Vintage Uranium Glass

6 Vintage Anchor Hocking Optic Swirl UV Green Plates




Uranium, first isolated in 1789 and (relatively speaking) quickly made its appearance as a glass colorant by the 1830's. Josef Rediel is typically credited with being the first who added the metal to glass before melting it down and discovering its peculiar qualities. He named the more yellowish-green glass Annagruen and the more yellow Annagelb. Shortly the glass started to be made at more factories. Late in the 19th century uranium glass started to be made with heat-sensitive chemicals that turned a milky white colour when they were reheated, and it was due to this white-yellow color that this particular shade of glass became known as vaseline glass.
The color of Uranium glass varies from a pale yellow to a light green and is dependent upon the ocidation state and concentrationof the metal ions within. The most attractive aspect of this unique material to many is its ability to fluoresce bright neon green a in the presence of ultraviolet light.





Six Circa 1920s era Uranium Glass Salad plates (sold individually) with a beautiful swirl pattern. Per my research and questioning of local antiquedealers I am told that they are made by the Anchor Hocking company. Curiously enough, most swirl plates of this type are found in groups ofsix and all feature a "crease" along their bottom surface, on each plate the same line. It is kind of cool to see that surch a thing would carry over many factory made products, across the years.