samedi 23 septembre 2017

Not All Vintage Glassware Collectibles Are Alike And How To Spot Your Favorites

By Angela Miller


Vintage glass is such a popular item to collect that no antique store would be complete without a number of collections made in different countries, in different styles, and at different times. Collecting glass is so popular in part because the items people purchase are usually small enough to display easily. Most of them are fairly expensive as well. If you like antiquing, searching shops for vintage glassware collectibles can be a fun and interesting way to pass the time.

You may decide you love several different kinds of glass and want to collect some of all or specialize in certain genres. Either way, you should know something about old glass before you invest in it. The art of cut glass goes back almost two thousand years, and to the beginnings of glass blowing itself. Designs are created with the use of a grinding wheel that cuts patterns and designs into pieces of cooled glass.

Owning and entertaining with large, impressive pieces of pressed leaded glass symbolized your wealth and influence at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. This period was known as the American Brilliant. It came to an end when manufacturers began to produce cheaper versions of the prized pressed glass.

In the early twentieth century, the Europeans got into the market with even cheaper pressed glass. American manufacturing suffered until the Great Depression when, the now famous, Depression glass went into production. The manufacturing was so prolific that the Ohio firm, most noted for producing the glass, could turn a profit even selling the pieces for pennies apiece.

It was during this same time period, when so many Americans could only dream about owning a genuine Tiffany lamp, that two companies began to mass produce glass pieces in the style of Tiffany. It eventually became known as Carnival Glass because is was such a common prize on carnival midways. There was so much competition in the making of this type of glass that one company even put out a product that glowed thanks to coatings of uranium salt.

You don't have to be an expert in glass to recognize milk glass. It is something most people have seen in antique and vintage shops, but it was not originally an American product. The Venetians created the effect in the sixteen hundreds, and the English perfected it during the Victorian Era. Genuine milk glass can be yellow, pink, blue, black, and brown as well as white.

It is important to care for your glass collections correctly. This means not putting them in your dishwasher. The high temperature can crack and even break fragile pieces. You should only hand clean them using a mild detergent and soft drying cloth.

Collecting glass can be a fun pastime. You don't have to pay a fortune for interesting and attractive pieces. Most glass objects are small enough to fit in curio cabinets or onto sunny shelves. These collections often stay in families for generations.




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