



Produced by Chris Curnow, Chuck Greif and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)









                              _OLD GLASS
                                  AND
                          HOW TO COLLECT IT_

                            [Illustration]


    _The Standard Book on the Subject._

    A HISTORY OF ENGLISH STAINED
    GLASS WINDOWS.

    By MAURICE DRAKE. Fully Illustrated in Colour
    and Half-tone. Foolscap folio. £2, 2s. net.

    “One of the most beautiful, nay, most sumptuous, books
    produced in recent years, and from that point of view the Author
    and the publisher, the artist and the printer, and, indeed, also
    the binder, are to be heartily congratulated. But it is also an
    interesting book to read, although the subject is not everyone’s
    subject, for it is written, not merely with knowledge, which one
    can find anywhere on most subjects, but with knowledge touched
    with humanity, which is the kind of knowledge that we want in
    a book.”--_Daily Chronicle._


    FIRST STEPS IN COLLECTING.

    By Mrs GRACE VALLOIS, Author of “Antiques
    and Curios in our Homes.” 64 Illustrations.
    Picture Cover. 6s. net.

    In this book G. M. Vallois has grappled successfully with the
    problem of how to give the amateur a slight general knowledge
    of a wide subject, without deluging him with technical details.


    ANTIQUES AND CURIOS IN OUR HOMES.

    By G. M. VALLOIS. 61 Illustrations. 6s. net.

In addition to being interesting to those who possess old furniture,
etc., it should appeal to young persons making a home, as, even though
they may not be able to buy Antique Furniture, it is of educational
value to them, inasmuch as it teaches in a most fascinating manner the
difference between Sheraton and Chippendale, between Wedgwood and Willow
Pattern, etc.

[Illustration: A fine specimen of Early Bristol Glass, with landscape
painted by Edkin.]




                           OLD GLASS AND HOW
                             TO COLLECT IT

                                  BY
                            J. SYDNEY LEWIS

                              ILLUSTRATED

                                LONDON
                         T. WERNER LAURIE LTD.
                      30 NEW BRIDGE STREET, E.C.4


The Author desires to express his best thanks to Miss Whitmore Jones, Mr
Cole of Law, Foulsham & Cole, Mr A. Edwards of Messrs Edwards Limited,
for their kind permission to include examples of old English and Irish
glass from their Collections, and to Messrs Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge
for allowing him to include the list of prices fetched by various
specimens at their Sales.

He is also desirous of acknowledging the assistance he has received from
the Authorities of the British and Dublin Museums, and also to the late
Mr J. Herbert Bailey, to whom and to “The Connoisseur” he is indebted
for several of the illustrations.

His indebtedness to the great work of Mr A. Hartshorne is one which he
shares with every writer who takes as his subject “Old English Glass.”




CONTENTS


CHAPTER                                                 PAGE

I. INTRODUCTORY                                            1

II. EARLY ENGLISH GLASS                                   27

III. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY GLASS                             55

IV. MEMORIAL GLASSES                                      95

V. BRISTOL AND NAILSEA GLASS                             115

VI. IRISH GLASS                                          128

VII. CURIOUS AND FREAK GLASSES                           154

VIII. FRAUDS AND IMITATIONS                              166

IX. SOME HINTS TO COLLECTORS                             182

CATALOGUE OF PRICES OF PRINCIPAL PIECES OF
GLASS                                                    191




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


Early Bristol Glass; landscape painted by Edkin....._Frontispiece_

FIG.

1. Elizabethan Glass (Brit. Mus. Coll.) }
                                        } _To face page_ 42
2. Posset Cup (Charles II.)             }

3. Feeding Cup (William III.) }
                              } ” 48
4. Glass Panel (Charles II.)  }

5. Glass Tankard with Coin blown in Base }
                                         } ” 50
6. Coin blown in Base of Tankard         }

7. Air-twisted Stem Glasses.....” 62

8. Air-twisted Button and Baluster Stem Glasses.....” 66

9. Opaque-twisted Stem and Rose Glasses.....” 68

10. Double Ogee Bowls.....” 72

11. Ale Glasses and Sweetmeat Glasses.....” 74

12. Eighteenth-century Drinking Glasses.....” 76

13. Rummers and Baluster Stem Glasses.....” 84

14. Decanters and Salt-cellars (Eighteenth Cent.).....” 90

15. Candlesticks and Tapersticks.....” 92

16. Jacobean Rushlight Holder and Wine Glasses.....” 94

17. Jacobite Toasting Glasses.....” 96

18. Jacobite Goblets.....” 100

19. Jacobite Glass.....” 102

20. Memorial Toasting Glasses.....” 106

21. Memorial Glasses (Various).....” 108

22. A Nelson Glass and George IV. Coronation Glass.....” 110

23. Commemoration Glasses.....” 112

24. Tankards and Grog Glasses.....” 114

25. Old Bristol Glass Decanter and Mug.....” 120

26. Bristol Glass Vases and Candlesticks.....” 122

27. Bristol Glass Vases and Castors.....” 124

28. Early Nailsea Jugs.....” 126

29. Nailsea Jug and Mug.....” 128

30. Early Irish Glass.....” 130

31. Old Irish Salad Bowls and Celery Glasses.....” 132

32. Old Waterford Centrepiece, with Collar.....” 134

33. Old Waterford Preserve Jars and Bowls.....” 136

34. (1) Old Cork Decanters; (2) Old Waterford Decanters.....” 138

35. Old Cut Irish Decanters and Finger-basins.....” 140

36. Early Irish Fruit Dishes.....” 150

37. Masonic, Toasting, and Freak Glasses; an Early
Cambridge Yard Ale Glass      _Page_ 160

38. Saxon Glass.....” 30

39. Various Styles of Cutting.....” 7

40. Examples of Baluster Stems and Tear Glasses.....” 57

41. Tear Glasses.....” 61

42. Old English Glasses.....” 65




CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY


The origin of glass is lost in antiquity. Pliny, indeed, ascribes its
discovery to certain Phœnician mariners who, being shipwrecked upon a
sandy shore, used a block of the natron which formed their cargo to
support a pot which they were putting over an improvised fire. The heat
fused the sand with the natron, and lo! the glass was discovered in the
ashes.

Since, however, Pliny’s authority was Rumour, and since, also, such a
phenomenon is a physical impossibility--for no bonfire could produce a
temperature at which sand would fuse--it is possible that Rumour in
Pliny’s day had a no greater reputation for reliability than in the
twentieth century. But the story, if not true, is at least well invented
and serves to show at how early an age in the world’s history glass was
known.

It is more than probable that the place of its origin was Ancient Egypt,
and that the Phœnicians, who were undoubtedly acquainted with its use,
drew their knowledge from the workers on the banks of old Nile. At any
rate articles of glass have been discovered in tombs of the fifth and
sixth dynasties--some 3300 years before Christ. This, the earliest known
glass, is generally opaque, and is chiefly used to form small articles
of ornament, such as beads for necklaces, etc. The “aggry” beads, found
in Anglo-Saxon barrows and made in our own time by the Ashantis and
neighbouring tribes, are of similar type. Some admirable specimens of
ancient Egyptian glass are to be found in the British Museum. Among them
is a turquoise-blue opaque glass jar of Thothmes III.--the greatest of
all the kings of Egypt--dating from about 1550 B.C.

At a later date glass was extensively made in Alexandria, the sand in
the vicinity being of exceptional purity and so, suitable for its
manufacture. The city speedily became celebrated for the beauty of its
output, and articles of Alexandrian glass were largely exported to
Greece and to Rome, where also, in the space of a few years,
glass-houses were established; and to Constantinople, which was, in
time, to become famous for the manufacture of  glass and of the
Mosaics so dear to the Oriental taste.

The Greeks do not appear to have developed the art of glass-making at a
very early age, but specimens of glass have been found in Grecian tombs,
and, in the Golden Age