# identifying tinted or coated bottles



## suzanne (Aug 23, 2012)

I sometimes use clear nail polish inside stubbornly chalky bottles when nothing else works - but I don't sell bottles.  If  a bottle for sale looks too good to be true or if you want to check and make sure the color is legit you can use your nose.  They retain a really obvious paint smell.  You need to do an up close sniff test.  After a few months the smell goes away. So then how do you tell?  

 Some resourceful folks like to  use polyurethane which works great on amber bottles,  utterly transforming them forever.  But if they use it on any other color like aqua or clear, cobalt, whatever, the stain takes on an amber cast over time which looks odd combined with the original color.  A poorly done job can be detected by the appearance of drips running down the side or smudges around neck or bottom.  Coating bottles takes a little bit of finesse.  

 I just thought I'd post this because someone a few posts back said he had been scammed; which is unfortunate.  It's hard to know what your getting sometimes, especially online.


----------



## gotthefever (Aug 24, 2012)

Suzanne coating bottles doesn't take a little bit of finesse,It just takes a lot of stupidity!!!!!!. But then again only  someone new to collecting with entry level bottles would  consider coating them.


----------



## suzanne (Aug 25, 2012)

Actually, people have been doing it for years.


----------



## andy volkerts (Aug 25, 2012)

[8D]Yeah they have, and passing them off to unwary collectors all to often, as Suzanne says caveat emptor...buyer beware........


----------



## cyberdigger (Aug 25, 2012)

The easiest way to tell if a bottle is clear coated is to scratch it lightly with a knife.. []


----------



## suzanne (Aug 25, 2012)

that's true Charlie but if you go in an antique store or bottle auction with a knife and start scraping bottles the holder's of the sale will become very angry and want to kill you.   I see coated bottles for sale now and then but I can  tell so I avoid the drama. I hope that I can help other's tell too.

 That doesn't mean I oppose coating bottles.  If you have a valuable bottle you might want to consider the next 1000 years.  You could tumble or polish it which will weaken it because glass is an inherently unstable compound, or you could put a coating on it that will restore it to  the appearance of mint condition and forget about it. 

 I only oppose coating to make a sale or because a seller is too lazy to first try other alternatives.


----------



## cyberdigger (Aug 25, 2012)

I oppose clear coating. I ran an extensive series of tests this past spring, on common slick junk bottles of course, and the conclusion was: a clear coat is not a good idea.


----------



## tigue710 (Aug 25, 2012)

oils the way to go.  gives em a nice clean look and it isnt bad for the glass.


----------



## suzanne (Aug 26, 2012)

Charlie, I would like to hear more about your test results please.  I know you can paint because you are a painter. 

  I give out cleaning advice now and then and always wonder later if anyone tried it because no one ever gets back to me.  But I know they do try the advice because for example when I did the book in 2008 I had an article about using Whink, and wondered over the past few years if anyone tried it, until I got on the forum this weekend for the first time in months, and see that people have not only tried it, they are recommending it.  That's cool though, but usually you don't need to go to such lengths to clean a bottle.  If I had known what would happen I would have bought stock in the Whink company.

 By the way, hydrofluoric acid (Whink) is used industrially to etch glass so if you use it on the outside of bottle make sure there's no scratches because the acid will eat into them and make them look even worse.  And don't leave it in the  bottle because it may create haze.  And blah, blah, blah.  Sorry if I'm boring anyone to death.  Just put in a little bit, swish a couple minutes, and dump.


----------



## AntiqueMeds (Aug 26, 2012)

http://www.whink.com/cmssites/ws0811www.whink.com/uploads/Documents/MSDS/Moonglum/Rust%20%20Stain%20Remover%2010062008.pdf


----------



## suzanne (Aug 26, 2012)

Thank you Antique Meds.  Safety first.


----------



## JarDoctor (Aug 29, 2012)

Hydrofluoric acid can kill you.  That is why it has been stopped in the UK where it used to be the popular way to clean bottles (and etch them).  If any of you remember, this used to be done in the US and there are many bottles still around that were cleaned with acid and look it.  
 Bad idea and for coating bottles - also bad idea.  They look good for awhile, but, eventually they don't and also leads to people being scammed.


----------



## suzanne (Aug 31, 2012)

That's right!  So don't try to use it to get high.


----------

