[Fwd: Responding to Ann's pottery thread]

[David Elliott]

[dmichael]

if you'll notice in the picture titled Persian medallion fairy
light,the color of the glass is a darker yellow than in all the
others. This is because back in the 80's I believe 1986 was the year
but I could be wrong, the nuclear regulatory commission made Fenton
alter the formula for burmese glass due to the uranium in it. That
alteration of the formula made all of the glass produced thereafter
come out a lighter yellow than any of the pieces made between 1970 and
1986.

On Oct 27, 12:10 pm, David Elliott <dmichael...@sc.rr.com> wrote:
> [ Attached Message ]From:David Elliott <dmichael...@sc.rr.com>To:ste...@googlegroups.comDate:Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:42:38 -0400Local:Mon, Oct 27 2008 10:42 amSubject:Responding to Ann's pottery thread
>
> Here's some pics of a few pieces of my Burmese glass collection. Burmese
> is the second most expensive color of Glass made by the Fenton
> company,cranberry being the first. Burmese glass contains pure gold and
> depleted uranium (if there is such a thing) in the mixture and when the
> glass is reheated it brings out the blush color . If it is reheated too
> long that blush will become more of a muddy purple color making the
> glass very undesirable in my opinion. Fenton has been making Burmese
> glass since 1970 and my oldest piece is a piece from that year. It's an
> 11+ " hobnail vase which took me quite some time to track down and it
> cost a pretty penny once I did find it!! The hobnail pattern is not made
> very often in the burmese color as the points on the glass don't come
> out right for some reason. I didn't get a pic of that particular piece
> yet but will soon.
>
> bountiful harvest.jpg
> 90KViewDownload
>
> bluebird.jpg
> 86KViewDownload
>
> trillium vase.jpg
> 83KViewDownload
>
> diamond epergne.jpg
> 85KViewDownload
>
> beach scene ewer.jpg
> 85KViewDownload
>
> persian medallion fairy light.jpg
> 109KViewDownload
>
> peacock vase.jpg
> 68KViewDownload

[Willow518]

Wow David, those are gorgeous! I especially like the first 3. I
don't think I've ever seen those before. Is the uranium dangerous?

Jen

[dmichael]

Jen, the uranium is supposedly depleted. If there is such a thing as
depleted uranium!!! I always thought it was what it was and that was
it!!! I can tell you I have enough of it in my house to fuel a small
country!!!

[dmichael]

For some reason i'm having trouble attaching new pictures to this same
thread. I took and posted a whole new set of pics and then hit send.
It said message sent 100% but when I go to the thread there is
nothing. So I go back to my email page and resend it and it comes
through but as a brand new thread. Why is it doing this????

[Marilyn]

David, those are some splendid pieces. I love your Burmese
collection! Do they glow in the dark with the depleted uranium
content?

Regarding replying with photos, I experienced the same thing you
described very recently. Please start a new thread if you're ready to
show more pretty pots!


Marilyn

[dmichael]

Marilyn, Burmese glass does glow under a black light.

[Willow518]

Lmao that it glows under a black light. That's kinda scary. I also
thought that uranium was uranium and that it could never go away.
Although I guess that's radiation? Your house may be radioactive and
not habitable for thousands of years. You've just become immune to it
rofl. Really though, those pieces are beautiful and worth the risk!
As long as no one in your family starts growing a 3rd arm!!!

Jen

[Marilyn]

Wow David, I once again scrolled very slowly up your collection. Those
pieces are marvelous, and I think you should host a black light party
at your house! I'm in!!!!!

Ann's paper propelled me to move my Vaseline Glass candlesticks out
of the house and onto the porch. I didn't understand it all either,
David, but it scared me. Here's a link to uranium in glass
http://www.vaselineglass.org/ in the remote case that anyone is
interested.

Marilyn

[Ann Strahm]

I wouldn't get too freaked out - it's mostly a problem of ingestion - which is why the use of DU for such things is outlawed.  The workers were the ones to suffer the effects of DU because of them either breathing in the dust, having cuts then coming in contact with DU in it's yellow cake form, etc.  I don't think it poses such a threat so long as it remains encapsulated in glass.  DU is a very weak radioactive substance in that so long as it doesn't enter the bloodstream or soft tissue it is more or less harmless.  The problems in terms of its use in warfare lie in the aerosol qualities when it's used as "bunker busters," etc.  The aerosol-size particles are very light and small.  They get into the water supply, are ingested by food animals, and find their way into other things we eat.  This bioaccumulation of DU has wreaked havoc on Iraq since the first Gulf War with about 500,000 children suffering from a variety of cancers.  It is also correlated with Gulf War Syndrome in our Veterans.  You can bring the candlesticks back inside, just don't eat them.
:-)

[Marilyn]

Thank you, Ann, for the education. Its sad to learn of the children
in Iraq. I have read about the travesty of our Veterans with Gulf War
Syndrome.

Until you posted, though, I never related the DU in collectibles with,
well what you just posted.

I'll leave those candlesticks outside awhile. They're pretty cool
looking when the sun goes down. (Plus if they're on the porch,
they're considered a "porch" item and aren't eligible for cleaning.
I'm such a klutz I'd probably break one while dusting or washing, then
cut myself with a shard.

Thanks again, I do love learning.
m

[jen]

Wow, David, those are beautiful. How do you display the collection?
Do you keep it in some type of hutch or on shelves?
I love the handpainting, especially the peacock. I have some etched
glass pieces and some depression glass with the sunflower pattern, and
I use it. I know the stuff is considered collectable and has some
value, but to me the real value is in using and enjoying it. Kind of
cool that it glows with a black light....I was just reading about
another type of glass in a magazine on Halloween decorating - a glass
that you can use for a halloween party that will glow under the black
lights...it may have been vaseline glass, I can't remember. It looked
bluish green under the light, that I remember!

[dmichael]

I think Ann asked this question as well about how I display my glass.
I have about 30 pieces in a corner curio in a hallway. The rest is
displayed in the spare bedroom on barewood shelving that I assembled
and stained. The shelving came from Lowe's and they almost favor
bakers racks. The lower half on one unit has 3 shelves about 4ft W x 2
1/2ft deep and then 2 upper shelves the same width but half the depth.
A second unit is just a freestanding 5 shelf display.

I used to keep a few pieces out for people to admire when company came
over but for some reason people always wanted to pick it up to look at
it and Burmese glass is very $$$$ so it is now all behind closed
doors!! When I say expensive i'm talking about 2"x3" animal
figurines that can cost anywhere from $45-80 sometimes more.

I have been on a tour of the Fenton factory and it's very interesting
to go and see just how the glass is made. It gives you a greater
appreciation for the art of glass making and also a better
understanding of why it's so expensive once you see how may set of
hands a single piece of glass passes through from start to finish.

[jen]

I have this weird thing for cafe au lait bowls, in Europe they still
use them as coffee cups...anyway, I was reading about someones
collection of more than 100 of them, some new, some old, and she had
them all displayed on a shelf that ran along the top few inches of her
walls, you know, a shelf just below the ceiling level. I thought that
was pretty cool, a great way to display collectibles, you could still
see them but they were out of reach and safe up there.

David, If you ever have reason to come to southern NJ, you would
probably love to see the old glass making factories, some still in
operation today...Milville is the oldest glass making town in the US,
and there are museums and craft buildings where you can watch
artisians blowing glass etc. We went on alot of school trips to these
places. The Pine Barrens back during the colonial times were used for
glass manufacturing, the soil was too sandy for farming, but the pines
provided lumber, the bog iron was used to supply cannon balls for the
revolutionary war, and the silica was good for glass making. Glass
made here was used for windows throughout the colonies and on the
frontier, and also for bottles, paperweights, and other decorative
stuff. On top of that, you had alot of waterways that made it easy
for the stuff to be moved out to market. Most of the building up of
South Jersey is directly linked to glass making.

Fascinating, huh??

[sara]

Jen, that is fascinating, and I would really enjoy seeing how the
glass is made. I have relatives in Pennsylvania and remember being so
fascinated by the factories of all types - we don't really have
factories in MT - just feedlots HA!

I still remember going through the Wilbur chocolate factory and a
pretzel factory when I was in 5th grade.

S