Czechoslovakian Green Mercury Glass Vase. Stamped on the underside. 

Size: 5 1/4 x 7 in. 

Mercury glass (or silvered glass) is glass that was blown double-walled then “silvered” between the layers with a liquid silvering solution and sealed. The glass was free-blown, then silvered with a solution containing silver nitrate and grape sugar in solution, heated, then closed. Mercury silvered glass was primarily produced from around 1840 until at least 1930 in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), as well as in Germany, England, and the United States. Companies frequently decorated their pieces with a variety of techniques including painting, enameling, etching, and surface engraving. Silvered glass is often collected as one of the first true “art glass” types, as it was already well-known that mercury caused health problems and therefore pieces made with it were made solely for display and artistic purposes rather than for utilitarian use. New and safe applications of mercury to create a highly-reflective surface appeared in the mid century modern movement, where a razor-thin layer of plastic or other synthetic protective compound was applied on top, much like lacquer on cinnabar in ancient China. Today the process is still used, although aluminum began to usurp all other kinds of metal for its shine, reflection, and malleability in the 1990s.

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