Pink glass is one of the hardest colors to chemically formulate in glass! Glass color isn't like working with pigments or paint: mixing one color of glass (say, red) with another (blue) doesn't make the intuitive color baby we expect (purple).
It's a harder glass to manufacture - the metals they use to create pinks burn out faster, so it generally has to be created in smaller batches and therefore more expensive.
Some of the more valuable colors are cherry red, black amethyst, and ice green. Take note of the iridescent quality of the antique glass to be sure there are no worn or uneven sections.
Pink sea glass tops the charts as a rare sea glass color. Its most popular use was for Depression era tableware, but most pink sea glass that we find today is “sun colored pink,” derived from clear glass bottles made with selenium as a decolorant.
Pink and red (cranberry) glass is typically the most valuable and was made using gold oxide, while blue (made using cobalt salts), green (uranium), and yellow or amber (sulphur) tend to command lower prices.
With its warm rose color and vintage beauty, pink depression glass is a hot item among collectors and antiques enthusiasts. You can easily find this glass in most antique stores, but determining its value can be a bit more confusing. Values can range from a few dollars to over $100.
Depression glass is so called because collectors generally associate mass-produced glassware in pink, yellow, crystal, green, and blue with the Great Depression in America.
true bright pink, like true bright purple, are ultra rare. Most purple sea glass is actually “sun” purple – in the old days manganese was added to glass as a clarifying agent, and manganese turns purple when exposed to UV rays – like those in sunlight.
The Age Of Your Stained Glass Influences Its Value
However, when it comes to stained glass in your Fort Worth home, remember, stained glass could appraise for about 10x the cost of your original glass. Meaning, if you paid $500 for an entryway window–it could easily add up to $5,000 to your appraisal.
Glassware produced over a century ago is considered antique and is among the most valuable. Look for hints that your glassware comes from the 1920s or earlier, such as circular pontil marks on the bottom, bubbles and imperfections in the glass, and a beautiful patina. Also, check the weight and thickness.
In general, orange is extremely rare & white seems to be most common worldwide. Please note: The "multi colored" sea glass is not most common (white is). The "Multi colored" category is simply added it to the bottom of the chart because it is it's own unique category.
Pink is the Most Valuable Color / of Depression glass sugarware with butterfly, floral, and cherry embellishments.
The most sought after pattern of Depression glass is arguably Royal Lace, which was made by the Hazel-Atlas Glass Company. This pattern was manufactured in green, pink, crystal, and most notably, cobalt blue.
Other types of uranium glass include custard glass, which is milky white and opaque; jadite, an opaque whitish-green; and Burmese glass, a soft, opaque pink (Japanese Uranium Glass Collector's Club n.d). All true uranium glasses share the same characteristic green glow under UVb light.
Why is orange glass so rare? It had limited uses, as in, it wasn't mass produced as bottles or jars or containers—the origins of the vast majority of our sea glass. It was made as art glass, and more decorative items and, of course, as tail lights for cars and boats.
Red sea glass is widely regarded as the rarest of them all. The scarcity can be traced back to the past when production of red glass was not as high as the other colors. Red glass was typically used in limited quantities for specialty items such as warning lights, lanterns, or decorative glassware.
In the early 20th century, changes in manufacturing processes, as well as more pure batch materials, dictated different ways to decolorize glass, and the use of manganese oxide for this purpose dwindled.
Black Glass Found in the Mediterranean
Being considered quite rare, it is usually only found in specific areas, not just randomly on beaches with other sea glass. The black glass that we found on the Mediterranean Coast of Spain was old, more like 200-400 years old because is was typically used on old sailing ships.
Favrile glass. Tiffany patented Favrile glass in 1892. Favrile glass often has a distinctive characteristic that is common in some glass from Classical antiquity: it possesses a superficial iridescence. This iridescence causes the surface to shimmer, but also causes a degree of opacity.
From circa 1943 until 1958, because of the events of World War II and the Cold War, U.S. officials did not allow the production of uranium glass since the government had banned uranium salts from commercial use. Only after uranium oxide was deregulated did the U.S. government allow uranium glass to be manufactured.
Depression glass is the term for the colored or transparent glassware that was mass-produced in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Pink and green are the best-known colors, but you can also find it in red, amber, yellow, blue, white, and clear.
If you've ever spotted amber tumblers or rosy saucers in your mother or grandmother's china cabinet, it's likely Depression glass. This tabletop accessory secured its place in homes during the 1920s, continuing to be produced through the 1950s, and is still much-loved today.
Red glass can be quite expensive to make. The first red glass required the addition of gold and small amounts of tin. Anchor Hocking pioneered the addition of copper to produce the rich tone. Today, art glass makers use cadmium and selenium to get that deep, rich glow.
Markings on glassware can help affect their value! Typically, glassware with pontil marks is considered more valuable because they are older and handmade. Scarcity is another factor that will affect the value of your antique glass. Bottles that are rare are going to yield a higher profit due to their low availability.