“Made in Occupied Japan” Shoe #014
This is a small earthenware shoe measuring 2 1/2″ long, 15/16″ wide, and 1 3/8″ tall at the heel. Although it looks like a porcelain product, all occupied Japan novelty pieces were made from a very white earthenware even if the piece looks translucent. The duties on earthenware were less than on porcelain and this allowed costs to remain lower. This particular earthenware is white-bodied, sturdy and smooth in texture, but not vitreous, fine or as hard as porcelain. To test for earthenware, an old Customs Agent trick, one can place the tip of a ball-point pen to an unglazed area. The ink will lightly dot the earthenware.
Hand-painted, including orange flowers, 3 blue dotted circles and a gold dotted flower and toe marks on the vamp (or upper.) The edge is outlined with gold which is excellent condition. The shoe is in excellent condition with no glaze flakes or flaws, no crazing, cracks or chips.
The shoe has some discpolring on the sole, as to be expected with an earthenware piece that is 50 years old. It has a “MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN” stamp on the sole in red ink. This stamp was required on all imports from post WW II Japan from 9.2.45 to 4.28.52.
This is a new purchase for the collection, purchased at auction for $2.75 in December of 2007. Estimated value has yet to be determined.
Information from private records and The Collector’s Guide to Made in Japan Ceramics by Carol Bess White, published by Schroeder Publishing Co, 1996.
Vaseline Glass ~ The Magic Glass (shoe #007)
Yes, Vaseline glass really does exist, though it wasn’t referred to by that name until the early 1950s. The earliest pieces of Vaseline were manufactured in the 1880s and the styles and color continued to be blown or pressed until the bombing of Pearl Harbor during WW II. These pieces were called canary glass in the United States and “uranium glass” in England. (I’ll explain THAT name soon.)
As you can see, Vaseline glass is a yellow-green color, reminiscent of the color of the lubricant product, trademark for white petroleum jelly, by the same name. In 1951, when the embargo against the public sector using uranium was lifted, manufacturers were looking for a name to call their uranium glass, since the word uranium had become a household name and wasn’t especially seen in a positive light. And why was it referred to as Uranium glass in England? Vaseline glass has a tiny, tiny, tiny amount of uranium oxide (less than 2%) mixed in its formula, but it has been repeatedly tested, both in the US and in the UK, and there is absolutely no indication of a radiation problem by touching the glass. Some people who have concerns simply choose not to collect this type of glass, though the Vaseline pieces in the Collection are kept in an enclosed glass case without concern.
Vaseline glass is extremely easy to identify. Due to the presence of the uranium, the glass will fluoresce under ultra-violet light, illuminating in a very vivid yellow-green color and making a really cool effect. It is rather like the glow-in-the-dark clothing one can easily purchase now, but quite a bit more surprising.
This above shoe is the same style of shoe as the Blue Slag Hobo Shoe # 006 and much about the general information of that type of shoe can be found on that post.
http://theshoecabinet.com/2007/12/10/blue-hobo-shoe/
It was purchased at Main Street Antiques in Mount Horeb, WI in August, 2000. Purchase price was $10. At that time it was identified as a product from the Boyd Glass Co by the owner/dealer, but there is no specific mark on the shoe. There are no ‘age marks’ so this is a newer re=production. When compared to shoe #006, it appears to be of the same mould. Boyd did not mark their shoes after 1978, so this shoe could be a newer Boyd or a Degenhart Glass Company shoe without a trademark stamp. Either is possible. The estimated value of this shoe, in excellent condition, is $25 to $40.
There are currently seven pieces of Vaseline glass in the collection and it is a very popular item to collect. It’s value has been steadily climbing, and it is difficult to find first quality Vaseline glass shoes, although there are usually pieces of other Vaseline products found in reputable antique stores.
The main source of the above information was found in Yellow Green Vaseline: A Guide to the Magic Glass, Revised Edition by Jay L. Glickman and Terry Fedosky, published by The Glass Press Inc, 1998. Information was also gathered from personal records, Collectible Glass Shoes by Earlene Wheatley, published by Schroeder Publishing, 2001 and Shoes of Glass 2 , page 145, by Libby Yalom, published by The Glass Press, 1998.
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