Old Glass and How to Collect it

or ornament, keepsakes, and for domestic use were being produced in great quantities, and there was a strong and growing competition between the native craftsmen and the glass-workers of

, with only here and there a specimen, and that of dubious authenticity, to guide him. From this{56} time he is able to observe at first hand, compare, classify, note differences, excelle

our forefathers in perhaps the most convivial period of our history. There was a vast improvement in social conditions and amenities, and the variety of glasses that sprang into existence affords ample testimony to

of wine had not yet arisen. A bowl of water was placed on the table in which the drinkers r

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g.

luster Stems a

xceedingly rare, and are generally described as wine

the early part of the century and that of the later part. S

glass with ba

glass with ai

Drawn

aque-twis

. Cut

e that it is less perfect in shape and texture than the products of to-day, but it is superior in artistic merit, in originality of design and softness of outline. The lack of perfect symmetry is one of its charms, as it is in the cas

e a vast indebtedness, makes an exhaustive classification of the various types of eighteenth-century glasses. To his order one is bound closely to conf

ome, again, are "baluster" shaped, i.e. formed after the pattern of the columns of a balustrade. Many have a knop or button in the middle, others are ornamente

ution. I propose to deal at some length with some of the more obvious and frequent frauds and fakes in a subsequent chapter. But for the moment it may be said that the best test of genuineness is neither shape nor any particular design-for these can be closely imitated-but the colour. There is a curious tint in old glass which the new never quite achieves. Th

n brief detail the more important of the types o

-twisted Stems.-The incised or

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g.

d, at the same time, stretched. The result was a twist, produced in exactly the same way as in a stick of candy-close at the top and gradually loosening toward the bottom. Near the foot, by the way, the spiral generally disappears entirely as the effect of the heating process necessar

ower is a bubble of air blown into the centre of a mass of molten glass, possibly at fi

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AIR-TWI

ollection, by permissi

uce a kind of silvery radiance like that of quicksilver. The phenomenon is familiar to anyone who has ever plunged a substance like wool, which contains air-bubbles entangled among its meshes, under water. The bubbles are transformed into drops like quicksilver. So with the

, the early ones with the Tudor rose, with its five petals, while the later ones affect the{64} Stuart variety with six petals. The earliest stems have necks and collars-there was considerable difficulty in

o which the brilliant English flint glass was specially adapted. Consequently the type persisted for a considerab

an obvious solution of the difficulty to draw the stem out from the surplus molten metal at the base of the bowl. If, previously, a series of air-bubbles was introduce

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g.

technically known as a "knop." The foot is "domed." No. 2 is an illustration of a shoulder and collar, the shoulder being the bulge near the top, and the collar the ring above

ing patterns. Thus a number of small "tears" close together produced a spiral like a yarn o

, extremely heavy and clumsy in appearance, and with the development of taste and skill, they were speedily supplanted by the slenderer and more graceful drawn and air-twisted stems. But the effect of the baluster moulding was soon pressed into the service of this more dainty ware, the baluster becoming more

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WISTED S

TTON

STEM WITH RO

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ollection, by permissi

G.

lways of the folded variety. Occasionally, in t

ry. In this case, rods of opaque white or coloured glass were alternated with rods of clear gla

the rods, binding the whole when cooled into a solid rod, with a clear centre surrounded by a particoloured cir

ral bands, and the rods could be of various sizes and colours. Many specimens came over from Holland and from the north of France

has given rise to an idea that all glasses with right-handed opaque spiral stems are modern imitations, which is by no means the case. All such specimens, however, are suffic

ria. The forgeries are generally light, and the beautiful mellow tone of the real old English glass is replaced by a cold white tint or even a tinge of green. The twist is often more trans

of the foot is

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TWIST STEMS AND

ollection, by permissi

ight slope downwards towards the edge. In the imitations, too, it is apt to be less in diameter, compared with the bowl, than in the genuine specimens, whilst there is frequently an absence of "ring." This last fact, however, must not be und

d on glasses of the same type and period were the Rose of Sharon and the St John's Wort. Rose glasses,{70} with blue and white twisted stems, are in all probability almost exclusively of English manufacture, and are among the most valuable of the opaque-twisted type. The foreign importations of the period were numerous but, apart from certain pat

m was more and more rounded until it attained the shape of the ogee curve. The earliest of the straight-sided glasses had bulbed stems, with a shoulder and knop. The better sorts of tavern and household glasses were of this type, the larger specimens being used

ntations of such natural objects as roses, as a matter of course, lilies of the valley, tulips, and sprays of honeysuckle. Amongst these, however, certain conventional designs held their place, e.g. wild roses, St John's

bility is that any specimen found is of English manufacture. In examples of{72} foreign manufacture, too, the bowl was generally rounded at the base, and the stems were often coloured or opaque-twisted. Other characteristics by which

ve opaque-twisted stems; sometimes blue lines replace the opaque white. It is thought that Bristol was the chief place of manufacture, since most of the finds have been in the west of England. The earliest of them have unfolded feet, inserted air-twisted stems, and naturally,

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DOUBLE OG

ollection, by permissi

ngraver's task more difficult. In the later specimens, sprigs of laurel and festoons of various conventional types are to be found. In the Bristol glasses the bowls were sometimes fluted

ch persists even to-day in our port, sherry, champagne, claret, and liqueur glasses. In the beginning there was a far greater diversity, for England in the eighteenth century was famous for the number (and potency) of its beverages and, speaking{74} generally, each had its appropriate glass. Frequently, of course, there was little diversi

ady in existence, presumably bell-shaped and air-stemmed, being pressed into the service, but about 1730 special glasses were made, with wide, shallow bowls, of the double-ogee variety and a baluster. They had knop

e bowl became e

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MEAT GLASSES.

ollection, by permissi

oximated to the familiar flute shape. In these the stem is often faceted, the facets sometimes extending some considerable distance up the glass. The modern champagne glass, with a wide saucer-like bowl and a hollow stem,

, writing to his sister, remarks: "We drank champagne out of a saucer of glass mounted

The bowls are generally either of the double-ogee type or bell-shaped with a lip. They are often ribbed in the earlier varieties, and cut in the later ones. The glasses were made in sets, which stood upon a glass pedestal or centre-piece made to a similar pattern. This had a flat, tray-like top, with a raised rim.

the flute-shaped champagne glass, or possibly the shapes were used indiscriminately for both beverages-the finer and more elegant specimens for the

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GLASSES, SHEWING VARIETY IN

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ING GLASSES.

GLASS WITH AI

ER GLASS WITH O

LD "TEA

CORDIAL GLASS WI

G.

that the form of the stem affords some indication of the relative age of the piece, the chronological order being roughly as follows:-(1) Waisted bowls, with plain stems and f

wever, was produced in large quantities, and glasses were possibly made specially for it. Certain specimens exist, and are recognised by their being engraved with apple blossom, apple trees, etc., whilst one-mentioned in the chapter on Memorial Glasses-is inscribed with the motto

bean-meal, the brew being flavoured with various pungent and aromatic herbs and the inner bark and tips of the fir tree. It is p

crowd is hush'd

equal, send a ge

nt. It was drunk from bowl-shaped glasses, or else from glasses of the low tumbler type. If carefully made it would keep for a long time, and from the number of references to

..C

yellow starch, an

cco and stron

and Ob

r rose-water. The whipped syllabubs were beaten into a froth before drinking. They were often

s, caudles and p

made at the

e many, beer co

posed with a po

pecial glasses used, were of deep cup or

y and quaint were the products that came from the family still-room. It was not, indeed, until comparatively recent times that the habit of spirit-drinking made any great headway in England. Whisky was made in Ireland in the fourteenth century, and must consequently have been known in England. Howell in his "Letters" refers to the usqueba

short-stemmed, and as this did not lend itself to air-twisting, the baluster type was mostly affected, which in such small glasses gives a peculiarly{81} massive appearance. Opaque-twisted stems are, however, more fre

glasses in unison on the table-the sound produced being fancifully likened to the reports of guns. Figs. 1 and 2 (

aluable have long stems, either plain or opaque-twisted. Many of the latter, howe

ts way here, it was natural that the Scots should take for their national liquor{82} the glass that bore the form of their national emblem. At an

tification for any such division; it is perfectly natural that utensils for common use should be stronger and clumsier editions of the better-class gl

n, the broader end being uppermost. Half-way through the eighteenth century the tear vanished altogether, and the plain solid stem came into use. The common wine glasses were{83} small editions of the larger glasses, and frequently bore rudely executed decorations of festoons, vine leaves, and flowers. The feet are flat, and may

of the tumbler did not appeal to tastes accustomed to the graceful outlines of the wine glasses. The early ones are cylinder-shaped, and very large, while eighteenth-century tumblers taper somewhat toward the base. Bo

g the types are the ogee-shaped bowls-either plain or pressed-barrel-shaped bowls, and trumpet-shaped bowls. All have short, thick stems, often with a coll

ot, a leading French authority, remarks: "To the English should really be attributed the honour of having created, in their flint glass, a new product which by the quality and selection of the materials used in its fabrication has becom

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AND DRINKING GLAS

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LASS SHEWING A COI

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SH BALLUSTE

G.

cially to cutting-the workmanship bringing out the beauty and brilliancy of

craftsmen of Bohemia were probably far superior to those of England, but as soon as the special suitability of the English glass was demonstrated, the native workmen speedily outdid all foreign competitors. The quality of the g

period-clumsy masses of flint glass cut into hob-nails, facets, pyramids, and spikes of all shapes and dimensions. Of this description are the massive glass chandeliers which depend from the ceilings of country houses and halls built at the close of the eighteenth or the commencement of the nineteenth century. Possibly no better examples could be found than the

h great glittering mass in the centre of the dome should break loose f

he illustrations, followed{87} the prevailing fashion in being massive and deeply cut. The stoppers were most frequen

ury. At that time the glass-maker's art was passing through a great period of upheaval and momentous change like the country itself was in both politics and in art. Nor was the change confined to England. In France the florid style of decoration associated with the name of Louis Quinze was giving way, even before the death of the monarch after whom it was named, to the more simple and severely classical style of Louis Seize. In England the{88} dawning of a new taste in artistic decoration became evident about the year 1770 in the wo

r I. The fact that the art of cutting and engraving reached its zenith at this period accounts for the reputati

destroy all impurities. In practice, most of it was obtained from Alum Bay in the Isle of Wight, from Lynn or from Reigate. Sandpits have also been discovered at Coulsdon and Redhill. The fusing of the ingredients was also a matter demanding the greatest care so as to ensure

n the process of blowing were the most suitable for their purpose

orgian glass-of the early or the late period-either as reg

nd big prices, yet the amateur is{90} not faced at the outset, as in the case of glass of a period prior to

of the time, not even an amateur could mistake them for modern, their shapes alone being almost a guarantee of the date of their origin

c. But it is not unusual to find these graceful shapes copied; and again the collector must beware. Some of the quart decanters have, as will be seen from the two on the left of the illustration,

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MEAT GLASSES IN OLD SH

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RS, SHEWING VARIETY

G.

hint that he might think of going ther

period. Another feature is their long, thin necks, which made them more suitable for private houses than inns. They usually stand from 12 to 18 inches in height, and when standing grouped together have a charmi

ortunately, within the power of the ordinary collector to acquire a specimen or so at{92} a reasonable figure. They are the larger and more ornamental pieces, some unique in design and others possessing historical associations, that are priceless. The old chandeliers often found will give some idea of the fine cutting of the period

se the posset pot shown at page 42 (Fig. 2). It is surrounded by a band of masks and roses and surmounted by a crown.

ation of the candlesticks and tap

used to hold th

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NDLE AND T

ollection, by permissi

ently found in Georgian silver and also in china, generally with the ink tray, snuffers, and powder box to hold the

period. Unluckily, examples are hardly likely to be very easily found; like all fragile things they have suffered heavily

onsiderably enhanced in the future. Nevertheless, there are still many fine specimens to be obtained by a collector who will take the trouble to seek them off the beaten track. Many of them are owned by persons quite ignorant of their

nd collectors can only base their opinions upon such qualities as shape, style, colour, etc., and in this, as in other departments of life, the amateur is apt to discover the truth

of view. Apart from this, however, it has many merits, some pieces that I have seen having been most beautifully and choicely cut and with a fine dis

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N GLASS RUSH

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N EARLY ENGLI