About This Forum

This snuff bottle community forum is dedicated to the novice, more experienced, and expert collectors. Topics are intended to cover all aspects and types of bottle collecting. To include trials, tribulations, identifying, researching, and much more.

Among other things, donations help keep the forum free from Google type advertisements, and also make it possible to purchases additional photo hosting MB space.

Forum Bottle in the Spotlight

Charll shared this beautiful Xianfeng (1851-1861) dated bottle depicting NeZha combating the Dragon King amongst a rolling sea of blue and eight mythical sea creatures.


Chinese Snuff Bottle Discussion Forum 中國鼻煙壺討論論壇
March 28, 2024, 12:42:58 pm
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
 
  Home Help Search Contact Login Register  

Pink Strawberry Gemstone Bottle!

Pages: [1] 2
  Print  
Author Topic: Pink Strawberry Gemstone Bottle!  (Read 1482 times)
0 Members and 13 Guests are viewing this topic.
cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« on: July 07, 2016, 07:21:30 pm »

Greetings!!!
I'm so excited about my new bottles that came today and I plan to post them all (don't worry there are only four). I got them all from an east coast antique dealer. They all belonged to the same collector.

This was presented to me as pink jade, but I have never seen pink jade this hot pink. However, I don't know a lot about gemology, so perhaps I'm wrong. A possibility that occurred to me is that it might be opaque ruby which sometimes does look this pink.

I don't think the stone has been dyed based on the age of the other bottles in the collection, but realize I shouldn't rule that out.

Then on the other hand, I have read that the Chinese were so skilled with glass that they could make glass look just like jade. I got out my 10x jewelers loupe and carefully looked for bubbles, and can't find any air bubbles, but do see some natural inclusions so that's positive.

So my question is, do you think this is worth sending to the GIA for a positive identification? Or perhaps another collector has seen another bottle similar to this and can point me in the right direction for identification.

No matter what, this must have been a lady's most prized possession at one time, and now it's mine!





* strawberrybottle.jpg (472.6 KB, 1215x1909 - viewed 65 times.)
Report Spam   Logged

Cathy

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

George
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 11350


Test


WWW
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2016, 07:34:15 pm »

Wonderful bottle !

There may well be a few possibilities, but lets start with a simple scratch test.. Problem is, I am not sure where the safest spot to scratch might be.  So before you take my suggestion and try to scratch the inside of the throat, lets see what others have to say..

Report Spam   Logged

"Experience Each Experience To The Fullest To Obtain The Most Growth"

Snuff Bottle Journal
cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2016, 07:55:32 pm »

Thank you George! It's so nice to get a confirmation that it is a wonderful bottle! I am so trepidatious about my uneducated eye!
Report Spam   Logged

Cathy
Wattana
Private Boards
Hero Member
***
Gender: Male
Posts: 6133



« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2016, 08:55:16 pm »

There are a number of possibilities for this bottle. Off-hand I can't think of any natural stone which has this distinctive colour, but several types can be heat treated or dyed to alter their original colour, and this is possibly the case here.

The stopper looks like either jadeite, or glass imitating jadeite.

Can you let us know how tall the bottle is, without it's stopper?
« Last Edit: July 07, 2016, 08:56:52 pm by Wattana » Report Spam   Logged

Collecting since 1971

cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2016, 08:58:23 pm »

Yes of course! Sorry to omit that. It is small - it's 1.75 inches without the stopper.
Report Spam   Logged

Cathy
cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2016, 09:00:13 pm »

I just thought the stopper was glass. I will take a look with my loupe to confirm.
Report Spam   Logged

Cathy
cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2016, 09:09:19 pm »

Yes, found an air bubble - the top is definitely glass.
Report Spam   Logged

Cathy
Wattana
Private Boards
Hero Member
***
Gender: Male
Posts: 6133



« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2016, 09:13:20 pm »

There is a series of miniature aubergine shaped bottles in the Blair Collection (see Hughes, Michael C. 'The Blair Bequest: Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Princeton University Art Museum.' International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society. Baltimore, 2002).

They date to the 1800s, and are a bit slimmer than yours, but of similar height.

Report Spam   Logged

Collecting since 1971

cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2016, 09:16:22 pm »

Thanks for the reference Tom! I will go look it up
Report Spam   Logged

Cathy
Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司
Private Boards
Hero Member
***
Gender: Male
Posts: 11282


« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2016, 09:28:49 pm »

Dear Cathy,

     I think it is glass imitation of a type of stone pebble bottle. Quite pleasing.
Best,
Joey
Report Spam   Logged

Joey Silver (Si Zhouyi 義周司), collecting snuff bottles since Feb.1970

cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2016, 09:29:25 pm »

Oh my! I could buy a nice bottle for the price of that book!
Report Spam   Logged

Cathy
Wattana
Private Boards
Hero Member
***
Gender: Male
Posts: 6133



« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2016, 09:33:43 pm »

I don't have the book to hand. It's sitting at home, and I don't have a scanner.

If anyone has the Michael Hughes book AND a scanner, they are the last four bottles in the book (if memory serves).
Report Spam   Logged

Collecting since 1971

cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« Reply #12 on: July 07, 2016, 09:36:33 pm »

Thanks Joey - Lilla Perry's comments keep coming to mind about her own glass bottle that was a dead ringer for jade. I do have an account with the GIA, and think that I might send it just to be sure. I don't think I can stand to have an open mystery on my hands! But it might take me a few months of admiring it before I will let it go away for a couple of months.

And no worries about scanning the book - I just got it on Amazon. But thank you!
Report Spam   Logged

Cathy
Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司
Private Boards
Hero Member
***
Gender: Male
Posts: 11282


« Reply #13 on: July 07, 2016, 10:20:50 pm »

No problem, Cathy, but the scanning suggestion was Tom's.
Best,
Joey


Thanks Joey - Lilla Perry's comments keep coming to mind about her own glass bottle that was a dead ringer for jade. I do have an account with the GIA, and think that I might send it just to be sure. I don't think I can stand to have an open mystery on my hands! But it might take me a few months of admiring it before I will let it go away for a couple of months.

And no worries about scanning the book - I just got it on Amazon. But thank you!
Report Spam   Logged

Joey Silver (Si Zhouyi 義周司), collecting snuff bottles since Feb.1970

rpfstoneman
Private Boards
Hero Member
***
Gender: Male
Posts: 2340



« Reply #14 on: July 07, 2016, 10:47:02 pm »


Cathy,

I suspect your bottle is glass imitating pink tourmaline.  Charll
Report Spam   Logged

Charll K Stoneman, Eureka, California USA, Collector Since 1979.

cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« Reply #15 on: July 07, 2016, 11:08:38 pm »

Thank you Charll - if it's glass, it's a master of illusion! It's heavy, it feels like stone, it even has tiny inclusions under my 10x loupe. You guys must be right though, and so my hats off to the maker of this bottle for pulling off an incredible imitation! The only thing wrong is the color, but at the same time that was the very thing that attracted me to it.


Report Spam   Logged

Cathy
Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司
Private Boards
Hero Member
***
Gender: Male
Posts: 11282


« Reply #16 on: July 08, 2016, 06:10:49 am »

Dear Cathy,

     Based on Mrs. Perry's story, I kept putting my glass imitation of a white Nephrite Jade pebble bottle (#20 in my 1987 catalogue), in with my Jades. But because of my Asperger's, would say, "That's an imitation of Jade in glass!", before anyone could look at it!  So I stopped and returned it to my boxes of Glass...
Best,
Shabbat Shalom,
Joey


Thanks Joey - Lilla Perry's comments keep coming to mind about her own glass bottle that was a dead ringer for jade. I do have an account with the GIA, and think that I might send it just to be sure. I don't think I can stand to have an open mystery on my hands! But it might take me a few months of admiring it before I will let it go away for a couple of months.

« Last Edit: August 10, 2016, 07:20:28 am by Joey » Report Spam   Logged

Joey Silver (Si Zhouyi 義周司), collecting snuff bottles since Feb.1970

cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« Reply #17 on: July 08, 2016, 10:26:11 am »

#20 in your exhibition is stunning!
Report Spam   Logged

Cathy
Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司
Private Boards
Hero Member
***
Gender: Male
Posts: 11282


« Reply #18 on: July 08, 2016, 10:41:52 pm »

Dear Cathy,

    Thank you. And like yours, except for the shininess of the glass, the weighted bottle could really almost pass for a stone bottle.
Best,
Shabbat Shalom,
Joey
Report Spam   Logged

Joey Silver (Si Zhouyi 義周司), collecting snuff bottles since Feb.1970

cshapiro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 591



« Reply #19 on: July 13, 2016, 03:25:48 pm »

To followup on this - I got the Blair Bequest book and I don't think the aubergines are a good match because they are in porcelain (see page 236). However, it does closely resemble the one on page 117, number 113 an eggplant made of glass.
I'm attaching a photo of it.


* blairbequest (2).jpg (295.66 KB, 686x1286 - viewed 21 times.)
Report Spam   Logged

Cathy
Pages: [1] 2
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal