Monday, January 10, 2011

Most black glass produced is really amethyst in color, but looks black due to the thickness. When held up to a strong sun the real color shows itself. Sinclaire and Steuben glass show different results, or methods of creation.

First from Ed Moland and Ed Kniss of Port Lucie, Florida, where they have sun.

We have a Steuben three-pronged vase that when held to the sun shows cobalt in the base. We also have an Ivory shell vase with black base which we purchased from Mr. Rockwell’s shop in Corning several years ago. When held up to the sun, the black base shows a very definite redish color.

Ed Moland and Ed Kniss

Next, an updated sun report from Charley Giard of Monson, Massachusetts

Hi Alan…

Well, finally have some sun and I tried this test. I used over a 1/2 dozen pieces of known Sinclaire black and every one of them shows the Magenta color that Rande speaks of and shows in the color sample. Some are darker than others because of thickness. I also tried a couple of Steuben black pieces and get pretty much the same result although my single prong vase actually looks a bit more red, but again it is hard to see and this is rather thick glass. I did not see any signs of blue in any of my pieces.

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