed "fingers" in the design which reach outward or up in many directions. A few stand higher, with fingers reaching upward to form a handle for a basket. There are also bud vases. All are have deep, vibrant colors, and all are heavy and have polished smooth bottoms.

Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Veneto, or Venetian Lagoon, less than a mile north of Venice. Today, it has a population of over 5,000 and is famous for its glassmaking. This reputation as a center for glassmaking came about when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and destruction of the city's mostly wooden buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. The glassmakers of Murano have specialized in fancy glasswares ever since.

They developed or refined many glassmaking technologies, including crystalline glass, smalto or enameled glass, goldstone or golden glass, mullefiori or multicolored filement glass, lattimo or milk glass, and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano still use these centuries-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass figurines to Murano glass chandeliers, as well as tourist souvenirs..

Murano glassmakers eventually became the island’s most prominent citizens. By the 14th century, glassmakers could wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state, and had permission for their daughters to marry into Venice’s most affluent families. But there was a downside. Glassmakers weren’t allowed to leave the Republic. Anyone caught exporting professional glasmaking secrets was put to death. Many craftsmen took this risk and set up glass furnaces in surrounding cities and as far afield as England and the Netherlands. By the end of the 16th century, three thousand of Murano island's seven thousand inhabitants were involved in some way in the glassmaking industry.

The late 19th century saw a resurgence in the art of glassmaking on Murano. By the turn of the 20th century, they only produced special pieces for La Biennale di Venezia, the Venice Biennale, an international art exhibition that began in 1895.

Following World War I, the glassmaking factories began normal production of non-traditional pieces. By the 1930s, they began producing pieces in the Art Deco style. This continued until the Biennale of 1942, at which the Murano glassmakers outdid themselves by exhibiting pieces in exciting shapes and colors that brought a lift to war-weary Venice.

Some of Murano's historical glass factories, including De Biasi, Gabbiani, Venini, Salviati, Barovier & Toso, Pauly, Berengo Studio, Seguso, Formia International, Murno Gladst, Simone Cenedese, Alessandro Mandruzzato, Vetreria Ducale, Estevan Rossetto 1950, remain well known brands today,. The oldest glass factory is Antica Vetreria Fratelli Toso, founded in 1854.

Overall, the Murano glass industry has been shrinking as demand has waned. Imitation works from Asia and Eastern Europe have stolen an estimated 40-45 percent of the market for Murano glass, and public tastes have changed while the designs in Murano have largely stayed the same. The difficult and low-paying nature of the work has decreased  the number of professional glassmakers in Murano from about 6000 in 1990 to fewer than 1000 today.

Today, about 50 companies use the Artistic Glass Murano® trademark of origin.  Regionale di Veneto Law Numero.70, passed in 1994, introduced this trademark and continues to regulate it. While glass factories on Murano aren’t required to apply for the trademark and many choose not to, works that bear it have their authenticity guaranteed.

One of the main characteristics of Murano glass is its bubble-free quality. By adding fluxes and stabilizers such as soda and lime to silica sand, glassmakers can melt the glass at a lower temperature, making the glass homogeneous and bubble free. While basic Murano glass is colorless, the addition of small amounts of minerals, oxides, and chemical derivatives to the base composition of the glass powder gives it its brilliant colors.

Today, the island of Murano is synonymous with glass. Everything imaginable is made from Murano glass: wine goblets, vases, candlestick holders, miniature animals, paperweights, chandeliers, lampshades, dinner services, tiny pieces of glass candy, beads, and every kind of jewelry you can imagine. There’s tremendous variety in quality, price, and style. When it’s quickly turned out for a cheap profit among the tourist trade, it can look hideous. When it’s well done, Murano glass is exquisitely beautiful.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 24,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about vintage games in the 2019 Holiday Edition, "Games, Games, and More Games," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Fall is Cranberry Season

QUESTION: Every year at Thanksgiving, I bring out a set of eight sparkling pink glasses that used to be belong to my great-grandmother. They seem so festive and add a holiday note to our dining table. Can you tell me anything about these glasses?

ANSWER: Your glasses are made of cranberry glass, a very special type of glass favored by Victorian hostesses, especially around the holidays. Not only is this glass appropriate for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, but it’s also a popular collectible. In fact, some pieces are worth too much to be used for fear of breakage.

Although glassblowers had been making colored glass since ancient Egypt, it was Johann Kunckel, a 17th-century German chemist from Potsdam, who came up with the red color by adding gold chloride to the clear crystal. During the 19th century, English and American glassblowers experimented with adding less gold choride, resulting in a pink glass which the Americans called “cranberry.”

And thanks to the virtuosity of these glassblowers there seems to be an endless variety of shapes and patterns of this glass on the market. In addition to tumblers and water pitchers, there are salt cellars, sugar shakers, cruets, jars, jugs, decanters, celery vases and finger bowls. Among the widely used patterns are "Swirl," "Coin Dot," and "Daisy & Fern." Some of the most rare and expensive items found from this time period are beautiful lamps and other lighting fixtures.
         
As with any collectible, cranberry glass can also be an investment. Pieces that sold for less than ten dollars a generation ago are now worth hundreds of dollars. Because of the natural fragility of glass, antique cranberry glass has become relatively scarce, though it does turn up in thrift and antique shops,  flea markets, and auctions.         

Although cranberry glass had peaked in popularity by the end of the 19th century, manufacturers produced it in quantity through the 1930s. The last two companies to make this unique glass—The Pilgrim Glass Corporation and Fenton Art Glass —went out of business early this century. Pilgrim Glass Company produced beautiful blown cranberry glass ranging from various vases and baskets to candle holders and sold them in department stores and gift shops around the country until 2001. At the time if the company's closing, cranberry was its most popular type of glass. Fenton Art Glass marketed new cranberry glass, featuring opalescent decoration with coin dots, daisy patterns and numerous other styles, through retailers around the country until it closed in 2011.

Cranberry glass has always been made in craft production rather than in large quantities, due to the high cost of the gold and the delicate mixing process required. Glassmakers dissolve the gold chloride in a solution of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, known as “aqua regia.” Gold in the batch reacts with intense heat to create the beautiful cranberry color. A glassworker called a “caser” attaches a “bud” of this glass mixture to a blowpipe. Then the glassblower stands on a platform with the mold below his feet and blows the molten glass into the mold to create the desired shape. Afterwards, another glassworker places the piece in a “lehr” or annealing oven where it slowly cools to room temperature. Most cranberry pieces are hand blown or molded and often contain small bubbles and striations.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 24,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about antique clocks in the Fall 2019 Edition, "It's That Time Again," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.

The Magic of Light

QUESTION: Recently I watched a documentary on PBS called “Saving Brinton,” a part of the America Reframed series. It’s the story of a man in Iowa who ended up with one of the greatest collections of early films and projection entertainment equipment and accessories. It centers around William Franklin Brinton and his wife, Indiana, who traveled around the Midwest giving slide presentations and showing early movies, the earliest of which was from 1908. One of his pieces of equipment was a “magic lantern” projector. I had never heard of anything like it before and found it mesmerizing. What can you tell me about a magic lantern projector? How far back did they exist and who invented it?

ANSWER: Don’t feel bad. Most people probably haven’t heard of a magic lantern projector. It was the forerunner of slide projectors used until around the turn of the 21st century. But its history goes far back to the 17th century.

Historians credit Christiaan Huygens,a Dutch scientist, with the invention of the magic lantern in the 17th century. Candles illuminated this early form of slide projector but as technology evolved, a variety of sources from kerosene lamps to limelight and electricity were used. Magic lanterns work like a camera in reverse—they shine light out through a lens and project it onto a screen, with a static or moving slide or slides inside them, between the light and the lens.

The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name laterna magica, projected images painted, printed, or produced photographically on transparent glass plates. People commonly used these devices for entertainment purposes. By the 19th century, magic lanterns began to be used for educational purposes.

The magic lantern used a concave mirror in back of a light source to direct as much of the light as possible through a small rectangular sheet of glass—a "lantern slide"—on which was the image to be projected, and onward into a lens at the front of the apparatus. The user adjusted the lens to focus the plane of the slide at the distance of the projection screen, which often was simply a white wall, on which it formed an enlarged image of the slide on the screen.

Originally, artists hand painted the images on glass slides. They initially rendered  figures with black paint but soon used transparent colors. Sometimes they first did the painting on oiled paper. Usually they used black paint as a background to block superfluous light, so they could project figures without distracting borders or frames. Artists finished any slides with a layer of transparent lacquer, but later on they used cover glasses to protect the painted layer. Finally, they mounted the slides in wooden frames with a round or square opening for the picture.

After 1820 the manufacturing of hand colored printed slides began, often making use of decal transfers. Makers produced their slides on strips of glass with several pictures on them, then rimmed them with a strip of glued paper.

During the 1790s, Thomas Rasmussen Walgensten, a mathematician from Gotland, who historians believe met Christiaan Huygens and from him learned about the magic lantern. In 1670 Walgensten projected an image of Death at the court of King Frederick III of Denmark. This scared some courtiers, but the king dismissed their cowardice and requested to repeat the figure three times. The king died a few days later. After Walgensten died, his widow sold his lanterns to the Danish Royal collection, but they have not been preserved.[9] Walgensten is credited with coining the term "Laterna Magica", assuming he communicated this name to Claude Dechales who in 1674 published about the machine of the "erudite Dane" that he had seen in 1665 in Lyon.

According to legend, Athanasius Kircher secretly used the lantern at night to project the image of Death on windows of apostates to scare them back into church. He hid his magic lantern in a separate room so his audience would be more astonished by the sudden appearance of images.

The earliest reports and illustrations of lantern projections suggest that they were all intended to scare the audience. Pierre Petit called the apparatus lanterne de peur, or lantern of fear, in his 1664 letter to Huygens. Surviving lantern plates and descriptions from the next decades prove that people used these early projectors not just for horror shows, but for projecting all sorts of subjects.

In 1675 Wilhelm Leibniz saw an important role for the magic lantern in a plan for a kind of world exhibition with projections of attempts at flight, artistic meteors, optical effects, representations of the sky with the star and comets, and a model of the earth, fireworks, water fountains, and ships in rare forms; then rare plants and exotic animals.

By the 1730s the use of magic lanterns started to become more widespread when traveling showmen, conjurers, and storytellers added them to their repertoire. The traveling lanternists, called Savoyards because they supposedly came from the Savoy region in France, became a common sight in many European cities.

Thomas Walgensten was the first person to use the term Laterna Magica. He not only realized the technical and artistic possibilities of the magic lantern, but also its economic potential, traveling round Europe demonstrating and selling them.

In the early years of the 19th Century, showmen with lanterns traveled around the country giving shows wherever they stopped. These were known as 'Galantee' showmen, and they would give shows by projecting on walls or white sheets. The subjects probably related to Biblical, moral and current events, and the showman would create stories for the children watching.




The Galantee showmen gave way to the “Professors,” showmen who had access to more elaborate equipment and wonderful, but expensive, animated slides. The development of oxy-hydrogen limelight and arc light made it possible for these projectionists to create huge images and elaborate effects in front of large audiences. The peak of the magic lantern trade occurred in the 1870s and 1880s.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about religious antiques in the special 2018 Holiday Edition, "The Art of the Sacred," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.

Let's be Crystal Clear

QUESTION: When I was in fifth grade, my family went on vacation in the lakes region of New York State. While we were there, we visited the Steuben Glass Factory. I marveled at the clear crystal figures and lovely bowls and vases, decorated with delicate engravings. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to collect pieces of Steuben glass, but I have no idea where to begin. Can you help me?

ANSWER: You were right to be enamored of Steuben glass. The company produced some of America’s finest art glass.

Frederick Carder and Thomas G. Hawkes founded Steuben Glass Works in the summer of 1903 by in Corning, New York, which is in Steuben County, from which Carder and Hawkes derived the company name. Hawkes was the owner of the largest cut glass firm then operating in Corning. Carder was an Englishman (born September 18, 1863) who had many years' experience designing glass for Stevens and Williams in England. Hawkes purchased the glass blanks for his cutting shop from many sources and eventually wanted to start a factory to make the blanks himself. Hawkes convinced Carder to come to Corning and manage such a factory. Carder, who had been passed over for promotion at Stevens and Williams, consented to do so.

Carder produced blanks for Hawkes and also began producing cut glass himself. Carder loved colored glass and had been instrumental in the reintroduction of colored glass while at Stevens and Williams. When Steuben's success at producing blanks for Hawkes became assured, Carder began to experiment with colored glass and continued experiments that were started in England. He soon perfected Gold Aurene which was similar to iridescent art glass being produced by Tiffany and others. Carder followed Gold Aurene with a wide range of colored art glass that Steuben produced in more than 7,000 shapes and 140 colors.

Steuben Glass Works continued to produce glass of all sorts until World War I. At that time war time restrictions made it impossible for Steuben to acquire the materials it needed. Corning Glass Works eventually purchased the company and made it its Steuben Division. Carder continued as Division manager without any real change in the company's operation except that he now had reporting responsibilities to Corning Glass Works' management. Corning's management tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to limit the articles that Steuben made to only the most popular. Production continued until about 1932.

The Great Depression limited the sale of Steuben, plus its popularity waned. In February 1932, Corning appointed John MacKay to Carder's position, and Carder became Art Director for Corning Glass Works. At that time, Steuben produced primarily clear art glass.

Corning Glass Works appointed Arthur Houghton, Jr. as President in 1933, and under his leadership Steuben changed artistic direction toward more modern forms. Using a newly formulated clear glass developed by Corning which had a very high refraction index, Steuben designers developed beautiful, fluid designs.

Scandinavian techniques, combined with newly developed optical glass composition, replaced it. Steuben hired architects and designers who worked closely with glassworkers. Before then, the engravers had worked at home.

Sculptor Sidney Waugh was among the first to use the new figural engraving techniques for Steuben, with his crystal “Gazelle Bowl.” He created a series of decorative pieces using copper-wheel and diamond point engraving, similar to Scandinavian style.

The themes during this period included "balustrade" designs for water goblets and candlesticks, footed bowls and serving pieces. Decorative forms included wildlife pieces representing owls, penguins and other birds in smooth stylistic forms. Some pieces, such as the Ram's Head Candy Dish, playfully included clean lines crowned by an ornate design (a ram's head, complete with a ruff) on the lid as an homage to its classic earlier pieces.

The company also entered into the field of larger show and presentation pieces celebrating various scenes, such as its cut-away design featuring an Eskimo ice fisherman above the ice and the fish below. In some cases, artisans used sterling silver or gold plating over a metal finish, such as the golden "fly" atop the nose of a rainbow trout. Each piece is signed simply with Steuben on the underside of the object.

World War II cut production of Steuben glass. The company didn’t produce lead crystal pieces until the 1950s. By the mid-1950s, Steuben had begun producing free sculptural pieces.

Toward the 1990s, the company also began production of small objects—"hand coolers"—in various animal shapes.

Items from this period were also noted for their careful and elegant packaging. Before boxing, each Steuben piece was placed in a silver-gray flannel bag (stitched with the Steuben name), and then placed in a presentation box.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about religious antiques in the special 2018 Holiday Edition, "The Art of the Sacred," online now.