I know you want to know what all those terms mean. Vaseline? Bullicante? Geode? Sommerso? Seguso?
Archimede Seguso (1909- 99) is a popular glass artist during the 20 century. His most popular works such as the one shown here were designed in the 1940's and produced in the 1950's .
I posted another ashtray previously with the Bullicante and Geode features. But this one is much larger and is actually made of Vaseline Glass. Vaseline is exciting because it is so rare today. Vaseline Glass got its name from the similar features of petroleum at the time. But it is actually uranium glass,which has had uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added to a glass mix before melting. Uranium glass was once made into tableware and household items, but fell out of widespread use when the availability of uranium to most industries was sharply curtailed during the Cold War. (from wiki)
The normal color of uranium glass ranges from yellow to green. You know when you have an authentic Vaseline glass piece when it is held under black light. The glass glows. And this was fun holding this ashtray under black light today. My son got to see the effects of Vaseline glass for the first time! :)
This vintage ashtray is also commonly known as Geode for it resembles the rock that has a hollow cavity in the middle.
And Bullicante is a particular decorative effect used in thick glass and consisting in a myriad of large and small "bubbles" , distributed in layers within the thickness of the glass. It may be obtained in two manners: the first requires the glass that is being worked to be rolled on a metal surface covered with small sharp "points" so that, as they print a depression on the glass in its malleable state, it comes out with "holes" which will be successively covered with another layer of glass. The result is a real air bubble which remains "trapped" in correspondence to each "hole" . A second system is to use a conic mould patterned with "points" on the inside in which to blow the glass which will come out with "holes" . The subsequent overlay of transparent glass will make the "bubbles" themselves appear."--http://www.fossilfly.com/Forums/archive/index.php/t-3637.html
This is also has a Sommerso feature which was very much popular amongst Seguso glass. The Sommerso feature is one color glass cased with a different color glass layer.This has a clear layer but cased with a vaseline glass layer. The vaseline feature is so prevalent that you can't see the clear layer of glass in the photos.
I am very excited about this ashtray because it was a surprise from Anthony. I woke up this morning and it was sitting on our breakfast bar in the kitchen. Anthony and I used to collect together some few years back. And he knows that I am building my ashtray collection, now. But I did not expect this! When he came across this piece, he knew he had to get it for me. So I am extremely happy about it.
I want to say this. When I first started antique dealing. I came across a lot of rare pieces. Some things I still can not locate today. Sometimes I wish I had not sold certain pieces. But those pieces, that were sold, belong to someone else now. It's hard to believe that you can come across so many cool things within your lifetime. I am happy that I have been able to assist other collectors in their collections. And now I am working on my own. So maybe my blog will assist you some how with your collections or with that one thing you enjoy.
So here's to the good life!
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