Flora Temple Flask

jaken · Jun 26, 2003

Hi All,
I am relatively new to bottle collecting. Got started when a friend introduced me to digging Civil War winter huts 3 years ago. Some pretty bottles have come to light recently. My best find was a Flora Temple flask last winter. It is a pint size without a handle in aqua. The only problem with it is a pot stone about the size of a pencil eraser on the back. It will never be sold by me but have had opinions that the stone reduce the value from 1/2 to 2/3. What do you guys think?

BRIAN S. · Jul 21, 2003

I definetly agree with mr.bottle . It is a nice find ! And if the potstone has no spider legs ( radiating cracks) and is a good solid stone with no associated damage , then it does not detract from it' s value. Some collectors would even say it adds to the bottle as it gives it character . If all the antique bottles out there were smooth and perfect with no manufacturing flaws, whittle , stones , warped and bowed panels , bubbles , drippy applied lips , ect. .......How boring would that be ???

BottlesandMore · Jul 22, 2003

Nice bottle. The potstone is simply an unmelted and properly mixed piece of potash or sand. If there are no cracks eminating from the stone, the value should not be affected.

Harry Pristis · Aug 25, 2003

These potstones (the white ones) are cinders that are residue of melting the glass batch. These cinders are much less-dense than the glass, and they float to the top of the pot. (The accumulation of this debris is called " float," among other names.) This float has to be skimmed from the surface of the molten glass as it accumulates, or it gets picked up with a gather of glass. Inevitably, some bits of this cinder do get incorporated into the gathers, and the result is these " potstones."

You can see the same " float" phenomenon when melting lead for bullets or weights.

Cecil Munsey talks about a scum called " gall" which has to be skimmed from the surface of the melt. Munsey does not distinguish between gall and the debris that floats to the surface of the crucible. Nonetheless, there is a distinction between the two.

Van den Bossche describes " glassgall" as a turquoise blue opaque sulphate salt of sodium (Na2SO4). If more than 5% in the melt, the excess sodium sulphate " swims" on the surface of the molten glass. This glassgall can be picked up with a gather of glass and will end up on the surface of the resulting bottle. Glassgall is the cause of the " milky" discoloration around the pontil scar on some black glass bottles.
-----------Harry Pristis

finbob · Aug 28, 2003

There are basically three types of stone inclusion that you are likely to find in glass artifacts.
1. Refractory: i.e. fireclay or sillimanite etc. eroded from the pot or tank by the molten glass. These can be white or off white, or greenish brown especially if iron is present in any quantity. Cord may also be present around the stone.
2. Batch Stones. usually white. due to the furnace not having sufficient temperature and or time to fuse all the materials or poorly mixed batch
3 Devitrification Stones. Usually white. If the furnace has been held at a low temperature e.g. 1000deg. C for a while the molten glass can begin to crystallise. It can also happen if there are volatiles in the batch such as lead, boron etc, which vapourise at the surface, leaving the glass there a less stable composition.

How do you tell the difference? Refractory stones are the most common, and usually easy to spot. A Microscope is the best method, as it can allow you to identify the mineral
present.

Harry Pristis · Aug 28, 2003

Hello, Alastair . . .
That' s an interesting description of glass inclusions. Thank you.

Your description does raise a few questions:

1. What sort of " cord" may be present around a refractory inclusion? That is, what sort of cord would survive the temperature at which a gather of glass is initially made?

2. You suggest that a " devitrification stone" may occur when cooling glass begins " to crystallise." By definition, glass is noncrystalline -- do you mean something else? Crystal glass is noncrystalline, it merely has a relatively high lead content.

3. If lead were a " volatile" as you suggest, how would crystal glass ever be made?

4. How would the boiling off of " volatiles" do anything but make the molten glass more homogeneous and more stable?

Thanks for the information!
-----------Harry Pristis

Flora Temple Flask

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