Today Reiner walked to the Silver Café to meet his pals of the Round Table. You know, the shadow cabinet. The brain trust. A decades old tradition here in Cobalt in which the guys meet for coffee and chew the fat. The café has designated a special room for the group– separate entrance, a large table, and their own carafe of coffee.
He hasn’t been able to attend ever since lockdown in March when the restaurant was forced to close. After it reopened around Labour Day, he was too busy with woodcutting, rockhounding and other last-of-season activities.
Today, he took along a recent acquisition of mine to show his friends.

Art Deco sugar bowl – when I saw it at a yard sale, my heart stopped. Was this Vaseline* Glass?

YES! It glows under longwave ultraviolet light. It IS Vaseline Glass!
At first I wanted to display the piece on the hutch above my desk, but… cats. It now resides safely on the shelf that exhibits other radioactive-related items in the “rock room”, behind closed doors.

Also on display in the rock room. Bart Simpson’s favourite comic book, Radioactive Man. It also glows in the dark under LW UV, I have discovered. Source
The longwave ultraviolet flashlight has been getting quite a workout lately. The sugar bowl makes for a great conversation piece. Also, besides learning that Bart’s favourite comic responds to the UV light, I’ve been wandering around the house, shining the torch on this and that to see if it fluoresces. The dish soap glows yellow-green. Lint, a blue-white. And the blue light filtering eye glasses that Reiner purchased on eBay ($2.00 plus free shipping) also emit an eerie if not comical effect.

Radioactive Man of my own.
* Vaseline glass is also known as Uranium glass due to the radioactive material used in the manufacturing process.
Categories: Husband, It's a Hobby
Tags: art deco sugar bowl, Fluorescence, Longwave Ultra Violet light, Radioactive Man, uranium glass, Vaseline glass
Your Radioactive Man is a hoot! Vaseline glass…..gosh, Maggie, I hardly see any of that anymore. Depression glass yes, but not Vaseline glass. Yeah, cats. I hear you. So sweet but lethal to the ‘good stuff.’
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reiner never ceases to surprise me – the fact that he shelled out for this comic AND the appropriate museum grade protective cover is so not like him!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha – love the way the clogs sees look and I need to wast mine but I hate things on my face! Even though I do wear my mask when out!
And I never heard of Vaseline glass so this was fun- and we stayed in the historic art district down in south Florida and your sugar bowl
Wouod fit right I n
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad I made you laugh. 🙂 Another name for the glass is Uranium glass – manufacturers used radioactive “salts” to create the distinctive pigment.
LikeLiked by 2 people
oh thanks – and so nice to learn – also – the Bart comic reminds me again how genius the Simpsons’s writers are — and cool that the book lights up like that
LikeLiked by 1 person
We didn’t know about that until I toured the house, in the dark, with the UV light – so an added bonus!
LikeLike
i am kidding with this – but how did things turn out int he bedroom area with that light ?? (kidding)
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOLOLOL – I was thinking about EXACTLY this as I wrote the post. You win the prize for mind reading!
LikeLiked by 1 person
hahahaha
LikeLike
I’ve didn’t know a thing about this kind of glass. What a great find. Cool.
LikeLiked by 2 people
We’ve been looking for a piece of this to add to the collection for a long time now, but generally prices were out of reach. This was quite affordable. The fluorescence was strong enough that even in sunlight I could detect a glow. When I told a friend about my excitement at finding it among the other knickknacks, she said, “Did you run to the car?” Just about!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bah ha ha! Oh hell yeah, it’s time to get back to the round table (safely)! What a lovely piece of glassware — I’d never heard of it before!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad to make you smile.
We here in Cobalt are fortunate in that we are far, far from the hotspots in Southern Ontario. The government will announce new restrictions today – closing restaurants, pubs, etc., but this time, on a regional basis.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We here in the near-extreme Northeast are fortunate, too. Well, so far, anyhow! Oh, dear… what a time.
LikeLike
Ha! I love it, Maggie. What a find. That is a very unique piece in many ways.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Reiner just bought some more – It appears our collecting focus has shifted from rocks to glass!
LikeLike
Gosh, you guys are fun ! – always have been, regardless of seriousness of message. It’s the character that counts: the backbone supporting the body of blogging .. and you and Reiner have been forever a pair of stalwarts, even if for him it’s a matter of being represented whether he wills it or no. 😀
(Something tells me he greatly enjoys his appearances.)
The UK’s “Antiques Roadshow” has often featured that glass, btw: it’s valuable, apparently !
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you think so! For someone who is usually very stern, matter-of-fact, and literal-minded, these rare moments of hilarity are rare. And very welcome!
Another collector friend says the glass once was desirable, but very recently has lost appeal.
LikeLike
Alas – whose nose ?!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A pretty vase.
LikeLike
I love Art Deco… and that sugar bowl is gorgeous… with or without the UV light. Your UV light reminds me of the blacklights that were so popular in my hippie days. I just did a quick search and I guess they are similar but not necessarily the same.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I ❤ art deco too! I could take or leave the green colour, truth be known, but the radioactive/fluorescent feature compensates for all that.
UV lights come in an assortment of wavelengths. Long, short, and in between. The blacklight poster variety is different than the one we use, but I can’t say how.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the bowl! What a find. I’m witb the others who never heard of this Vaseline glass. Reiner appears a good sport here.😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Colette. I forgot to add a detail to the body of the post – another name is Uranium glass.
Yes, Reiner has a surprising wit that crops up now and again. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is lovely Maggie, but just how radioactive are these things?? I just read The Radium Girls, a book that detailed women who were exposed to horrendous amounts of radioactive material as they painted watch and clock dials so when I hear of things that glow I get a bit nervous!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Deb – You ask a good question. The glass measures just above “background”. That is, the needle on the scintillometer moves, but not by much. We keep the “hot” stuff in a well-ventilated room, away from traffic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! Gorgeous piece! I have never heard of Vaseline glass before. Learned something new. Thanks, Maggie 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you like it! Vaseline glass is also known as uranium glass.
Are you familiar with Fiestaware? Brightly coloured dishes of assorted brilliant hues? The reds, oranges, and some greens in the earlier material were made by using uranium salts, too. The later products have none.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve heard of Fiesta ware but didn’t know that’s how it was made. Cool!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am unfamiliar with this glass. We had depression glass when I was a kid (along with various jelly jars!) but none of this one. I love the design.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the design, too – not as frilly-dilly as other depression glass patterns: too much for my taste. I have more to learn about the addition of uranium to colour glass – how long and where it was manufactured – but I do know that it fascinates!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Frilly-dilly? I would have described as hobby-nobby! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m going to remember hobby-nobby! Love it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a really interesting find. Glass on shelf with cats is not a good combination.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Dan – yes, cats and anything movable is fair game, so to speak. You’d think I’d remember that by now, yes?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve never heard of vaseline glass but I love the effect with a black light – both on the glass and Reiner 😆
LikeLiked by 1 person
We had a long and laboured “discussion” about why it’s called Vaseline glass, including a trip to the medicine cabinet to compare the petroleum jelly to the dish. You’ll be happy to learn that real vaseline ALSO fluoresces!
LikeLike
Whaaat?!! Now that’s a cool piece of trivia. It makes me want to go out and buy a light so I too can test things around the house.
We’re so easily amused 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Right? Lockdown has its upsides. So I tell myself.
LikeLike
Countless ways to amuse ourselves … we have the imagination and are prepared to use it 😜
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a fun and educational post! I think the bowl is gorgeous, glow or not. I’m not a collector anymore, but in an earlier time… The Reiner photo is a hoot. Glad he has a sense of humor.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting – I wasn’t much of a collector at all until I met Reiner. I’m curious – what was the focus of your collection?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, I still collect books😉 There have been bottles, rocks, shells, stickers, probably stuff I can’t even remember. Usually had to get rid of most of it whenever I moved.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a clever costume for Halloween Reiner has! But where is the photo of Maggie Curie holding her fancy Vaseline beaker?
(Miss you, now that I’m offline, Was lovely to dip in a catch such a terrific post!!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
BABE!!! What a thrill to see your profile pic here today! So glad to hear from you. I’ve missed you, too. Do take care.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just in time to scare the trick or treaters! (if there are any this year!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
That would certainly be effective – but as you say, “if…”
LikeLike
Wow – it’s amazing how it glows under ultra-violet light.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Isn’t it fascinating? I’ve been shining UV lights on things for years, now, and it still amazes me.
LikeLike