800 Jefferson St.       Burlington, IA 52601-5432      

Thank you to everyone who has given us feedback on the newsletter. So far it has all been good. Our list of subscribers is growing. Readers can help by referring as many people as possible to our website and encouraging them to sign up through our subscription link.

~ Linda

• Currently running discounts:
  
  • Dealer #27 20% off on all books; 10% off on all other merchandise
  • Dealer #23 15% off on all items over $10.00 from now through the end of the year
  • Dealer #60 20% off on all items
• We will be beginning a new “dealer section” on our website this month. It will be a private area, accessible only to dealers at the Old Stone Mill. A different password and ID will be issued each month on the statement that comes with dealer checks. Information in this area will be a list of items sold and their selling price for the preceding month. To maintain privacy, no dealer numbers or inventory numbers will be included. We hope this will assist you in determining what items to stock in your booths.
• The store’s Christmas Open House will be the first weekend in December. It will be an advertised event. All dealers are encouraged to participate by offering discounts in their booths. Everyone is invited to spend the day with us at the store. Coffee and cookies will be provided.

Our featured item this month is a tin top with Disney Characters. The top dates to 1939 and includes some of the older characters. They are (of course) Mickey, Minnie, and Donald Duck, but pictured in a form no longer used, and also Baby Minnie, and Horace Horsecollar. All characters are playing musical instruments, a depiction of Disney short films called “Silly Symphony”. The top is marked with “Fritz Bueschel, Hackettstown, NJ”, “Walt Disney Enterprises”, and “Made in the USA”. The item is in very good condition.

An internet search found one listed at $325. The piece offered at the Old Stone Mill is at the bargain price of $250 Firm.

Neodymium Glass
by L. Cale

Neodymium Glass is a generic term applied to glass made with the rare earth binary compound, neodymium oxide, added to the glass batch to give it is characteristic dichroic color. Dichroic means that it will show two distinct colors. It looks lavender in daylight or incandescent light (a regular light bulb), and looks light blue under florescent light.

Neodymium was discovered in 1885. Limited pieces of glass made with it can be found dating from then through the present time. Glass manufacturers had their own more attractive (and easier to pronounce) names for it. For example, Moser called it “Alexandrit”, Fostoria called it “Wisteria”, Tiffin called it “Twlight”, Cambridge called it “Heatherbloom”. The bulk of it was manufactured from the 1930s through the 1950s. Most companies made it for very limited periods. Companies producing it today do not make table settings, although you can find table setting pieces from earlier times. Current production includes Lotton Art Glass Studios, Mosser, and a few companies in the Czech Republic. All of this is very high quality glass.

Because of its limited production, “neo” glass is not easy to find, and might be rather pricey when compared to other types of glass from the same era. When looking for neo glass in a store or mall, look for the light blue color because most retail establishments use florescent lighting in their stores and in their display cases. Make sure to ask if you can take it to a lamp with an incandescent bulb (the new squiggly low energy bulbs won’t work) to see the color change. If there is not color change, it is NOT neodymium glass.

For a more detailed discussion of neo glass and some very nice photos, you can go to this website:

http://www.mindspring.com/~reyne/neowhatsis.html

Below are photos showing the same piece under different lighting conditions. The item pictured is a perfume bottle of unknown origin. Photo #1 was taken under florescent lighting and shows the characteristic blue color. Photo # 2 was taken under incandescent lighting (regular light bulb) and shows the color change to lavender. We have some pieces of neo glass available at the Old Stone Mill.