Check Mate, Or Is It Heat Check?

Dec 8, 2015
Issue 2364

How Often Have You Heard a Dealer or Auctioneer Describing a Heat Check As a Manufacturing Defect?

John Kohut of Elkland, PA provides his response in this month’s (December 2015) The Hobstar magazine (The Journal of the American Cut Glass Association). He says “nonsense”. That visible crack where a handle is attached to a vase, bowl, sugar or whatever wasn’t sold that way. John postulates that when the glass was manufactured, and then sold it didn’t pass inspection or wasn’t retailed with such an obvious flaw. Rather, every time a piece is picked up by its handles stress occurs causing the crack. John interestingly points out that you can examine a perfect piece at an auction, but after its purchased the crack is discovered, because it occurred while prospects continually are picking up the piece to examine it at the preview. Finally, John says the term “heat check” should be expunged from the dictionary and replaced by a term such as “cracked handle”. The article makes a lot of sense.

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