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Colours The manufacturers of pressed glass were incredibly innovative, maybe because competition was so intense. Not only did they find new ways to make the glass, but also to find different colour mixes. The most common colour for pressed glass was 'flint' which is clear glass. Sometimes it may have a purple or green tinge to it, but this is due to contamination in the process and not as a result of being exposed to strong sunlight. Sowerby was the first manufacturer to produce coloured items. Their pricing levels show the popularity of the different colours. Green, puce and blue were the same price as the flint while a canary yellow and Pomona (green/yellow) were classed as 'best' (and more expensive to make) colours and cost 50% more than the others. In 1880 Opal proved to be the most popular colour accounting for 50% of their output, early on opal items had a pink tinge, while later colours having a blue hue. As with all the other manufacturers Sowerby produced 'malachite' colours too, with purple being the most common colour and often called blackberries and cream. Other colours were rare brown, green, blue (Sorbini), red, black and grey. Greener also produced a malachite range, but it can be easily recognised as the purple malachite is lighter, with less white in it. Sowerby created their Vitro-Porcelain collection, an opaque colour which looked like porcelain, but could be easily produced with the pressed glass process. Even today, some people at first glance think that the glass is porcelain.
Sowerby also created the Queen's Ware suite, which was an opaque ivory coloured glass which is so hard wearing that intricate pieces are still found in excellent condition. In Sowerby Gateshead Glass, there are copies of the fragments of the hand written glass recipes. The base recipe was for the flint glass, then other ingredients were added to change the colour. Turquoise had cryolite added; Blue malachite - manganese, green - iron oxide, canary - uranium (that glows in the dark under black light); Pomona had the same recipe as canary, but with copper oxide added; black was the cheapest colour made with ground coal and coal dust, while Opal was made with salt peter, fluor spar, fellspar and arsenic, although after 1911 it was changed to include creyolite and china clay; puce had manganese added and the cream Queen's Ware was made from the opal recipe with uranium added.
Bagley's budgie vase in green which contains uranium and glows under a black light Black glass like the Davidson creamer and sugar set below is often deceptive, as under a bright light it shines either purple of a deep red.
Other manufacturers also experimented with colours, Davidson registered a patent for their Pearline series in 1888 (No 96945). This suite was first available in blue, then canary yellow, and an opal moonshine colour. The glass had a white milky opal edging to it that was caused by arsenic added into the initial glass mixture which changed colour after additional heating. Many American dealers call the primrose glass 'vaseline', with some even using this term to describe any colour in this series.
In the early 20th Century Davidson overtook Sowerby in creating innovative coloured glass, especially with the Jade range, which was very difficult to make. Between the wars they showed off their colour making skills by creating the Cloud Glass series. It was made by adding trails of semi-molten glass to a gather of lighter coloured semi-molten glass that was last laid into the mould. Different colours were added throughout the years, purple was introduced in 1923, blue in 1925, amber in 1929, green in 1934 and the rare red orange in 1929 and orange in 1934. For more details about the different manufacturers approach to coloured glass, please go to the Manufacturer section.
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FAQ -What is Pressed Glass
Manufacturers What
was it used for?
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