# Selenium in Bottles



## RedGinger (Jul 14, 2011)

Here's a bottle the generous Mainer1 sent awhile back.  I've had it in sunlight and it was originally clear.  Joe said it is probably selenium-coloured (this is an English forum, so I'll spell it that way) []  I really like the almost straw color it has taken on.  I'd like to see some other bottles if anyone has some that have turned.


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## the ham man (Jul 19, 2011)

Awesome color on that one. I wonder why it turned yellow instead of that purplish sca color.


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## RedGinger (Jul 19, 2011)

Maybe it's not as new as the SCA bottles.  It's certainly not ABM.  I don't know.  I really like the color too.  Thanks.


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## epackage (Jul 19, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  the ham man
> 
> Awesome color on that one. I wonder why it turned yellow instead of that purplish sca color.


 Because manganese turns bottles purple and a different chemical in the glass will turn it a straw/brown color..all depends on the chemical makeup of the glass...


 http://1st-glass.1st-things.com/articles/glasscolouring.html


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## GuntherHess (Jul 19, 2011)

Selenium was used as a decolorizer during WWI when manganese was unavailable. Selenium was much more expensive to use so right after the war they went back to manganese.


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## the ham man (Jul 19, 2011)

Very interesting. Thanks Matt. Joey


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## cowseatmaize (Jul 19, 2011)

> I've had it in sunlight and it was originally clear.


How long?


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## RedGinger (Jul 20, 2011)

Oh, a year maybe?  No longer than that.


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## cordilleran (Jul 20, 2011)

Manganese is still used to de-color glass as it has been since selenium was no longer used following the Great War. Not. Fact is, selenium was used in bottle manufacture following the exhaustion of manganese stores (1918- maybe 1919?) until about 1930. Selenite (the common source of selenium) is a frequently mined mineral in arid regions.


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## GuntherHess (Jul 20, 2011)

From the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 1920.


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## GuntherHess (Jul 20, 2011)

Manganese was eventually phased out in favor of materials like selenium but my point was there are bottles made after WWI that will turn purple. I read many articles that state manganese glass ended with WWI which I dont think is true.


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## glass man (Jul 20, 2011)

WOW !After all these years I have heard bottles made 1915 and after will not turn purple...oh well!JAMIE


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