Steph Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 I have another puzzler. I should probably ask it at Marble Mental so Ron Shaw would have a whack at it. But I've already started typing now so .... Why is vaseline glass called vaseline glass? I have two vintage petroleum jelly jars but they don't fluoresce. If I actually had Vaseline brand jars, would they? Hey wait, I haven't checked to see if Vaseline glows! Well ... my generic brand mentholated petroleum jelly only has a blue-ish glow, so that doesn't explain the name ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted September 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Oh brother, this really is a silly question. I'd take it back if I could. But I can't. So I'll try to find it out for myself, like I should have done in the first place. By the way, the Vaseline Glass Collectors, Inc. website has a nice short history of vaseline glass production, and a link to a vaseline glass bibliography. I still don't know why it's called that, but I'll figure it out. P.s., it also has a link to a UV Blacklight Fun Page which has pretty pictures of vaseline glass, with permission to use the pix for "non-commercial use and reference". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrjane Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Vaseline brand petroleum jelly used to be that color (yellowish/green) many many years ago (late 1800s/early 1900s). The formula has changed over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Its due to the similarity of color to a jar of Vaseline. Vaseline glass has an "other worldly" glow to it - even without the UV light. I suppose Vaseline is the closest commonly know product color to compare it to. I have some good sized vaseline cullet chunks from the Akro Agate site - they are pretty neat. I also have a large bizarre "alien green" florescent cullet from the Akro site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMopar Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Very interesting read Steph, thanks for those links. Would this be the only type of glass to cause a glowing effect on marbles? I have a greenish based marble with a darker green and white corkscrew and boy did it look bright green under the blacklight. LOL..I'm still chuckling about that 'alien green' Alan. Thank you :-) Felicia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted September 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Thanks for clearing that up for me Jane and Alan. :-) (Felicia, different kinds of glass can glow, but it sounds to me like yours is probably vaseline glass. The base is what glowed, right? Sounds like you might have a limeade. Do the colors look like these?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMopar Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Yeppers... the base is what glowed brightly and the picture is what it looks like Steph. So it has that vaseline glass then huh? Verrrrrrrry kewl! :-) Felicia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Here is what vaseline (lemonade) and limeade glass look like in their raw state. This is Akro cullet photographed in sunlight only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted September 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Awesome cullet and great pix, Alan! That sure is fantastic glow even without the blacklight. Just amazing. Are you saying you consider lemonade glass to be vaseline glass but limeade glass not? Is the limeade cullet "uranium glass"? Or simply "flourescent" and don't worry about any other name. (Felicia, you at least have a Limeade, which is special all by itself. Now I'm not sure if it would be considered "vaseline glass". I'm waiting to hear what Alan says about that.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoop Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 ROFL!!! Steph, I'm SOOO glad that you can't take back that first question!!! OK, I know that it makes you feel foolish and some people might be rolling their (goddess) eyes.... But, they say, for every question that a person who dares, asks... There's 10 people, who were afraid to ask, that appreciate the answer!! It started some good info and gave me a great chuckle!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Awesome cullet and great pix, Alan! That sure is fantastic glow even without the blacklight. Just amazing.Are you saying you consider lemonade glass to be vaseline glass but limeade glass not? Is the limeade cullet "uranium glass"? Or simply "flourescent" and don't worry about any other name. (Felicia, you at least have a Limeade, which is special all by itself. Now I'm not sure if it would be considered "vaseline glass". I'm waiting to hear what Alan says about that.) IMO - "Vaseline" is a term that is most popularly used by collectors of dishware to indicate the yellow color. It comes from adding uranium oxide to the batch formula. IIRC the green form comes from the addition of iron oxide to the "Vaseline" uranium oxide batch. For Akro Agate marbles - these are the predominant florescent base colors - although there are a few minority exceptions. Akro collectos have referred to the yellow florescent base as "Lemonade" for the obvious reason. The green florescent base has been popularly referred to as "Limeade". Keep in mind that there are other florescent glass colors such as "custard glass" (which is an opaque opalescent) that were not popular as glass marble cullet as the colors are not very bright. A LOT of lemonade cullet was found at the Akro site - however it tends to break into 1" pieces far more readily than other cullet colors - thus is seldom found in those big baked potato-sized cullet chunks. That has always made me speculate that lemonade/limeade base marbles will probably fracture more readily that other Akro glass formulas. There was one place by the back concrete wall that a guy tunneled under the factory slab floor (VERY dangerous) and found probably 100 lbs of lemonade cullet. In my experience limeade cullet is MUCH harder to find. The uranium oxide colorant is one of many colorants that were dangerous to humans (pre-OSHA) and the reason that the Akro site was designated a hazardous waste site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted September 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Thanks Alan! (and Sue ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 As an aside - Mark Matthews still makes limited runs of vaseline glass Air Trap pieces. These include rectangles, fine bubbles, Jetson, spirals and a limited number of alphabet and integer sets. I'm probably forgetting others. Recently he made a group of "Comedy and Tragedy" theater mask air traps in clear - which I couldn't resist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoop Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 OMG!!! I haven't seen the comedy / tragedy!! .... But, somehow, there's GOT to be a Jetson in my future... (I think I like the pink rather than vaseline.....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carole154 Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 I too am glad the question was asked. I learned alot in this thread. Sue, I want a pink Jetson too. I just haven't been able to afford one. Thanks Steph for starting this. carole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 OMG!!! I haven't seen the comedy / tragedy!! It goes to show - never write from memory! I pulled the Matthews pieces I got at Wheaton this year - an lo and behold - the Comedy and Tragedy is in vaseline glass (somehow clear stuck in my mind). I ALSO remembered (duh...) that I purchased a large Stars Air Trap in vaseline glass. Anyway - here is Comedy and Tragedy: Stars: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Scoop: Here is the Matthews Super Jetson: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMopar Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! So cool Alan! I'm with Carole, this is so great to learn these things. I gotta say again...WOWWWWWWWWWWWW ..simply amazing! Woohooo...I got a limeade and now I know what it is. Thanks :-) Felicia (I think all this information would be helpful to any other newbie like me) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoop Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Wow!! Those are so cool!!! You musta gotten those before I saw his booth... Either that, or I was just so mezmerized by the skins sculpture, that I just didn't see anything else!!! I haven't really been a big fan of the skins.... As amazing as they are from a technical standpoint, they just don't "sing" to me.... But............ Put them together in that sculpture and it's a whole new thing!! All the white and lights over exposed my pics a bit.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlmoriarty Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Its due to the similarity of color to a jar of Vaseline. Vaseline glass has an "other worldly" glow to it - even without the UV light. I suppose Vaseline is the closest commonly know product color to compare it to. Steph in addition to Alan's comment it is probably worth noting that the word 'vaseline' was more common when the glass was so named. Back then the answer to your question would have been more obvious. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted September 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Just for fun I tried to find a picture of some old yellow vaseline. I couldn't. (probably a good thing ) But I did see examples of early jars. One of the earliest said Chesebrough Vaseline from back when it was "patent medicine". Some later but still vintage jars said "White Petroleum Jelly". (So do my vintage non-Vaseline-brand jars.) I guess I "should" have realized before that they didn't use the word "white" simply to add to the number of words on the label. lol. But I never did get that and still wouldn't have if Jane hadn't explained about the formula change. Learn something new .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 OMG!!! I haven't seen the comedy / tragedy!!.... But, somehow, there's GOT to be a Jetson in my future... (I think I like the pink rather than vaseline.....) Scoop: I discovered this when looking for a specific Simpson Planet. Since you said you prefer the pink - here is one: and Matthews Rectangles in Pink (didmyium?) glass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMopar Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Woahhhhh buddy! Awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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