Monday 10 August 2015

Me and my big mouth


Look at this - no sooner had I bought the firing glass (below) that I bored you with the other day, than someone sends me a picture of his, above. The difference is that his is worth about £6000 more than mine.

I've got a bubble, but he has an engraved motto: 'THE FRIENDLY HUNT' engraved around the top.

There were many hunting and masonic firing glasses produced, but this is rather special. 'The Friendly Hunt' refers to a Jacobite secret society which strove for the re-establishment of the Stuarts to the British throne. There were Jacobite secret societies in London as well as Scotland, and if you were caught drinking from a glass which displayed Jacobite sympathies, you would be hanged (or worse) for treason. It was very bad for your health to drink from these, and not just because of the whisky.

There were - I am told - only 6 known examples of this glass in existence before this one turned up, though more than 7 were probably made. Glass is, in itself, a fragile material - especially in the hands of drunkards - but these glasses had to survive being tapped - or slammed - on an oak table, around once a week.

Of all the purportedly Jacobite glasses in circulation today, around 75% are fakes. Jacobite glass is - as a Scottish dealer I know told me - a minefield. This glass has been attributed as genuine by an expert, though.

How the hell do you tell fake engraving from the real, 18th century thing? In one man's case, it is by using a lifetime's worth of experience and knowledge.

I have a huge and expensive book on Jacobite glass, and the elderly man who wrote and compiled it has - over the years - identified about 15 forgers from Victorian times to the present day. They are known simply as 'Forger A', Forger B' etc. They are highly skilled and buy a genuine 1740 glass, then wheel-engrave it with the correct motto to suit their purposes, thereby turning £150 into £3000 in about half an hour. It is only by studying minute differences in style that they can be told apart, let alone individually identified. Glass cannot be carbon-dated.

Now look what I have done. I cannot get mine engraved with a similar motto now that I have shown it to all you lot.


23 comments:

  1. And you wouldn't have done, in any case. Imagine being know forever as forger TS.
    I'm thinking about the table pounding. Done with the fist around the stem or fingers on the foot, splayed around the stem? The former, I'd think, but without one to experiment with, I'll never know.

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    1. Well I've gently tried it, and it makes quite a noise even then. I wouldn't want to test it to destruction.

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  2. I am reading a series of books about the Jacobites in Scotland and this factoid is interesting. What a long history you Brits have.

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    1. The reference book I mention above reads like a Walter Scott novel!

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  3. Okokok
    Ok
    Ok already!
    You'venow got me back for banging on about the fecking flower shoe

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    1. Here's an admission: I haven't looked at one of your 5 or 6 recent posts about the Flower Show, so I have no vengeful feelings. If I had, then it would be candlesticks, believe me.

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  4. What does it matter how much it is worth? It is still a lovely glass. Or is that a silly question?

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    1. If I were a dealer, then that would be a silly question, but I'm not, so it isn't.

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  5. Stupid question - why are they called firing glasses?

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    1. Because when a group of people (men, actually) banged them on the wooden table rather than clapping, it was said to sound like a volley of gunfire.

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  6. I've always liked this style of glass because they look like they would just bounce if you dropped them or knocked them over. Not that I'm clumsy of course.

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  7. Are they meant for wine Tom or are they more for something like port or maderia ? You can't get much wine in there or do you just keep filling it up ? I still think that they are lovely though. XXXX

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    1. I think that you might shout at me now for saying that !! XXXX

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    2. Well I do mention whisky in one of these boring glass posts, but I am not shouting at anyone right now. I'm fed up with shouting (and so is everyone else...)

      I do have the equivalent style in a wine glass, and I am trying not to buy any spirits until the Winter.

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    3. I knew you wouldn't really shout at me ….. I can see that you've turned over a new leaf !! After I'd written my comment I remembered that you'd mentioned whiskey ……. I did read all of your post ….. I'm just getting forgetful in my old age. XXXX

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    4. Me too - especially when Welsh flower shows are involved.

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  8. They make a nice pair. Did he offer you hard cash?

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