Flashed Glassware

The popularity of Joseph Locke's Amberina prompted the production of what is known as "flashed wares" to the trade. An article of glass was formed and the inner surface of the object was partially coated with a thin plating of glass of another, more dominant, color - usually a ruby red. The result was a parti-colored, shaded glassware.

Most of the ware known to collectors as "Rubena Verde," "Rubena Crystal" and "Blue Amberina" were manufactured in this way. Not only was it a cheaper means of producing a shaded glassware, but it also circumvented Mr. Locke's patented method for producing his Amberina glass. Occasionly such shaded glasses were plated over with a sensitive opalescent metal, pattern molded and reheated to form a raised opalescent design on the finished product.

Flashed Wares can be easily detected by examining the rim of the article for the several casings.

On May 5, 1891, Francis Lannoy of Tiffin, Ohio, patented a unique method for producing flashed glassware. The method consisted of joining and causing to adhere the edges of two pieces of glass of different shades, then coating the combined pieces thus made with molten glass, and blowing the mass into its ultimate shape. The line of demarcation betwen the two or more colors was even more apparent in this ware.

Archibald L. Brown of Chicago, Illinois, patented a means for producing "Colored Flashed Ornamental Glass" on June 8, 1897. Brown prepared the glass by grinding away a portion of the surface and then applying a mixture of gutta-percha, gum and coloring matter. The article was baked in a kiln at a low temperature for several hours to fix the color to the surface of the glass. Brown's patent also contained a new method for grinding away portions of the coloring to produce ornamental designs on the glass.

On September 29, 1891, William Buttler of Washington, Pennsylvania, patented a means for flashing color on pressed and blown glass. The articles to be colored were dipped into a pot of colored glass with a very low melting point they retained their shape throughout the flashing process.

Several patents for producing flashed colored glassware were registered abroad. On May 5, 1814, Joseph Price of Gateshead-on-Tyne, England, patented a means for flashing crystal glass with opal (opaque white) glass. On July 4, 1882, Rice Williams Harris patented a technique for producing flashed glass by blowing crystal glass into a cup of colored glass in which a hole had been opened to allow heat and gases to escape, thereby obviating strains and air bubbles between the layers of the glass. Two patents for flashing color on crystal glass were registered by Fontaine and Cie. of Aachen, Germany, on February 10, 1902, and July 1, 1902.

Both patents provided for the preparation of pressed disks, rings, stars, letters, figures, rosettes, crowns, leaves, and so forth, which were later picked up on a gather of crystal glass and incorporated into the body glass. The Fontaine process assured a uniform color in the finished decoration.

Around 1887 C.F.A. Hinrichs offered the trade imported Bohemian bi-colored (flashed) glassware pattern-molded with "Polka Dot or Bull's Eye patterns" in "Rubena" (shaded crystal to ruby glass), "Rosina" (shaded light to dary ruby glass), and "Blurina" (shaded light blue to ruby glass).

Source: Nineteenth Century Glass - It's Genesis and Development