# Sun Colored Amethyst questions



## Graydigger (Jul 12, 2007)

I understand how bottles become colored amethyst, but have a few questions:
 -How long does it take (with full exposure) for a bottle to turn amethyst (months/years)?
 -Can this be done through a window pane , bottles placed in window?
 -I have dug a few old bottles that were amethyst. How did this occur if buried?
 -With the modern process of X-Ray (or whatever) to color bottles, why do they let the process continue until the bottle is unnaturally very dark purple--why not stop it so the bottles at least look naturally sun-colored? Any answers are appreciated. Thanks


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## sweetrelease (Jul 13, 2007)

most likly the best question asked this year!! i have no idea but have thought the same thing,good question,matt


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## Oldtimer (Jul 13, 2007)

> ORIGINAL: Graydigger
> 
> I understand how bottles become colored amethyst, but have a few questions:
> -How long does it take (with full exposure) for a bottle to turn amethyst (months/years)?  3-4 years will give a nice tint, 10 will give you a nice SCA color.
> ...


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## cobaltbot (Jul 13, 2007)

Hereâ€™s some opinions, more or less factual:

 How dark natural amethyst looks depends on proper exposure and the amount of manganese in the glass batch.  Some people actually prefer to keep the items clear and not let them turn and this is understandable, like in the case where all known examples are amethyst or colored and clear examples are limited.  Outdoor or light box exposure should do most all of what itâ€™s going to do in weeks â€“ months beyond that you have to get into the radiation stuff which although a lot of newbies and non-collectors like most collectors donâ€™t, thinking it an unnatural or altered item.  Very little, if any turning will happen inside on a window sill as most of the UV rays do not get thru to the bottle.  Some bottles that you dig could already be amethyst for a few reasons.  For one, those bottles may have been out in the sun during their use.  They might have been covered up after being surface trash.  They might have been intentionally or unintentionally produced in amethyst because of heavy amounts of manganese and/or other ingredients in the batch.  This very dark crown top most likely made by  the American Glass Works in Richmond VA or at Paden City, WV is one of my favorite sodas, partly because I found it when I was a kid.  Iâ€™m not sure if it turned, or was already this color when it was new.


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## GuntherHess (Jul 13, 2007)

> -How long does it take (with full exposure) for a bottle to turn amethyst (months/years)?


 
 I assume you mean full exposure to sunlight? That will vary with the amount of manganese and the latitude of where the bottle is sitting on the earth. I would think probaby at least a year to get some decent color. Never really saw a study done. 



> -Can this be done through a window pane , bottles placed in window?


 yes as long as the window glass passes UV rays.

 ... actually Oldtimer seems to have given the answers I would have so I wont repeat them all. The answer about poor taste is one that I often point out. Some people like the dark amethyst "unnatural" looking bottles, most seem to not like them. Xrays arent used to color glass as far as I know. UV light is normally used but some bottles are also irradiated with stuff like neutron radiation from reactors. This can cause some odd bottle colors like brown coke bottles.


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## FlouiseA27 (Jul 28, 2008)

So is there any such thing as a true amethyst antique bottle? 
 Or are all the "amethyst" bottles we find the result of a clear bottle exposed to sunlight?
 If there is such a thing as an actual amethyst antique bottle, is there any way to determine whether it was made that way or if it was exposed to sunlight?
 This is a very pretty "Larkin" bottle I have.


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## Graydigger (Jul 29, 2008)

Follow up to SCA questions.  I decided to try the sun rather than UV light methods. After 4  months in a tinfoil-lined cardboard box exposed to all the sun we can get in western Oregon from April thru July, a Bonney Bros. whiskey bottle that was absolutely clear is now a good medium amethyst, and two others that were just tinted are also medium amethyst now. So 4 to 6 months of decent sun seems to do the job, as they are as colored as I want them to be. The original question stimulated a lot of discussion last year--both pro and con. Thanks for all  the input.


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## GuntherHess (Jul 29, 2008)

> So is there any such thing as a true amethyst antique bottle?
> Or are all the "amethyst" bottles we find the result of a clear bottle exposed to sunlight?
> If there is such a thing as an actual amethyst antique bottle, is there any way to determine whether it was made that way or if it was exposed to sunlight?


 
 Yes, there are true amethyst bottles that were made that way. Many early hair treatment bottles such as Mrs Allen's were amethyst. They tend to be very dark purple. Most clear bottles that turn amethyst are not that dark except for some heavily irradiated ones.


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## NorCalBottleHunter (Jul 29, 2008)

heres a pair of flasks that supposedly sat on a beach in australlia for a long time before they were found, the sun really got to them. i was always told the bottle itself contained magnisum or something that when hit with U.V. rays it turned the color it does?


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## NorCalBottleHunter (Jul 29, 2008)

whats that supposed to mean, lobeycat?


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## woody (Jul 29, 2008)

I have found bottles that are that dark amethyst, so, not all bottles turn just a light shade of amethyst.
 I suppose, they say, that it depends on the amount of maganese in the gather of glass.
 I have also found amethyst glass that is so dark purple it looks like black glass.


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## Staunton Dan (Jul 29, 2008)

Some bottles that I dig have already turned a light amytheist. They certainly weren't exposed to the sunlight while being in the ground. I guess it's possible that they sat out in the light before they were thrown away. If not, does this suggest that some just turned naturally or may have been a light amytheist to begin with?


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## glass man (Jul 29, 2008)

What is MASS. ocean front property going for these days? I can get a loan from FANNY MAC.[&:] I usually put a few bottles out to turn ,but forgot to this year. GOOD QUESTIONS  AND GOOD ANSWERS. I have never seen any of my bottles turn in the window sill. OH WELL!


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## NorCalBottleHunter (Jul 29, 2008)

questionable, but not impossible? that was the story i got from the guy who i got them from, it could be wrong, i could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time. i'm here to learn as well as everything else and don't mind correction if its done properly

                                                                                                                     nick


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## Wilkie (Jul 29, 2008)

I got some of the same sarcasm to one of my very 1st posts Nick.  Don't let it bother you,  some of the old timers are just naturaly ornery.


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## NorCalBottleHunter (Jul 29, 2008)

you're right, wilkie, i overreacted a bit. and lobeycat i apologize for being so gruff with ya, its a long story


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## glass man (Jul 29, 2008)

I LOVE LONG STORIES AND HAVE PUT SOME ON HERE.


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## beendiggin (Jul 29, 2008)

NorCal, I live in Maine and I have dug fragments of bottles that were that purple.  Maine is not the sunniest state, so it true that the percentage of magnesium in the batch combined with sunlight and time can produce dark purple glass naturally. I have seen this mostly on milks I've found.  Usually they are lightly colored, however.


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## FlouiseA27 (Jul 29, 2008)

In this situation, I wouldn't care _how_ those bottles got that color... they are gorgeous regardless! Good find!


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## lexdigger (Aug 2, 2008)

Here's one I always wondered about. I dug it with alot of other 60's and 70's stuff. It came out of the ground this color, so I know it hasn't been messed with. I just wonder if it turned this color from exposure to sunlight during use, or if it was intentionally (or accidentally) made this color. One of my favorite little house inks!


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## lexdigger (Aug 2, 2008)

Another look at it without backlighting.


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## GuntherHess (Aug 2, 2008)

just for the record , its manganese , not magnesium. Two different elements. 

 Your ink was likely made clear and turned SCA either while in use or after it was disposed. That looks like a tooled lip in the photo, made after the 1880s when the use of manganese bleached glass was seeing wide use.


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## glass man (Aug 2, 2008)

OLD TIMERS ? YOU ARE "YOUNG WHIPPER SNAPPERS" IS WHAT YALL IS! Always wanted to get old enough to say" YOUNG WHIPPER SNAPPERS" ! NOW I WONDER IF ANY ONE CAN TELL ME WHAT THE....A "YOUNG WHIPPER SNAPPER " IS? BUNCH OF YOUNG WHIPPER SNAPPERS!!!![]


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