Vintage manganese / uranium glass faceted crystal bead Art Deco necklace - delicate pale yellow and blue beads that glow under UV light on foxtail chain

Vintage manganese / uranium yellow and blue glass beaded necklace with stunning Art Deco faceted beads. This type of glass is amazing as in the natural light, the beads have neon yellow and pale blue colours. However under UV light, the yellow glass beads give off a gentle 'radioactive' looking glow and the blue beads become an unusual rose pink colour. I have listed this as manganese glass as opposed to uranium glass as the glow is slightly more subtle.

Interestingly, these beads are strung on a slim foxtail chain - a technique often used by Louis Rousselet in France. There are no other known characteristics of the beads or the clasp to confirm it is a Rousselet necklace (though he did enjoy creating glowing glass beads), so I am listing it as 'maker unknown'.

This is a collector's piece as well as fun piece to be wearing in a club or party with UV lights. The necklace fastens with a silver tone screw barrel clasp set with a ring of channel set clear rhinestones. It has a length of about 17 inches.

The necklace is in good vintage condition - I have noticed that the foxtail chain underneath the beads has some slight verdigris.

Manganese glass is vintage glassware, common in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, that used manganese dioxide as a clarifying agent to remove green tints, or as a colorant for pink/purple hues. It is highly collectible because it emits a soft, faint green, yellow, or lavender-pink glow under 365nm UV light. Uranium glass is glass which has had uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added to a glass mix before melting. The proportion usually varies from trace levels to about 2% uranium by weight.