Gold Is The Root Of The Problem

Ruby staining glass came about as a way to make ruby glass cheaply. "Old formulas for ruby glass called for an ounce of pure gold or a golden sovereign to be placed in with the "batch" as the glass makers called their mixture of raw materials." This is what gave ruby glass it's rich color. There is a story, probably, spurious in nature that said that this method of coloring glass was discovered when a gold ring accidentally fell from a glassmaker's finger and dropped into the pot.

It doesn't matter how the method was discovered making ruby glass with gold was expensive. So, using a small amount of ruby glass with clear glass was used. The ruby glass seemed to color the whole object. A clear object was quickly dipped into the red glass. In this way, a thin layer of red glass covered the clear creating a true flashed piece.

Finally, it was found that if you took an item that was already pressed in a mold, painted on a red color you could imitate the ruby glass in a very inexpensive way than before. This the true stained pieces in the King's Crown pattern. Despite the cheap method used to make it...it is still beautiful and desirable to collectors today.