Thread: black light reactive glassware

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I was waiting for my wife in an antique shop and being bored out of my mind. While my lovely wife was doing whatever she does in these places, I remembered something i heard about antique glass made with uranium and I started goofing around with my UV flashlight. I found some uranium glass in the back of a cabinet. It's simply early 20th c pressed glassware colored a transparent yellow-green or sometimes an opaque yellowish off-white. Because the glass is colored with uranium it is black light reactive and it GLOWS. Bright. It is radioactive the same way the radium dials on old watches are; you'd have to be exposed to a ton of the stuff for a long time to get any damage so it's pretty safe to have around. You can get it at reasonable prices if you search. It's easier if the seller doesn't know what it is or what it's worth--uranium glass is pretty collectible. I bought the 2 small marbles I found to use in a witches' hut or a lab scene. I'll start hunting yard sales, estate sales and flea markets to see if i can find any of the dishes at decent prices. Figured I'd share the info with people here who have witches' huts and shelves so they can look around. It isn't too hard to find, but it can be hard to find cheap. I'll try to snap a photo of the marbles when my camera gets returned later this week.

Isn't it called Vaseline glass? M. Stewart had a feature in her mag last year I think on it. Its pretty cool, unfortunately I don't have any...yet!

The transparent yellowish-green stuff is called vaseline glass based on the similarity in appearance to petroleum jelly, but some antique dealers call any glass that color by that name to jack up the price. Not all transparent yellow-green glass will glow. the opaque stuff is sometimes called custard glass because of the color it glows and my gaffer's assistant told me there's a deeper green color that's called jadite or jadeite. I found a far full of marbles in a store when i got dragged around, but it was way too expensive. another cool vintage glassware type to look for is carnival glass--an early 20th c irridescent over transparent red pressed style. light reflecting off it will have an oil slick rainbow appearance but light behind it makes it look ruby red. looks best under full light conditions so not as good for our purposes. the real trick for both of these glass types is finding them cheap.

a quick glance at the china hutch reminds me that not all carnival glass was the red type. a wide range of irridescent glasses were produced in reds, purples, cobalt blue, a sort of marigold and some other colors. it's cool looking stuff and the vintage look can add to a witches' apothecary shelf.

That's great information. A quick lesson on glassware! I have a lot of pink despression glass, but that won't do for Halloween purposes. I am a fool for dishes and glassware, though. I'll have to restrain myself from going out in search of. But if I just happen across a piece....!

any pics of the glass under black light?

not all jadeite will glow..(actually never knew some of it did) it was a jade green color that was very popular. Some of what is just sold as "green depression glass " will.. some Ebay sellers will list with pics of it under black light

Can't wait to see the pictures too.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who shops with a portable blacklight.

Originally Posted by Terra

Can't wait to see the pictures too.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who shops with a portable blacklight.

Well....I wasn't exactly shopping with a UV light. I was bored and was playing around with the UV LED flashlight [clicking it from off to dim to bright] while I stared blankly at vintage stuff I don't care about and got a flash of phorescent color when I lit a case of glassware. From now on, however, I *will* be shopping with the Uv light

Photos are waiting for me to get the camera back from a friend. Should be some time after the weekend.

cant wait to see sounds awsome .................

I have quite a bit of this glass myself. I prefer the green to the yellow. Jadite doesn't glow, ever. I used to keep mine in a black china cabinet with hidden black lights. It was gorgeous. The only thing you could see inside was this weird eerie glass. Right now it's sitting in the windows in the kitchen cause it's also very pretty with the sun coming thru it. I also shop antique stores with a black light. I've actually found blue glass that glows too. but the slime green is my favorite.