Friday 11 February 2011

Beauty and the Beast

As much as I hate to interrupt the little debate going on at my previous post (keep it up - I'm trying to see if I can top the sort of comment-count that 'Willow Manor' normally attracts by putting up pictures of of her compact but adorable manor house, with the odd poem thrown in), I said I would show you my two latest glass purchases, so here they are.

The big one (and it is really big - 8 inches high) is a classic, mid-18th century, trumpet bowl wine glass which falls into the 'goblet' category. It is not going to help my self-confessed 'habitual drinker' status as revealed in the previous post. If the doctor were to ask me how much wine I drink at night, I could honestly answer, "Oh, just two or three glasses..." without telling him that amounts to about a bottle. It is a real brute - a handsome brute, but a brute nevertheless.


The little one next to it is a fairly common little wine glass from about 1790 (I have about 15 of them already) but I have not seen one with gold applied to the engraving like this, so I bought it at a good price from a dealer yesterday. Gilded 'swags' like this became very popular in the Georgian Regency period. The dealers who sold it to me (two gay men, as it happens) had obviously tried it out before putting it on the shelf, as it is dirty with the residue of some dark drink, recently poured into it. Maybe - like me - they were scared of washing it for fear of removing some of the 200 year old gilding in the engraving? (or maybe they are just dirty sluts - but I don't want to start another argument - Moi?)

18 comments:

  1. Chill thomas! lol even I could not possibly have an negative opinion about a wine glass!
    the little one is sweet isnt it?
    I do collect nice glass ware but generally by small collection is from the 1930's and 50s

    I do have two beautifully etched tiny glasses from the takashimaya store on 5th avenue NY
    Of course they are not old but look sublime

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  2. The big one pushes the 'Cro wants' button. I love drinking from glasses like that; although I seldom do. I suppose I just dread the sound of breaking glass.

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  3. So - John likes the little pretty one, Cro likes the big butch one and Groucho is uncharacteristically non-committal. So far, so (predictably) good.

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  4. LOL...I'm debating whether to continue on your last post. But I must prepare for my flight.

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  5. As in 'Flight from Egypt', Grouch? Take your laptop on the plane and carry on - I have my comment count target to consider.

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  6. The large one is beautiful - such sturdy elegance.

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  7. ... and Mise goes for the 'sturdy' one! I love it.

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  8. lol......perhaps "Flight TO Egypt". I'll throw a rock or two.

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  9. I prefer large simple designs rather than fussy small ones so prefer the goblet. And it holds more wine! Tell me Tom, if the rim of a glass is chipped can you mend it?

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  10. They are beautiful Tom..but delicate or no, they need to be washed!

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  11. I didn't realise that you were a glass man, Tom. I think it is lovely to collect something because it gives you something to look for whenever you go anywhere. I have a few pieces but nothing like these.

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  12. Sue - there is no way of honestly repairing chips. Modern resins show up under Moire Pattern matrixes, and the only other option is grinding the thing smaller, which is not desirable, though many people do it.

    Well make yourself useful for once, and come round and wash them Jacqueline, rather than standing on the sidelines like some mother hen, clucking away at an errant offspring. (That'll upset her! ;} )

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  13. Little and Large! I quite like the handsome brute!

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  14. Another vote for large, simple and sturdy from me. I like a handsome goblet when it comes to wine.

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  15. Well that's it then, the voice of the people has spoken. Large and sturdy it is. I feel vindicated.

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  16. Amazing, both. I adore the large one. You've given me a craving for vintage glassware, you know.

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  17. Ok, I'll stop with the Freudian interpretations now. It might become an obsession, Tess (glass)...

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