Blue swirl slag glass with coal embedded.
$26.00
Sale price
$26.00
Regular price
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Own a work of art, along with a piece of history. A blue, swirl slag glass piece embedded with coal is a byproduct of the 19th-century iron production at Catherine’s Furnace in Page County, Virginia. Slag is a glassy waste material created when iron ore, limestone, and charcoal are melted in a furnace.
Here is a breakdown of the item's features and history:
Slag glass: During the smelting process, impurities from the iron ore would float to the top of the molten iron. When this waste material was cooled, it formed a glassy substance known as slag.
Blue swirl: The colorful, glass-like appearance of slag is due to different mineral combinations. Blue slag from historic furnaces is a known phenomenon, as seen with material from another furnace in nearby Shenandoah County.
Coal embedded: Coal and charcoal were the fuel sources for the furnaces. A piece of slag with coal embedded would have formed when molten slag cooled around an unburnt piece of fuel that was mixed in during the smelting process.
Catherine Furnace: Located in Page County, this furnace operated from the 1840s until the 1880s. It produced pig iron, including material used for the Confederacy during the Civil War.
The practice of collecting pieces of slag from old furnace sites is a common hobby in the region, and many collectors value the varied colors and forms of these historic industrial byproducts.
Blue swirl slag glass with coal embedded.
$26.00
Sale price
$26.00
Regular price