You may have seen it in high-end stores or houses – a delicate, beautiful-hued pink glass. It’s stunning, and aside from its aesthetic appeal, you may wonder why it’s so expensive. This blog post will explore the price of pink glass and what makes it the most expensive of all colored glasses.
How is Colored Glass Made?
To understand the cost of colored glass, we first need to know how it’s made. Clear glass is created by melting sand at extremely high temperatures – around 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, to be exact. Once in liquid form, different minerals can be added to create different glass colors. For example, iron oxide can produce a yellow hue, while cobalt oxide creates a beautiful blue color.
Different Colors Cost Different Amounts
Now that we know how colored glass is made, we can understand why specific colors cost more than others. The most common colored glasses – like green, blue, and amber – use less expensive metals to produce their hues. However, pink glass uses gold chloride, which, as you may have guessed, is significantly more expensive than other metals used in the glassmaking process.
Why Is Pink Glass the Most Expensive?
So now that we know how pink glass is made, you may be wondering why it’s the most expensive of all the colored glasses. The reason has to do with rarity. When gold chloride is added to molten sand to create pink glass, it vaporizes quickly. In fact, it vaporizes so quickly that few artisans have been able to perfect the process of creating pink glass consistently. As a result, there are very few makers of pink glass in the world, and only a limited number of pieces are produced each year – which unsurprisingly drives up the price.
Depression Pink Glass
If you’re a pink glass enthusiast, you may be familiar with the term “Depression pink.” This refers to a specific shade of pink glass that was popular during the Great Depression. While the hue was initially created by adding gold chloride to molten sand, the limited availability of gold during the Depression forced makers to find a substitute. The most common substitutes used were manganese and uranium, both of which are significantly less expensive than gold. As a result, Depression pink glass is not as rare or valuable as pink glass made with gold chloride.
The Cost of Pink Glass Today
Now that we know the history of pink glass let’s take a look at the cost of pink glass today. While the price of pink glass has come down somewhat since the Depression, it’s still the most expensive of all the colored glasses. A pink glass vase or piece of dishware can easily cost several hundred dollars – and, in some cases, even more.
So there you have it – the reason pink glass is so expensive. While it’s not the rarest material in the world, the fact that it’s so challenging to produce makes it one of the most valuable colored glasses on the market today. Now, the next time you see a beautiful piece of pink glass, you’ll know its delicate hue comes at a hefty price tag. But hopefully, knowing the story behind its creation has helped you appreciate it even more!