Etching vs. ACL

chosi · Jun 14, 2013

I've got various old shot glasses to go with my beer bottle collection, and I'm wrestling with whether or not some of them are "etched", or just painted on (also known as Applied Color Label or ACL).

I assume if the writing on the glasses has colors other than white, they are painted.
But if the writing is white, is there a way to determine if they're etched vs. painted?

cowseatmaize · Jun 15, 2013

I assume if the writing on the glasses has colors other than white, they are painted.

ACL can be white or 2, 3, etc color. Sometimes the color can wash off and give the appearance of etched from afar but it should be easy enough to tell when it's in your hands. I don't have that luxury so I can't say for sure about yours.
I'd go with etched, it was common on shot and dose glasses.

Ratzilla · Jul 3, 2013

Easy way to tell between etched and painted - put something dark colored in the glass (liquid, dirt, a piece of construction paper, doesn't matter); if you can see the dark stuff through the lettering/design, it's etched(or very heavily worn ACL). if it still looks bright white, it's ACL. After you've seen a few of each, it's obvious.

pyshodoodle · Jul 3, 2013

I agree with both of them. [sm=thumbup1.gif]

chosi · Jul 4, 2013

Hmm. When I put something dark inside my Robert Portner glasses, it looks to me like none of them are etched (based on your criteria). I've had someone tell me some of them were etched, but he could have been wrong.

Can you tell from a photo? If I put something dark inside the glasses & took photos, would you be able to tell from the photos?

Some of the glasses I'm trying to determine etched/not-etched are on my web site at:
http://www.chosi.org/bottles/portner/portner.htm#GLASSES

epackage · Jul 6, 2013

Scrub it real hard and fast with a wet Brillo pad, you'll find out what it is soon enough...[8D]

pyshodoodle · Jul 6, 2013

[

][

] And I thought I was snarky!

I think they look like paint... but I'm not an expert. The way some of the letters are worn on the one dosage cup, and the different texture in the solid part around Tivoli... I googled other etched glasses and they look the way I expect them to look for etched. These don't to me. This is my guess... I'm waiting for the experts to weigh in on this.
An interesting topic I know nothing about that I'd like to see here is the history/timeline of paint on glass. Separate thread for that would be nice.

Etching vs. ACL

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chosi

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