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How to Check Glass for Damage, Part 1. Cracks
As a glass seller I could tell you my secret fantasy: Glass pretends to be mint when I buy it and then it slinks off the storage boxes where it quietly develops all sorts of secret chips, cracks and assorted wear just to embarrass me. Unfortunately, this is not usually the problem. It is all too easy to miss small - and even big - problems without careful and repeated inspection.
This article we’ll look at common damage, cracks, and how to check for them. Next articles we’ll cover chips, wear and manufacturing flaws; how to spot them and how to disclose them when listing for sale.
Start with clean glass. You will have a much better chance of finding damage if you have good lighting and can see the glass and not the dirt!
Let’s look at cracks first. This sort of crack that goes all the way through the piece is pretty obvious when it’s big like the one in this creamer but small ones can be hard to spot. Hold the piece to the light and turn it a little. Check the body and the rim. Sometimes I’ve found cracks only when photographing something when the light is positioned just right.
Glass with big cracks like the handle in this Candlewick creamer are just waiting to break and usually end up in the junk pile but it really depends on the particular piece. We had a badly cracked hard-to-find Heisey Twist Moongleam cruet sell for for much more than expected but this is unusual. Items that are rare and meant for display may find buyers even with noticeable damage but generally it’s not worth trying to sell.
This pretty bowl was sold to me as having a defect but it’s definitely a crack. It’s debatable whether this started as small damage that became worse in transit (as the seller thought) or was this bad from the get go. This was easy to spot in any sort of light.
The thin crack in this Manhattan pitcher is what we usually think of as a hairline. It goes through both sides of the glass and it’s quite easy to see just by holding the pitcher to the light and looking carefully for lines or discontinuities. This seems to be a common problem with the tilt depression glass pitchers.
This Patrician depression glass platter also has a small crack in the rim but it is different. The crack doesn’t go all the way through and the piece is unlikely to break. You might see this listed as a pressure mark or a pressure crack or even a hairline. It is up to you whether you will still purchase glass like this. This crack did not show unless you tilted the glass just right, and then a flash of light would catch your eye.
The mark in this bowl is virtually harmless and probably is a manufacturing flaw instead of damage. It is a pressure crack that is completely internal to the glass. This one was hard to spot. I held the bowl to the light and tilted it several times and looked for a flash of light and did not see this mark; it took careful inspection inch by inch. (This is a Cleo etched covered green vegetable bowl that is valuable enough to warrant very careful, detailed and picky checking and even more careful and accurate copy writing.)
So check for cracks by:
- Wash the glass so you can see it
- Hold the glass in good light
- Tilt or moving and looking for lines or for flashes of light
- Inspect closely by eye
- Inspect when you buy, when you list and when you pack
If you sell glass online you need to describe any damage so a prospective buyer knows what to expect. Some ideas to describe the cracks:
- Where it is
- How long it is
- Whether it goes through both sides of the glass, just one side or is totally internal
- How you can see it, do you need to tilt the glass just so
- And accompany with photos whenever possible
One word of caution: Be careful when checking glass or china by feel. You can cut yourself.
Kathy Eickholt sells glass in the TIAS online collectible mall under the name Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass and on eBay under seller name catladykate and store Vintage Elegant Depression Glass. We specialize in etched and depression glass from the 1920s to 70s and sell glass described accurately, packed carefully and shipped quickly to arrive intact to delight our buyers.
As an auctioneer, I enjoy articles like this to help with my auction business. Thank you for an easy to understand, well written article. I will share this with my sellers and my help.
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm