I love Purple Unless It is on THIS!

Now don't get me wrong I really do love the color purple, but this site today at a local antique show almost made me cry.
There seems to be a market for this "sun purpled" glass. Sure it's a pretty color but did you know that it is actually ruined? Well ruined for those of us who truly treasure this over 100 year old glass.

It was discovered that this old glass, usually early American pressed glass and old bottles, would turn purple when exposed to ultraviolet rays of the sun, this is due to the manganese used in the formulation of the glass in manufacturing. I'm not sure where or when it started but some people got into their minds that this must mean a true rare antique glass has been found - so they sought out purple glass. As the trend grew many dealers learned to artificially turn the glass purple using special ultra violet lamps.

It breaks my heart that so many people don't understand the importance of NOT turning this old glass purple but preserving the history that is an endangered species, after all it's glass and we all know how fragile it is, there are only so many pieces out there and many are rare sought after makers and patterns, when a dealer does this to them, they are lost forever to the true collector.

Now I'm not saying this to step on anyone's toes or make you feel guilty if you accidentally left a piece of EAPG in the window and it turned purple, I'm talking about those who purposefully ruin glass this way as I saw today on more than one table.

I borrowed this from another blog -

Jerry Greenblatt has well put the dastardly practice in perspective:
"People who change the color of glass objects must have had no regard for them, since they are no longer what they were. Making them purple is like painting them gold or adding attractive cracks. That old article uses glass chemistry to justify altering color, as if clear glass is like photographic film that must be developed to see what was within. Think of what might emerge by irradiating colored glass! Think of the abstract images that might emerge by using a blowtorch on the Mona Lisa!"