Color Is Key at Green Valley's Spring Glass Sale

Green Valley Auctions, Mt. Crawford, Virginia

by Walter C. Newman

Green Valley Auctions held its seventh annual spring cataloged auction of glass and lighting on May 18 and 19 at its gallery in Mt. Crawford, Virginia. The sale consisted of 1053 lots and included consigned items from several major collections.

Three former officers of the National Early American Glass Club (NEAGC) offered their collections: Dr. Frank L. and Betty Iber; Miriam E. and the late Robert H. Mucha; and Muriel Walker Hiebert Myers and the late Dr. Joelle C. Hiebert. Mrs. Mucha and Dr. Hiebert had each served as the president of NEAGC, and Mrs. Iber had served the club as a past vice president and treasurer. In addition, bidders were treated to the 62-piece paperweight collection of Dr. and Mrs. Oscar Hollander and the collections of Dolores Winckler, and Sylvia and Ken Lyons, as well as others.

By definition, collections consist of many similar or related items. The collections offered at this sale were true to that rule. Often, collections feature a few outstanding items and are filled in with items of somewhat lesser quality. That was not the case with the collections in this sale. There was little drop-off within the various categories. The level at which these collections had been assembled assured that virtually every item was of superb quality, and most pieces crossed the block accompanied with meticulous documentation.

It is often the case that Green Valley finds itself with something unexpected among its auction lots. That was the case during the evening session on the first day of the glass and lighting sale. A GI-112 calabash style flask crossed the block as lot 3. The flask ultimately proved to be the second-highest-selling lot of the two-day sale. Owing to its unique color, which was cataloged as "medium golden amber," the flask blew away its $500/800 estimate and brought a surprising $15,400 (includes buyer's premium) following spirited bidding. Jeffery Evans, Green Valley president and lead auctioneer, admitted that he was surprised by that particular sale but went on to say, "Remember, color is what it's all about." (See sidebar.)

Evans's statement was prophetic, and its meaning resonated throughout the sale. In fact, the price achieved by the overall high lot was due to its color. The cover for a pressed glass salt brought $20,900 (est. $2000/3000). The little lid, a CD-2 variant, was cataloged as medium fiery opalescent, an unlisted color.

Green Valley's next glass sale, the 13th annual fall early American glass and lighting auction, will be held September 19-23, one week earlier than had been previously announced. An unavoidable scheduling conflict required the change. For additional information, contact Green Valley Auctions at (540) 434-4260 or visit the Web site (www.greenvalleyauctions.com).

Color Is What It Is All About

To a casual observer, blue is blue. Of course, when pressed, most are able to refine their thoughts and differentiate among blues-cobalt is quite different from robin's-egg. But to glass collectors, and to those who attempt to describe an item that is being offered for sale, color nomenclature is anything but simple.

As budding artists, children first receive a box of eight color crayons, then they progress, mastering increasingly subtle changes in shade and tone until they are ready for the big box of 120 colors. So, too, glass collectors continue to refine their palette of named colors. It may seem to be splitting hairs when referring to one color as deep and another as dark, but such differentiation is quite serious. In fact, within the descriptions of the lots in Green Valley's sale catalog, there were 31 different names given to the color blue.

The serious nature of correct color identification was vividly illustrated at the most recent Green Valley auction. Two instances brought the topic into focus: one was theoretical, while the other was quite practical.

Before the first auction session, an informative seminar was offered regarding glass color. With the rather imposing title of "The Color-Induction Effects of Gamma Radiation on 19th and 20th Century American Glass," the seminar presented an overview of the results of a recently completed experiment regarding color changing of glass objects. Presenters were Rod Elser, president of the national Open Salt Collectors club, which had sponsored the experiment; Art Reed of Sweetwater Glass in DeLancey, New York; and Green Valley's own Jeffrey Evans.

Glass manufacture is quite involved. Some say it is chemistry, others say it is physics, and many say it is sorcery. At the risk of oversimplification, the gist of the "Color-Induction..." experiment and presentation was the fact that due to the chemical composition of so-called colorless glass items, they may change color if subjected to significant irradiation.

In glass collecting, color equals value, and where there is value, unfortunately, there is also deception. For example, if, after the irradiation process, a piece of glass changes color from colorless to amethyst or from colorless to amber, its market value may increase hundreds of times.

According to Evans, irradiation for the purpose of deception has been around since the 1970's. The deceptive process has surfaced in diverse areas of collecting, from fruit jars to glass insulators to fine art glass to pressed and patterned glass items. Fortunately, significant attention has been drawn to this matter. Experts are becoming better at detecting suspect items, but still the only proven method of determining whether a particular piece of glass has achieved its color by irradiation is by actual reversal of the process.

At his Sweetwater Glass studio, Art Reed has performed successful though limited tests involving reheating a suspect piece of glass and having its color reverse back to colorless. But since different irradiated glass items reverse color at different temperatures, and since those same items melt at different temperatures, the process is tricky and, at the moment, inexact. Reed's tests are ongoing.

Suffice to say that since sophisticated deception has found its way into the higher levels of glass collecting, skepticism has followed. Collectors and sellers alike are applying greater scrutiny when evaluating potential purchases. Unique colors are being examined with additional care.

As if taking its cue from the seminar, bidding on one of the items offered early in the Green Valley sale took on a life of its own, based primarily on its unique color. A portrait flask became the subject of intense discussion, scrutiny, and bidding. Listed as a "GI-112 Kossuth/ Frigate Mississippi Calabash Flask," the flask's color was listed as "medium golden amber."

McKearin's American Glass (1941) provides a description of this particular flask (pp. 466-7), and in the corresponding chart (p. 534) the flask's colors are listed as dark olive green (black), emerald green, yellow green, and aquamarine. Was the Green Valley flask a unique color, or perhaps a variation of the yellow green? Careful consideration by at least two bidders favored the unique color theory. That sent the bidding far beyond the flask's published $500/800 estimate. It ultimately sold for $15,400.

Color is more than a bit subjective. In 1912 Robert Ridgway published one of the definitive works on color, Color Standards and Color Nomenclature. In that book Ridgway systematically names 1115 different colors and provides plates illustrating each. When viewed side by side it is possible to differentiate between two named plates. But when viewed out of that context it is virtually impossible for most human eyes to make a proper distinction. This may always be the case with glass colors. When viewed together, it may be easy to say, "Yes, this one is different from the other one." But is that difference due to the effects of natural sunlight and aging, the product of intentional irradiated deception, or the conscious act of a glass sorcerer? That is what it is all about.

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