Posted 11 years ago
VioletOrange
(150 items)
I was wondering if anyone had a strong opinion on whether or not these two "barber bottles" were Bohemian and, if so, who the maker might be?
I have West Virginia Museum of American Glass Monograph #121 and there are no barber bottles shown.
Both bottles have an interesting composition:
The larger bottle, in pictures 1 & 2, is 9.5 inches tall and very heavy. There is an inner layer of clear glass, then an opaque white layer, then the multi-colored glass and gold foil flecks and, finally, a very thick layer of amber glass (the foil inclusions might be silver and only appear gold because of the outer layer of amber glass). Cut top and smooth bottom. As an aside I do not understand the purpose of the inner clear layer of glass?
The smaller bottle, in pictures 3 & 4, is 8 inches tall. It begins with an opaque white inner layer, then the multi-colored glass and gold foil flecks and, finally, a thin outer layer of amber glass (the foil inclusions might be silver and only appear gold because of the outer layer of amber glass). Cut top and smooth bottom.
Both bottles are unsigned.
Hello VioletOrange, Some of the glassware I've been studying has a thin inner layer of clear glass too. After much thought on why I came to the conclusion that the pieces were likely manufactured using a clear test tube or blank starter piece. Thank you for sharing. Charlie
Thanks Charlie. I appreciate the information - it makes sense to me. Ernie
Welzebub, Thank you. Very interesting and informative for me and others as well, I am sure. I appreciate your taking the time to give this lesson.
Is adverturine used in glass just another mineral (like mica) that has been ground into smaller particles?
Welzebub, once again thanks for all the information. Really nice of you.
I have had similar pieces as well. Best I could ever come up with was English or Czech / Bohemian (similar to much of the discussion above).
The only other thing I'd add is that I heard often times when you see thin layers of colorless glass between otherwise colored layers of glass, it is because different colored glass has different enough heating / melting points (temperature wise) that placing them directly against one another often resulted in cracks and other incompatibilities from the differences in cooling / expansion rates. The colorless layers tended to act as buffer / neutralizer. I'm sure there are more scientific explanations, but this is again "what I once heard" ... for what that's worth.
twentiethc,
Thanks for your input. Maybe for some, we are not only "not seeing the forest for the trees" but in fact "into the bark of the trees" - but I like this kind of discussion and have found that I appreciate the object more the more I know about it.
Hi Ernie........love your "stuff".
Thanks Frank - and ditto
Nice vase and good post, taught me about aventurine:)
love it....I used to be a Barber-hairstylist for about 12 years!!