Collecting Old Glass, English and Irish

by Sir J. H. Yoxall

SUCH CONNOISSEURSHIP NOT DIFFICULT

Collecting is a form of education, but it is not difficult to become a knowledgeable collector of old glass. Counterfeits are sent out by the thousand, forgeries lie in wait, totally new glassware, imitative of the old, is on sale in hundreds of curio dealers’ shops, some of them otherwise honest and respectable; but only ignorance or carelessness need be taken in. A little study, a little observation, a little care, and the beginner will soon be able to avoid mistakes. Connoisseurship in old glass is less difficult than it is in old china, for example; porcelain or earthenware collecting is more various, more detailed, has reference to longer periods of manufacture, and involves much more specific knowledge than glass-collecting does. Yet I have known two or three collectors of porcelain who declined to begin collecting old glass because, they said, they would “never dare”—as if an almost miraculous skill were needed to become a connoisseur in old glass! In point of fact, this is the easiest hobby to study and know; glass-collecting requires an eye for the different shades and tints of the metal, a finger-tip for the feel of it, an ear for the ring of it, and not much money as yet, and practically that is all. There are no trade-marks to puzzle or deceive you; there is no such distinction, difficult to understand and master, as between “soft” china and “hard.” At present old glass is easy to know, and not difficult to find.

I propose in this book to give general hints, “tips,” and instructions applicable to every variety of old glass; to explain the seven principal tests of genuine age and antique make; to prepare the beginner to go out collecting glass with the infallible rules and principles for it fixed in his mind. Equipped with these, anyone may examine, test, and if satisfactory buy any vessel of glass which he or she may find in any odd corner. I am not writing the book for the rich, but for people with more taste and cultivation than money, and though I deprecate “collecting” for the sake of selling again at a profit, I may well point out that old English and Irish glass, bought cheaply now, may become an investment de père de famille; the collector may have the joy of finding it, the continual pleasure of owning it, and yet know that it will turn out to be “good business” for his heirs, when the sale comes, at the end.

ADVANTAGES ASSOCIATED WITH GLASS

The collecting of old glass is not yet systematized; there are no dealers’ catalogues of it or prices current. For the next few years this advantage will continue in connexion with old glass. Every dealer knows the high price which square-marked Worcester china can command; every second-hand bookseller knows the price current of first editions, or copies of rare books; but such is not the case with old glass as yet. Systematization has hardly begun; there has been little research into the history of makes and the names of makers. Here is another advantage for a collector: he may discover things of that kind at present unknown, and thus attach his name to the history of old glass which will some day be written. A local collector may at no great cost make a donation of his treasures to the local museum. There is no public collection of Newcastle-made glass at Newcastle, for instance, or of Sunderland-made glass at Sunderland, and no local antiquary has studied the history of the fine glass products made on the Tyne and the Wear. Nobody knows which kinds of glass were made at Norwich or Lynn. A history of Stourbridge glass-making and glassware has yet to be written. So that research, that additional delight of collecting, is more open in connexion with glass than with any other well-known “line.”

COLLECTABLE GLASS ARTICLES

LARGE MUG AND COIN MUG, IMITATING OLD SILVER SHAPES

The number and diversity of old glass articles may be indicated by the following incomplete list: wine glasses, beer glasses, cider glasses, rummers, cordial glasses, liqueur glasses, tumblers, firing glasses, coaching glasses, fuddling glasses, beakers, mugs, tankards, champagne glasses, grog glasses, Masonic glasses, goblets, Joey glasses, “boot” glasses, “yards of ale,” toy glasses; flasks, decanters, trays and waiters; punch or salad bowls, trifle bowls; wine bottles, spirit bottles; jugs, punch-lifters, decanter stands; jelly glasses, custard glasses, flip glasses, syllabub glasses; fruit baskets, centre-pieces, sweetmeat glasses, captain glasses, comports or sweetmeat glass stands, epergnes, tazzas; salt cellars, sugar castors, pepper boxes; caddy sugar bowls; lamps, lanterns, chandeliers, candlesticks, nightlight glasses, taper holders; finger bowls, wine coolers; oil bottles, vinegar bottles, mustard bottles; jars, pickle jars; tea trays, preserve pots; vases, covered vases; rolling-pins, knife rests, knife and fork handles, spoons, sugar crushers; butter pots, celery glasses; weather glasses, chemical glasses, eye baths, witch-balls, porringers, posset vessels, holy-water vessels; door-stops, paper-weights; mirrors, knobs, glass pictures, bellows-shaped flasks, lustres, paste jewels, beads, taws, toy birds, animals, tobacco pipes, bellows on stands, walking-sticks, rapiers, and other elaborate baubles and oddities made for ornament or as tours de force. There seems to have been a Glass-makers’ Festival held at Newcastle some hundred years ago, and it was for exhibition then that most of the freak glass toys and ornaments were made.