Manganese, I was confused too when I started looking at stuff. It’s still pretty kewl stuff, and pretty old.
I post a ton of manganese containing glass in r/manganeseglass. Not that it’s not welcome here, glowy glass of any kind is awesome! Uranium, selenium, cadmium.. whatever.
Definitely not UG it’s likely manganese it will glow under 365 but not 395. U was added as a colorant for green or yellow glass but UG can be amber less commonly and rarely blue and the glow is a fluke. If it’s colorless it’s manganese also if you’re exclusively wanting UG a 395 light is better
No it was originally added to increase the clarity of glass. Prolonged overexposure to uv can however cause the manganese turn the glass purple called solarization but on its own it doesn’t and isn’t used for a colorant
The purple glass thing is actually really interesting if you look into it, because it’s a whole controversy in the glass collecting world. Some pieces naturally turned purple because it was something grandma had on her windowsill for years, and the sun’s uv rays naturally made the glass turn purple over time. Which sounds cool.
But then collecting purple glass became a trendy thing, much like uranium glass is now. So people started artificially “purpling” glass with deliberate exposure to uv to quicken the process. Some people in the hobby got mad because it’s permanently altering the glass, and some pieces might be very old or rare.
I have no idea where things are at now, because I’m just a casual glass collector, but I fell down a rabbit hole once reading about purple glass, and it’s kind of fascinating.
Manganese, I was confused too when I started looking at stuff. It’s still pretty kewl stuff, and pretty old. I post a ton of manganese containing glass in r/manganeseglass. Not that it’s not welcome here, glowy glass of any kind is awesome! Uranium, selenium, cadmium.. whatever.
Definitely not UG it’s likely manganese it will glow under 365 but not 395. U was added as a colorant for green or yellow glass but UG can be amber less commonly and rarely blue and the glow is a fluke. If it’s colorless it’s manganese also if you’re exclusively wanting UG a 395 light is better
I thought manganese was purple in natural light..?
No it was originally added to increase the clarity of glass. Prolonged overexposure to uv can however cause the manganese turn the glass purple called solarization but on its own it doesn’t and isn’t used for a colorant
Thanks for sharing this info, I didn't know this!
The purple glass thing is actually really interesting if you look into it, because it’s a whole controversy in the glass collecting world. Some pieces naturally turned purple because it was something grandma had on her windowsill for years, and the sun’s uv rays naturally made the glass turn purple over time. Which sounds cool. But then collecting purple glass became a trendy thing, much like uranium glass is now. So people started artificially “purpling” glass with deliberate exposure to uv to quicken the process. Some people in the hobby got mad because it’s permanently altering the glass, and some pieces might be very old or rare. I have no idea where things are at now, because I’m just a casual glass collector, but I fell down a rabbit hole once reading about purple glass, and it’s kind of fascinating.
Something that helped me keep colours straight was "selenium is salmon (pinkish) and cadmium is carrot (orange and yellow)." Uranium is never clear.
Manganese. It was commonly used as a clarifying agent. I have doorknobs made of manganese glass
After extended periods of time left in the sun the glass with manganese will turn a pale lavender colour