Thrift Store Amberina Find - SCORE!

Okay glass is one of our guilty pleasures.  I am an Army Brat and proud of my Dad. It afforded me lots of opportunity to see the world and experience life in many of our regional areas as well.  A drawback of the Army gypsy style life is breakables break. Sad but true.  So what is my end result – I collect breakables.  It was not planned, it just seemed to happen - I go to find a book and find breakables. I will endure the torture though. I am partial to Vaseline glass and Amberina. Now for sharing a thrift store find….a daisy pattern fairy light in Amberina.  Finding a treasure like this at thrift stores is not an everyday occurrence. First, you need luck not once but twice lucky. The store did not realize the two pieces were part of a whole so they were marked separately and several feet apart.  Second, you need to know what a fairy light is and that these two pieces are partners.  Third, you have to recognize Amberina at thirty paces. Finally, purchase said items and add it to your collection. 

Fairy lights are small covered candle holders. The flickering light tinted by the glass covering giving a delicate glow to its immediate surroundings. I appreciate the added warmth of the color Amberina affords the glow during the holidays.  They make wonderful centerpieces or accent lighting from a corner.  Check out The Fairy Lamp Club at  http://www.fairy-lamp.com for more info. They have history, information and an incredible array of examples. 

Amberina glass began in the late 1800’s when patented by New England Glass Works employees.  Amberina is created by reheating the top layer of glass which contains colloidal gold.  The reheated portion becomes red merging with the golden un-reheated glass.  Red top/gold bottom is Amberina while gold top/red bottom is reverse Amberina. Later examples of Amberina replaced the gold for selenium and cadmium sulphide.  The selenium glass made the ‘pressed’ glass of the early to mid 1900’s easier to mold.  The line in the sand for some collectors are those who decline to accept the selenium based glass as Amberina. Other collectors refuse the glass with the thinly coated with a layer of red glass ‘flashing’ as Amberina (guiltily raising my hand at this point). In truth the term “amberina” is now accepted as describing red/orange/gold glass combinations.  Some Amberina will also be florescent under blacklight due to the minerals added to the glass (usually uranium oxide). 

So now proudly sitting atop my shelf is a lovely Amberina fairy lamp, saved from a devastating separation of their other half and destined to flicker merrily for years to come (thanks to the stickum protecting its position from the feline shelf marauders.)