Tag: Vocabulary Words

More vocabulary words for the glass collector to keep in mind

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Glassware, My Background, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Vocabulary Words, Wisdom LaneLeave a comment

When you start to collect items in a certain area like glassware, you find out that you need to know some of the terminology when you go along.  Here’s some of the words that I’ve heard over the years about glassware:

Bent (or Slumped) Glass—this is glass that has been heated up in a kiln from room temperature to a temperature high enough to cause it to soften and sag into or even over a mold. The finished product will take the shape of the mold that the glass is around.

Iridescent—this is a surface treatment when a layer of metallic oxide is bonded to the hot glass surface just after the form the glass into a sheet.  The result is a colorful one, and it also has a shimmering effect.

Seedy Glass—this is glass that has air bubbles trapped in it. This is when air or gas is injected into the molten glass prior to forming the sheet causing the bubbles.

What kind of terms have you heard or run across?

Great vocabulary words for the glass collector

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Glassware, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Vocabulary WordsLeave a comment

Over time, you will pick up quite a few words that describe what a piece is. It could be anything really–there are times when they apply to how a piece is made or what happens to a piece over time. Here are some words that apply to the glassware field:

Chop Plate – this is a large, flat serving plate. This piece is also sometimes called a salver.  You’ll see this type of piece in both pottery and glassware.

Cane –this is a glass rod that’s used in glass making to produce effects like twisted filigree or even marbles.

Sickness – this refers to a cloudy haze that’s in glass vessels such as vases, decanters bottles, and even tumblers. This can be something as simple as hard water deposits (hard water stains can be cleaned off with a little foaming denture cleaner).

So what kind of fun words have you heard?

Great vocabulary words to remember for the antiques lover

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Pottery, Vocabulary WordsLeave a comment

It doesn’t take very long for you to hear some interesting words when you deal with antiques.  They could apply to just about anything, here’s some of them that I have run across.

Lavabo—this is a French word that means “wash bowl.”

Nesting tables—this is a group of tables (there’s usually three, every once in a while there’s more) that is constructed so that one fits under the other.

Tin glaze—it’s an opaque white glaze that contains tin oxide.  It has been used on faience, delftwares and even majolica pottery.

This is only a small portion of the words that I have heard over the years.  What kinds of words have you come across?

Here’s some more vocabulary words that new collectors will run across

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Glassware, Pottery, Vocabulary Words, Wisdom Lane2 Comments

You never know what words you may run across when you dive into the world of antiques and collectibles.  Here are a couple that I have run across over the years:

Greenware—this is any unfired clay body before the piece is Bisque Fired, and it is very fragile.

Cased Glass—this is two or more layers of different colored glass get blown with one layer over the other.  Sometimes glass makers carve images into the glass, revealing the multiple layers and colors of glass in the process.

Mercury Gilding–this is a technique of applying a gilt finish consisting of gold and mercury to decorative objects like a mirror.  Mercury is a metal that is liquid at room temperature. When combined with gold or silver, it becomes viscous, its consistency becoming similar to that of butter. Mercury gilding is the process in which mercury is mixed with gold to make an amalgam that is applied to the surface of an object.  When the object is heated up by fire, the mercury evaporates away and the gold is left behind.  This is a VERY toxic technique and is illegal to do in many countries.

This is just a small sample of what I have heard, what kinds of words have you run across?

Some vocabulary words that a collector would run across

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Furniture, My Background, Vocabulary WordsLeave a comment

When you dive into the world of collecting, it doesn’t take you long before you run across a word or two that you never heard before. Before you know it, you’ll have a broad vocabulary at your disposal.

I dove head first into collecting at the age of eight, and after almost 30 years in the business—I’ve heard some interesting ones. Here’s a few of them:

Abattant—this is a French term for a “drop lid” or a “fall front” piece of furniture. More often than not, you’ll see this on a secretary desk.

Burl—this is a curly-grained wood surface (or even a veneer) that is cut from an irregular growth of a tree. This could come from a portion of the roots of the tree, and it is very common in walnut wood.

Partner’s desk—this is a desk that’s large enough to seat two people facing each other. A lawyer’s office could have used one of these, and this desk has working drawers on both sides.

There are plenty of words like these, which ones have you run across?