My name is Jacque and my obsession is all about the glow! I am of course talking about Uranium and Vaseline glass collecting which i have been amassing for the past 3 – 4 years. I have 2 units here at the Arcade (109 & K), with good intentions to sell the Uranium glass to spread the love of glowing glass! At the moment I only have a small collection on offer and am failing miserably as most pieces I acquire stay at home on my shelves
Uranium glass can actually be dated back to Roman times (79AD), but it had its heyday from the 1880’s to the 1920 – 30’s when it enjoyed its greatest popularity with the likes of James Powell Whitefriars Company producing many types of decorative Uranium glass.
To get glass to glow, uranium oxide is usually added to a glass mix before melting or colouration, it can be as low as 2% or as high as 25% uranium added, with the colour range generally from yellow to green, though it can also be found in amber / blue glass. The fun of uranium is when you shine UV light on to it and see it become fluorescent and really does become a thing of beauty. If you are worried about collecting, most pieces are considered harmless and not very radio active
It became very popular in North America in the early 20th Century and was extensively produced into tableware and household items for everyday use, for example, Depression glass was low cost or distributed free around the time of the great depression. WW2 stopped production in America of uranium glass because it was classed as a strategic material needed for the Manhattan Project. It never regained the heights of popularity from the late 19th – early 20th century but was still produced right up until the 2000’s.
Vaseline glass can also be another type of UV reactive glass, at the end of the 19th century glassmakers developed more opaque types of decorative glass by added certain minerals including Iron Oxide. This gave glass the appearance of petroleum jelly, which gave rise to the name Vaseline glass
Other types of UV reactive glass to look out for are:
Custard Glass – opaque or semi opaque pale yellow
Jadite Glass – opaque or semi opaque pale green
Burmese Glass – opaque shades pink to yellow
Names to look out for when hunting out the glow (remember to carry a UV torch with you)
Davidson & Co
Bagley Glass
August Walther & Sohne
Thomas Webb
James Powell / Whitefriars
Sowerby
Murano
