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Sun Colored Amethyst questions

 
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Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/12/2007 10:29:38 PM   
Graydigger

 

Posts: 14
Joined: 1/17/2007
Status: offline 		I understand how bottles become colored amethyst, but have a few questions:
-How long does it take (with full exposure) for a bottle to turn amethyst (months/years)?
-Can this be done through a window pane , bottles placed in window?
-I have dug a few old bottles that were amethyst. How did this occur if buried?
-With the modern process of X-Ray (or whatever) to color bottles, why do they let the process continue until the bottle is unnaturally very dark purple--why not stop it so the bottles at least look naturally sun-colored? Any answers are appreciated. Thanks
Post #: 1
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/12/2007 11:22:05 PM   
sweetrelease

 

Posts: 654
Joined: 7/20/2006
From: hammonton ,nj
Status: offline 		most likly the best question asked this year!! i have no idea but have thought the same thing,good question,matt

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Post #: 2
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/13/2007 7:09:16 AM   
Oldtimer


Posts: 726
Joined: 5/13/2004
From: Effingham NH. Where else?
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Graydigger

I understand how bottles become colored amethyst, but have a few questions:
-How long does it take (with full exposure) for a bottle to turn amethyst (months/years)? 3-4 years will give a nice tint, 10 will give you a nice SCA color.
-Can this be done through a window pane , bottles placed in window? Yes.
-I have dug a few old bottles that were amethyst. How did this occur if buried? The sands of time covered them after they had turned...
-With the modern process of X-Ray (or whatever) to color bottles, why do they let the process continue until the bottle is unnaturally very dark purple--why not stop it so the bottles at least look naturally sun-colored?
Some people have no taste...lol...
Any answers are appreciated. Thanks


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Post #: 3
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/13/2007 9:46:32 AM   
cobaltbot


Posts: 1682
Joined: 4/7/2006
From: Delta, PA
Status: offline 		Here’s some opinions, more or less factual:

How dark natural amethyst looks depends on proper exposure and the amount of manganese in the glass batch.  Some people actually prefer to keep the items clear and not let them turn and this is understandable, like in the case where all known examples are amethyst or colored and clear examples are limited.  Outdoor or light box exposure should do most all of what it’s going to do in weeks – months beyond that you have to get into the radiation stuff which although a lot of newbies and non-collectors like most collectors don’t, thinking it an unnatural or altered item.  Very little, if any turning will happen inside on a window sill as most of the UV rays do not get thru to the bottle.  Some bottles that you dig could already be amethyst for a few reasons.  For one, those bottles may have been out in the sun during their use.  They might have been covered up after being surface trash.  They might have been intentionally or unintentionally produced in amethyst because of heavy amounts of manganese and/or other ingredients in the batch.  This very dark crown top most likely made by  the American Glass Works in Richmond VA or at Paden City, WV is one of my favorite sodas, partly because I found it when I was a kid.  I’m not sure if it turned, or was already this color when it was new.




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< Message edited by cobaltbot -- 7/13/2007 9:47:16 AM >

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RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/13/2007 4:37:53 PM   
GuntherHess


Posts: 5111
Joined: 12/13/2004
From: Frederick Maryland
Status: online
quote:

-How long does it take (with full exposure) for a bottle to turn amethyst (months/years)?


I assume you mean full exposure to sunlight? That will vary with the amount of manganese and the latitude of where the bottle is sitting on the earth. I would think probaby at least a year to get some decent color. Never really saw a study done.

quote:

-Can this be done through a window pane , bottles placed in window?
yes as long as the window glass passes UV rays.

... actually Oldtimer seems to have given the answers I would have so I wont repeat them all. The answer about poor taste is one that I often point out. Some people like the dark amethyst "unnatural" looking bottles, most seem to not like them. Xrays arent used to color glass as far as I know. UV light is normally used but some bottles are also irradiated with stuff like neutron radiation from reactors. This can cause some odd bottle colors like brown coke bottles. 



< Message edited by GuntherHess -- 7/13/2007 4:45:51 PM >

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RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/28/2008 10:25:00 PM   
FlouiseA27

 

Posts: 8
Joined: 7/27/2008
From: York, Maine
Status: offline 		So is there any such thing as a true amethyst antique bottle?
Or are all the "amethyst" bottles we find the result of a clear bottle exposed to sunlight?
If there is such a thing as an actual amethyst antique bottle, is there any way to determine whether it was made that way or if it was exposed to sunlight?
This is a very pretty "Larkin" bottle I have.






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Post #: 6
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 12:45:14 AM   
Graydigger

 

Posts: 14
Joined: 1/17/2007
Status: offline 		Follow up to SCA questions.  I decided to try the sun rather than UV light methods. After 4  months in a tinfoil-lined cardboard box exposed to all the sun we can get in western Oregon from April thru July, a Bonney Bros. whiskey bottle that was absolutely clear is now a good medium amethyst, and two others that were just tinted are also medium amethyst now. So 4 to 6 months of decent sun seems to do the job, as they are as colored as I want them to be. The original question stimulated a lot of discussion last year--both pro and con. Thanks for all  the input.

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Post #: 7
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 7:15:21 AM   
GuntherHess


Posts: 5111
Joined: 12/13/2004
From: Frederick Maryland
Status: online
quote:

So is there any such thing as a true amethyst antique bottle?
Or are all the "amethyst" bottles we find the result of a clear bottle exposed to sunlight?
If there is such a thing as an actual amethyst antique bottle, is there any way to determine whether it was made that way or if it was exposed to sunlight?


Yes, there are true amethyst bottles that were made that way. Many early hair treatment bottles such as Mrs Allen's were amethyst. They tend to be very dark purple. Most clear bottles that turn amethyst are not that dark except for some heavily irradiated ones.


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Post #: 8
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 11:23:39 AM   
NorCalBottleHunter


Posts: 160
Joined: 5/22/2008
From: Rio Vista,ca
Status: offline 		heres a pair of flasks that supposedly sat on a beach in australlia for a long time before they were found, the sun really got to them. i was always told the bottle itself contained magnisum or something that when hit with U.V. rays it turned the color it does?



< Message edited by NorCalBottleHunter -- 7/29/2008 11:31:33 AM >

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RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 11:27:43 AM   
lobeycat


Posts: 3768
Joined: 9/8/2003
From: RED SOX Nation
Status: offline
quote:

heres a pair of flasks that supposedly sat on a beach in australlia before they were found, the sun really got to them

wanna buy some central Mass. ocean front property?

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Post #: 10
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 11:32:36 AM   
NorCalBottleHunter


Posts: 160
Joined: 5/22/2008
From: Rio Vista,ca
Status: offline 		whats that supposed to mean, lobeycat?

< Message edited by NorCalBottleHunter -- 7/29/2008 11:34:12 AM >

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RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 11:49:39 AM   
woody

 

Posts: 1657
Joined: 10/29/2002
From: Gilmanton, New Hampshire
Status: offline 		I have found bottles that are that dark amethyst, so, not all bottles turn just a light shade of amethyst.
I suppose, they say, that it depends on the amount of maganese in the gather of glass.
I have also found amethyst glass that is so dark purple it looks like black glass.

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Post #: 12
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 12:06:13 PM   
Staunton Dan

 

Posts: 337
Joined: 5/5/2005
Status: offline 		Some bottles that I dig have already turned a light amytheist. They certainly weren't exposed to the sunlight while being in the ground. I guess it's possible that they sat out in the light before they were thrown away. If not, does this suggest that some just turned naturally or may have been a light amytheist to begin with?




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< Message edited by Staunton Dan -- 7/29/2008 12:07:40 PM >

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Post #: 13
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 1:27:49 PM   
glass man


Posts: 1673
Joined: 1/30/2008
From: GEORGIA
Status: offline 		What is MASS. ocean front property going for these days? I can get a loan from FANNY MAC. I usually put a few bottles out to turn ,but forgot to this year. GOOD QUESTIONS  AND GOOD ANSWERS. I have never seen any of my bottles turn in the window sill. OH WELL!

< Message edited by glass man -- 7/29/2008 1:28:42 PM >

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Post #: 14
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 1:43:28 PM   
lobeycat


Posts: 3768
Joined: 9/8/2003
From: RED SOX Nation
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: NorCalBottleHunter
whats that supposed to mean, lobeycat?

What that mean's Nor is that there is no ocean front property and the fact that those bottles were turned by the sun is questionable.

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Post #: 15
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 2:02:23 PM   
NorCalBottleHunter


Posts: 160
Joined: 5/22/2008
From: Rio Vista,ca
Status: offline 		questionable, but not impossible? that was the story i got from the guy who i got them from, it could be wrong, i could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time. i'm here to learn as well as everything else and don't mind correction if its done properly

                                                                                                                   nick


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Post #: 16
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 3:22:40 PM   
lobeycat


Posts: 3768
Joined: 9/8/2003
From: RED SOX Nation
Status: offline
quote:

i'm here to learn as well as everything else and don't mind correction if its done properly
nick

stop pickin on me will ya....geesh. I'm a bit blunt at times, one of my many failings. those just appear to me as typical nuked bottles. you take an unembossed 25 cent bottle, expose it to 40 years worth of uv rays over the course of a couple of weeks, create a fairy tale around them and toss 'em on ebay for .99c.
Didn't mean to offend you....beg pardon.
Lobey. 

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Post #: 17
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 3:35:32 PM   
Wilkie


Posts: 346
Joined: 5/2/2008
From: Suisun City, CA
Status: online 		I got some of the same sarcasm to one of my very 1st posts Nick. Don't let it bother you, some of the old timers are just naturaly ornery.

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Post #: 18
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 4:29:06 PM   
NorCalBottleHunter


Posts: 160
Joined: 5/22/2008
From: Rio Vista,ca
Status: offline 		you're right, wilkie, i overreacted a bit. and lobeycat i apologize for being so gruff with ya, its a long story


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Post #: 19
RE: Sun Colored Amethyst questions - 7/29/2008 5:58:09 PM   
glass man


Posts: 1673
Joined: 1/30/2008
From: GEORGIA
Status: offline 		I LOVE LONG STORIES AND HAVE PUT SOME ON HERE.

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I know You've got mountains that you think you cannot climb Your skies are dark You think the sun won't shine Case you don't know The WORD OF GOD is true! ALL HE PROMISED HE WILL DO IT FOR YOU! JESUS IS THE ANSWER FOR THE WORLD TODAY JESUS IS THE WAY!

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