Old Glass and How to Collect it

by J. Sydney Lewis

I remember a case in point in which a novice found himself, after a brief experience, the owner of so large a collection that his cupboards failed to accommodate it, and he had to have larger ones made. And yet one shelf alone contained four barley wine glasses, five ordinary air-twisted stem glasses, three Early English plain wine glasses, four early finger basins, and five rummers of different shapes—all of the most ordinary type.

When by experience he had acquired wisdom these and similar articles were sent to the sale-room. Two lots did not elicit a single bid, and the remainder went for far less than had been paid for them. Now, however, he possesses a good representative collection, which will be sure to fetch, when under the hammer, a sum which will produce a handsome return upon his expenditure.

There is to-day such a craze for what is old, that it is difficult to find anything that is not faked. I often wonder, when dining with friends, if they are aware of the real nature and origin of the glass they use. On the other hand, one finds in some places, particularly old country houses, pieces almost priceless pushed away into corners as if they were of no value at all.

I remember some years ago finding in a village not far from Liverpool, an old dame, who had passed her life as housekeeper to a wealthy merchant, using a fine, genuine old Waterford bowl, about 18 inches in diameter, for stewed fruit. The bowl was easily worth from eighteen to twenty guineas, while the plates on the table were the commonest procurable. Needless to say, that bowl is no longer in her possession, having been replaced by a substitute of far greater appeal to her.

In spite of such occasional finds as this, the amateur who in pursuit of his hobby makes a habit of raiding old country cottages, shops, and inns, must be exceedingly wary and look upon exceptional discoveries with an exceedingly sceptical eye. An amusing experience that befell a friend of the author’s—a foreign glass merchant—is perhaps worth recounting in this connection.

Arriving one day at an inn in the south of England, he was surprised to find set out in the place of honour some very inferior specimens of wine glasses—reproductions of an early type which he was easily able to identify as his own manufacture. Entering into conversation with the landlord, he was informed that a distant ancestor of that worthy, soldiering in Ireland, had the fortune to render some signal service to a native of that distressful country and was given the glass in token of gratitude. Apart from the appropriateness of the gift, and a certain improbability that articles of such fragility would survive the vicissitudes of a campaign, the landlord proved not only willing but eager to dispose of his valued heirlooms at a price unexpectedly moderate for pieces of such antiquity and rarity. The humour of the situation, however, developed when the prospective purchaser produced a pocket-book and read to the astonished landlord the last order his firm had received for “one dozen imitation antique glasses with twisted stems at twenty-one shillings a dozen.” The difference between this and the thirty shillings apiece which the landlord demanded left a very pretty margin of profit.

Old glass is, of course, so easily imitated that it is hardly surprising there should be many such pitfalls in the path of the unwary, and I can only hope that the foregoing remarks may prove of some assistance in preventing my reader from falling a victim to the many specious attempts made for his deception. But it is well, wherever possible, to examine at leisure any piece that may strike the eye, and in the surroundings which it will occupy. Artificial light, too, is a very treacherous medium in which to examine glass of any kind. Any find should be examined by daylight and side by side with other pieces of whose authenticity there is no doubt. Then with a little training he should be able to determine with a fair degree of accuracy the genuine specimens from the false, and this in spite of the resources of modern science, which have enabled the “faker” to copy texture and colour with all but exactitude, and of the skill of the workman who reproduces faithfully the form and decorations of the original.

CHAPTER IX
SOME HINTS TO COLLECTORS

GLASS-COLLECTING is so full of interest that it need not be followed on any large scale. It is equally fascinating when pursued in the humblest fashion, by ransacking old second-hand shops in lowly districts as well as country cottages. A nucleus is soon formed, and, that accomplished, the collector is in the toils of his hobby, and unless he is an utter failure, one of those hopeless and helpless folk who can never learn to discriminate between the true and the false, he speedily acquires a collection which has not only provided him with a delightful recreation but is a source of considerable pride.

Of course, it must not be imagined that anyone can go into a second-hand shop, a marine-store dealer’s, or a pawnshop, and come out with a bargain every time. Nor do I assert that every piece bought will justify the enthusiasm of the first moments of possession. But I do say that, given reasonable judgment, anyone may form the nucleus of a small collection, and that with decent care in adding to it pieces that are considered rare, genuine, and unusual, the result will be entirely gratifying—yielding a full measure of artistic satisfaction, to say nothing of pecuniary advantage.