On Sale Now! This Beautiful Roman Glass Bottle is as Lovely as it Looks

This vial/bottle is at the far left in the photo showing four glass bottles in this sale. Without light shining behind it the bottle still has a deep green color but doesn't give a hint it might be thin enough to shine light through it. The image with the light shining from behind provides an excellent and surprisingly lovely view of both its features and color.

None of the bottles offered here are ultra thin, delicate glass. Very delicate vases in the sizes shown, from 2-3 up to 5 inches tall would cost several hundred dollars at a minimum....if you could find them; very high quality and thin glass with great eye appeal probably would start at $500 and begin a pleasant and long trek to much more expensive ground.

This and other pieces in this sale each have their own personality and attributes. I acquired them based on eye appeal and it didn't hurt being able to negotiate an excellent price because I was buying numerous items.

SOME PERSONAL HISTORY WITH ROMAN GLASS
When I became enamored of Roman/Israel dug items was on a trip to Israel and Greece what seems like a century ago (well, it was 44 years ago!) I opted NOT to purchase one of several very delicate glass items. I didn't want to add another checked item--an oversize box with massive amounts of padding....if I could get that packing done properly. And the packing issue was the same had I shipped purchases.

So I waited several years to purchase an expensive and quite thin, beautiful glass vase. I sold it and then broke it while carefully packaging it. So over the years I unfortunately have only sold sturdier examples of the Roman art of glass making. This is not to say that any of those offered here wouldn't break if mishandled, accidentally dropped or many other possibilities.

These are the most affordable Roman glass objects due to their short stature and thicker "bodies." The one I described that I broke-- 6-7 inches tall with thin beautiful blown turquoise colored glass--was only a couple hundred dollars from a good colleague. I was thus able to sell it retail for nearly twice that...which I never collected due to it shattering even when held so carefully. That was probably 20 years ago and today it would be several time more expensive. As with any artifact or quality collectible the best time to buy....was a few decades ago!

I have always relied on a small group of antiquities experts, each of whom always have been very helpful so I could be comfortable with purchases that I've made and the quality and authenticity I've provided to my customers. In one instance I was buying what seemed quite a bargain for a small statue at less than $500. It was a well-executed fake and without the assistance of someone on whom I could rely I may not have known and neither would a customer had I sold it.

It's unfortunately not unusual with expensive antiques, antiquities, medals and so on to be of such attention to detail that it could be years or even several generations before the fake is discovered. And that's usually when someone is selling his/her grandfather's estate through a major auction house. More than one relative has been shocked to find out that a few or a great many pieces in a deceased relative's collection were fakes...or if genuine maybe worth a fracion of what the collector paid.

I was asked to appraise a coin collection which was quite nice if not large and would bring $20-$25,000 at auction. No counterfeits or fakes, but my client's grandfather had paid about $75,000 over the preceding several years building his collection.

Please see the note on shipping included in the listing for the first Roman glass piece.