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It was the mid 17th century before glass was really considered as a useful
medium to drink from - before this period the English drank from a variety of metal,
wooden and leather vessels – this led to a contemporary French source suggesting
that ‘we were wont to drink from our boots’. I wonder which troubled mind
was the first to consider melting sand with a flux and various chunks of vegetable
matter – it all seems a bit arbitrary to me?
Whilst the variation in the shape of the foot and the bowl of an antique wine glass
can seem infinite it is the form of the stem that is generally used to age a glass.
Dating from the late 17th century the first generic type of English antique
wine glass is known as the baluster and tends to have a heavy stem with large bead
like swellings known as knops. Excise duty on glass during the 1740’s led to
a stem that although similar in form was thinner and often had decorative bubbles
within them these required less material and are often referred to as balustroids
or lighter balusters. Although more delicate than their counterparts it was suggested
in a clever piece of marketing that they were designed to allow gouty fingers a good
anchorage!
Perhaps the most technically beautiful forms of antique wine glass were the airtwist
- popular from the mid century and the opaque twist stem in the 1760’s and 70’s.
Although produced with straight and knopped stems they literally enclosed an intricate
spiral of air or fine spiralling webs of predominantly white glass.
The Excise Act of 1777 doubled the tax on glass and so the only way open for
makers of antique wine glasses to further reduce the volume of glass in a stem was
to shave off tiny diamond shaped slithers to produce a faceted stem.
I am in utmost admiration of the latent beauty of an antique wine glass and how
fit for purpose it is, but what perplexes me more than anything is considering their
age and delicacy and that their sole purpose was to transport intoxicating liquor
to eager lips. How in the devil did so many survive?
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Nic Saintey's Blog
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Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:07:37 GMT.
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 | Nic Saintey ASFAV
Nic Saintey is a Director of Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood, with responsibility for marketing and advertising. He is also Head of the Ceramics and Glass Department.
Nic Saintey's first career was in the Armed Forces where he served both as a military parachutist and paramedic in Europe, North America, East Africa and the Middle East.
He joined Lawrence’s of Crewkerne in early 1995 before moving to their Taunton branch as a general valuer and saleroom manager.
Nic joined Bearne’s in June 2000 to head up the expanding ceramic department, before joining the Board in 2003. His effervescent nature and wide experience has seen him regularly appear as an expert on the BBC’s Bargain Hunt and Flog It programmes.
He undertakes regular talks and contributes articles to both Devon and Cornwall Life magazines. His interests particularly include pottery in general, but especially that produced in Donyatt and North Devon, he is a keen runner and has recently taken up motor sport at a local circuit.
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