posted on December 26, 2000 02:16:44 PM new
I purchased one of these at an estate auction & was told it was old. It appears to be made out of stone & has a silver spoon . It is white with raised designs - a fish, butterfly, & lillies. Any one have tips to tell the old from the new? Thanks for your help!
posted on December 26, 2000 02:54:13 PM new
Sorry I can't help but I will give you a boost back up to the top, as I'm also interested in knowing more about this topic.
posted on December 26, 2000 03:37:00 PM new
Thanks - I hate to admit my ignorance, but I don't have any idea how to post a photo here. The auction number is 532225686 - I hope this isn't against any rules! There are photos there.
posted on December 26, 2000 03:46:33 PM new
I see you live near to me. I live about 35 miles north of you.
I can't tell. Are you sure it's stone? It looks like milk glass in the photo. If you say it's stone I believe you though.
It is very nice looking but I hate to admit that it's out of my range of knowledge. I'm into antique American and European glass bottles. Yours looks Oriental, probably Chinese.
posted on December 26, 2000 04:01:52 PM new
I definitely think its stone & looks like the raised images were carved. The spoon and the top look old to me but I don't want to mislead anyone. Thats why I started it so low.
posted on December 26, 2000 04:32:44 PM new
I dunno. What stone either comes in mixed red/yellow/blue/green, all in the same piece, and has virtually no imperfections in the pure white part? It just seems so unlikely, particularly when the colors don't appear quite....natural. What stone is flawless (e.g. even color, no veins of color or fissures) in this size, translucent, and hard enough to be polished to this bright finish, yet porous enough to accept, say, a stain?
I'm guessing glass, either fused or with some sort of pate de verre applique. But consider the source - I'm a textiles gal
posted on December 26, 2000 05:12:39 PM new
There are a lot of new snuff bottles coming out of China the last few years, I doubt yours is old. They are often sold at auctions. At one point last year you could order them wholesale in a jewelry wholesale catalog that did a lot of sourcing from China.
I've seen some of the newer bottles with a white base and red and blue designs on it. They are made of glass. Different colors of glass are layered over a base layer (white) and then designs are carved out by uncovering various layers of glass.
The stopper looks a bit different from the ones I've seen but unless you've tested it and know for sure it's silver, or it's marked somehow, I would even doubt that the cap or spoon is silver.
So my guess is yours is a recent bottle with antiquing or oxidizing finish applied to the metal top. The starting price is probably right considering it's new, although unless you are sure that it's old, I wouldn't list it as an antique.
JMHO
enchanted
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[ edited by enchanted on Dec 26, 2000 05:22 PM ]
