[Q] Why is red glass so rare?

[Moontanman]

I collect red glass, it is very difficult to find, almost all of what is sold as red glass is really clear glass died red on the outside. What makes red glass so rare?

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

My first guess would be that it is both difficult and expensive (the only colorizing agents I know of in use are copper and gold) to produce, with some varieties containing lead toxicity might also play a roll in it's scarcity.

David M Issitt- Copper is an alternative to gold to produce ruby glass. The invention of gold ruby glass dates back to 1685 as noted in "De Auro", by Andreas Cassius, in which he describes for the first time the method of producing a red precipitate of stannic acid with gold which later became known as 'Purple of Cassius'. At the time the high price the glass commanded and the efforts need to make it could hardly be justified by its beauty. The principle techniques involved in producing red ruby glass are still based upon Cassius's discovery all those years ago.

[FIRMGRIP]

saw this post while I was putting a large piece of red glass on ebay.

It is from a lighthouse. So far I know that red glass is rare because the color is not common due to the additives being expensive to produce red glass. That is all I found out about red glass online. and that

red glass has never been mass produced in bottle form in the U.S ever.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=spam-not-allowed

Edited January 5, 2012 by Qfwfq
spammish