THE NATURE OF GLASS. Glass, in most cases, is a transparent material. To see colors in glass, we of course need some type of visible light passing thru the object and meeting our eyes. In the absence of light, there'd be no visible color. The type of light (whether natural, incandescent, fluorescent, or other), its orientation (front, back, top, bottom, side, combination), and the brightness of the light source will further determine the appearance of colors at the moment of viewing. Positioning of the glassware item is a further variable. A jar or bottle placed on a display shelf, backed up against an opaque white wall, will appear darker and more richly colored than the same jar displayed with back lighting, or placed in a sunny window. For a glassware item sitting on a wall shelf, the source of reflected light behind the item is reduced by the bottle or jar’s proximity to the wall.....that is, we are looking thru the object and into its shadow. The same bottle or jar, when moved away from the wall, or placed in a window, or held to a light, seems lighter-colored in appearance. The following photos will demonstrate these effects. Click on each photo for a larger and annotated version.
SHADOWS and LIGHT. In each of the above images, the jar on the left has been placed in the middle of a table, away from any walls, with average indoor room lighting, and with a solid, near-white background. There are no shadows to influence the appearance of the color in this case. In contrast, the center views depict the same jar, but placed with its back against a white wall. This is the normal display scenario used by most collectors, with their jars displayed on a wall shelf. In this case, the jar casts a shadow onto the wall directly behind it, making the color look somewhat darker. Finally, in the images on the right side, we have a window display. In this case, the back lighting greatly exceeds the front lighting. This causes the thinner areas of the jar to look lighter or “wash out”. The thicker areas of glass, such as the base and mouth regions, contrast darkly, due to less light passing thru these areas. In spite of this washing-out effect, jars and bottles shown in a window do seem to better display their character and embossing, and also have more of a sparkling appearance in the bright, natural light. Note that all of these images were taken without the use of photo flash. GLASSWARE PHOTOGRAPHS. The growth of internet sales has brought collectors a tremendous new resource in helping build a collection. We now have access to perhaps as many items every month as we might have previously seen only after many years of hunting thru antique stores, flea markets, bottle shows, estate auctions, and etc. However, in most cases we are shopping for these items based mainly on a digital image of the item displayed on our computer screen. So understanding the way photos are taken and processed may help us in making these type of purchase decisions. When viewing images of jars and bottles for sale on the internet, always consider how the item is being displayed in the photo, before deciding about the color. Is the photo taken outside or indoors?... What is the background coloring and content?....Is the item sitting on a wall shelf or out in the open?...Was flash used?....Was the lighting dim or bright?.....etc. Note that the use of camera flash can be helpful in properly illuminating the bottle or jar, but can also have an effect of “darkening” glass color, in that a dark shadow is cast behind the item by the flash. You might see the shadow in the photo, and forget that you are looking at a shadow behind the item, and not just the glass itself. A comparative image, displaying the bottle or jar next to a “known” standard colored example (if such an item exists) can also be very helpful. Of course this all assumes that photos will have been taken against a white or near-white background. Use of a strongly colored background will make photos of colored glassware items essentially useless towards evaluating color. Further, both the mis-adjustment of camera settings and/or the mis-use of photo processing software allows dramatic altering of colors. However, any drastic color alterations will usually be apparent. If you suspect image color alteration may have been done, look carefully at background items, or even at zinc lids and wires for any unnatural color appearance. A little experience and you should be able to easily detect such images.....they are rarely natural-looking in appearance. COLOR NAMING. Many strong colors are unmistakable and easily recognizable, almost no matter what the lighting situation. The terms “cobalt blue”, “black glass”, “deep amber”, “clear”, “purple”, etc, usually don't cause much confusion. It is the more subtle color tones, such as pale blues, yellows and pale greens, and the varied tones of amber glass, that often challenge verbal description. We will use terminology that has been most commonly adopted by the fruit jar hobby. There is no "governing authority" on colors, so keep in mind these photos and notes are simply the color names that we use, as do many current collectors. ORIGIN of COLOR NAMES. Several glass colors were named from other transparent materials, namely jewels or gemstones (Emerald, Aquamarine, Amber, Sapphire). Where there was no appropriate gem to describe a color, it seems that hobbyists adopted color names from fruits, flowers, or plant parts (Citron, Lime, Apple, Cornflower, Olive, Puce), and natural materials/minerals (Cobalt). The best way to depict glass colors, other than viewing of the actual jar or bottle, is in photographs. YOUR COMPUTER. Please bear in mind that most color monitors have adjustable color settings. If your monitor is improperly set, you will have a problem. This is rare. Also, the various operating systems and/or graphics drivers have various color settings. We will start here with a few shots and add more images over time.
AQUAMARINE The title of "aquamarine", from the gemstone, describes a pale blueish green tinted glass color. This color is the "natural" color of glass, and is the typical color for a great percentage of all early fruit jars. Here's a shot displaying aquamarine colored jars. This shot also demonstrates the stark contrast between true blue and aquamarine. In this photo, we also show a pair of jars in the color commonly referred to as "Ball Blue". This color could also be termed a deep aquamarine. The title of "Ball Blue" originated with the jar production of the Ball Bros Glass Mfg Co in Muncie, Indiana, most of which came out in this deeper shade of aqua. This color apparently resulted from a special source of sand that they used in the production of their glass.
TRUE BLUE COLORS The term "Cobalt" is used to describe a pure blue, that is technically speaking, the "base color" blue, with no "base yellow" in it, resulting in no green tone. There are other names used in glass collecting to describe pure blues......"sapphire blue", "peacock blue", "cornflower blue", "sky blue", and perhaps others. It is important to realize that pure "blue" in the fruit jar and bottle hobbies, carries a very special meaning. A common mistake is the reference to the color of aquamarine, the natural color of glass, as "blue". This has led to many problems and mis-understandings. Once you have seen a true blue colored glass item, you will never again mistake this beautiful and rare color. SHADES OF AMBER The color name "Amber" derives from the gemstone, which is basically a fossilized tree sap. Amber is an orangish-brown color used to describe glass color with many adjectives added. Lighter amber colored jars are sometimes mistakenly referred to as "yellow". The simple visual test we use for discerning true yellow, is that true pure yellow has none of the orange tone of amber whatsoever. Look for noticeable amber (orange) tones in the thicker parts of the glass such as the base and lip areas. Here we depict a few true yellow jars (Globes) alongside some of the many shades of amber.
WHAT IS CITRON?? The color name "citron", while readily identifiable to most collectors, seems to cause confusion occasionally. Citron could be described as a pale yellowish green with a slight golden cast, and contains absolutely no amber (orange) tone. It is most often confused with yellow olive, yellowish apple green, lime green, or even olive amber. These colors have either too much amber and/or green tone to be a "true" citron. The color citron actually looks like the fruit from which it got its name. The color in glass seems to have a certain "glow" about it. It is a very appealing and rather scarce coloration.
SOME MORE GREENS Another shot showing some various light and medium greens. The first jar is "Apple Green", which is about the lightest shade of yellow-green that is considered as a desirable color by collectors. This term is occasionally used incorrectly to describe a light greenish aqua. We liken this color to that of a "Granny Smith" apple. There is no hint of blue in this color.
THE STRONG GREENS The various shades of deep greens are among the most coveted colors in bottle and jar collecting. Here is a shot depicting a few examples in some of these attractive colors. These dark colors seem to be a mixture of deep greens and blues. The color we call “Emerald Green” is also referred to as 7-up bottle green, which is a correct and familiar reference. The pair of emerald quarts depicted above are actually just slightly off to the blue side of a pure Emerald Green, but not by much. About the only absolute “7-up green” found in fruit jars are the Flaccus pints and the Safety Valve jars.
OLIVE GREENS. Olive greens can be broken into several different shades.....like straight “Olive Green” (light, medium, and dark), “yellow Olive”, “olive Yellow”, “olive Amber”, “amber-tinted Olive”, and maybe others. For these dual-named colors, the first word in the color name serves as an adjective and the second word is the main color name. So “yellow Olive” means an Olive green colored jar with some yellow tone. Conversely, “olive Yellow” means we are discussing a Yellow jar which has a little olive green tone to it. The Olive Green color classification is prone to confusion, because there are so many shades. Best to understand these color names by viewing a comparison shot showing several of the colors. Of course, there are more shades that lie in between these, but we have depicted the main colors. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE ADDED TO THIS PAGE? Email Us and let us know.
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