Artificially "Purpled" glass

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Permalink Reply by Deer Path Vintage on January 17, 2009 at 7:26am

And thanks for responding, Lisa. When you say "one of our shops" had a ton of purpled glass, what do you mean? Do you mean on Etsy, or your own personal shops? I'm just curious about how widespread this sort of "cheating" really is. As I said, it's all new to me and I thought I was following the market pretty well!

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Permalink Reply by Metro Retro Vintage on January 17, 2009 at 9:44am

Wow, that's an eye opener. Up until now, I had also believed that 'sun damaged' depression glass was "devalued".

And so now it appears that some dealers deliberately damage pieces with ultraviolet to meet this new shift and trend? Gah!

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Permalink Reply by Deer Path Vintage on January 17, 2009 at 9:54am

I have to wonder who the buyers are? They must be making money, or they wouldn't be doing it. I guess you can convince anybody of anything.

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Permalink Reply by Irish on January 17, 2009 at 4:46pm

Unfortuntately I have seen this. A dealer had several items of washed out purple. I asked her about their provenance and she said they had been made in that color during the depression period.

She wasn't very happy when I explained her items had actually been altered and weren't worth 1/4 of what she was asking.

I actually have some beautiful purple pieces in true amethyst. I would NEVER ruin a beautiful piece of old glass just to meet some new fad.

It's a crying shame.

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Permalink Reply by Judi Morris on January 17, 2009 at 7:09pm

This is a very interesting article that will help to shed some light on "sun purple" glass. The article describes the natural cause of turning glass purple and how it began somewhat of a "reasoning" for buyers wanting this type of glass. As the article explains, the process of trying to turn glass purple is not new among dealers and is based on greed, but possibly with today's technology, they can do it much quicker :(

Sun Purple Glass Antique Disaster

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Permalink Reply by Deer Path Vintage on January 17, 2009 at 7:32pm

Thanks, Judi. The writer of that article is the same "seller" on eBay who is putting the purpled EAPG glass on auction to draw attention to this. I read about it on the eBay forums and then read the other articles she has linked in her auction.

I think it's a pretty clever way to draw attention to it, though I thought she should have put it as a Buy It Now instead of as an auction that would end soon.

Mona
Judi Morris said:

This is a very interesting article that will help to shed some light on "sun purple" glass. The article describes the natural cause of turning glass purple and how it began somewhat of a "reasoning" for buyers wanting this type of glass. As the article explains, the process of trying to turn glass purple is not new among dealers and is based on greed, but possibly with today's technology, they can do it much quicker :(

Sun Purple Glass Antique Disaster

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Permalink Reply by Judi Morris on January 17, 2009 at 7:47pm

Well she surely must be passionate about this issue to pay for a listing to warn buyers of the deceptive practices going on in this area of collecting. I don't think she really wants to sell the item, but rather bring attention to the issue and if that is her intention, I commend her effort.

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Permalink Reply by Deer Path Vintage on January 17, 2009 at 7:51pm

Me too!

Judi Morris said:

Well she surely must be passionate about this issue to pay for a listing to warn buyers of the deceptive practices going on in this area of collecting. I don't think she really wants to sell the item, but rather bring attention to the issue and if that is her intention, I commend her effort.

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Permalink Reply by Sassydoggs on January 18, 2009 at 12:23am

My grandmother lived in the California desert from the 1950's until the 1990s. She used to have a "bottle tree" which was just a large dead branch. She hung old pieces of glass on the tree, and over the years they would turn colors, some pink, some purple, and some turned yellow. I don't think she used anything valuable, but just old pieces that had chips or flaws, and she no longer used. My father, an antique dealer, used to say that the newer pieces would not turn colors. My grandmother was from Texas, and I guess bottle trees are a part of Southern tradition and folklore, and the trees were to protect the house. I never thought much about it since she died, or even wondered if she was ruining the glass, since they had little value anyway. Although she used bottles, some pieces were vases, bowls, or other decorative pieces.

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Permalink Reply by Deer Path Vintage on January 18, 2009 at 8:31am

Sassydoggs, I love the idea of a bottle tree. I've heard that they are supposed to ward off bad spirits. They go up into the bottles and can't get out. I've seen bottles that have naturally "purpled" in dry areas like California, and I thought they were beautiful. They take on a sheen, and there are subtle striations that you don't see otherwise.

But the woman who is making this her mission in life is talking about Early American Pressed Glass, or EAPG. She's trying to bring attention to it so that people won't buy them. I had never heard of, or seen, these artificially purpled pieces, but apparently a lot of other people have. Interesting.

Do you have pictures of your grandmother's tree/branch? I'll bet everyone at the time thought she was a bit daffy, but I see her as someone totally creative and wonderful.

In the movie "Because of Winn-Dixie" Cicely Tyson played an old woman who had a bottle tree to ward off evil spirits. The thing was, every bottle on the tree was a liquor bottle she had emptied, herself, over the years. I loved her character, too!)

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Permalink Reply by Irish on January 18, 2009 at 8:55am

Another piece of glass that sellers are iridizing are the glass insulators that were used on telephone lines before plastic.

I have a small collection of them in gorgeous shades of green, aqua, and one purple. My purple one is a deep amethyst color. I'm keeping it for several reasons. One I haven't found much research about purple one and two it's just so pretty. It's the only purple one I've seen.

Sellers are xraying them to turn them various shades of colors and selling them.

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Permalink Reply by Deer Path Vintage on January 18, 2009 at 9:02am

I love the insulator colors, too, but I've never seen a purple one. That's pretty special!

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