Friday 27 March 2015

B. Smithers, 1914


These are the style of glasses we drink wine from every night. I have loads of them, and have just bought the two either side of centre for not much money.

They all date from between 1790 and 1820 and are usually offered for sale in antique shops at about £70, but I have never paid more than £30 for any. The pair which arrived today are immaculate, and I paid £10 each for them. They replace two which were broken a while ago.

The one in the centre is my dedicated glass, and I couldn't let 2014 pass without mentioning the engraving on it. Sorry about the crap photo (again) below, but it gives you an idea of the amateur style.

It is diamond-engraved with the name, 'B. Smithers', and has the date '1914' below, set above a laurel leaf motif.

Because 1914 was the year of the beginning of the First World War, and because the laurel wreath motif is usually reserved for military honour, I cannot help thinking that B. Smithers was a soldier in that war, and this may have been used in the mess - possibly by him or in his honour as a memorial.

It is difficult to know if he was killed in the outbreak of WW1, or if he just engraved the glass to mark it. The title of this post is of the engraving, just incase a relative types his name into a search, as I have fruitlessly done before.

The glass was already 100 years old when it was engraved - exactly 100 years ago. The unknown soldier?


16 comments:

  1. Beautiful glasses - and a proper surrounding for a good wine. The one with the engraving: very special, with a possibility to spin out Smither's story further when the evening is going on.

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    1. After a couple of glasses, Smithers does not seem to matter.

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  2. Oh my what a beautiful glass and even more beautiful history. Every time I think I can going to downsize and get rid of some of my collections I hit your blog, find amazing posts about amazing things and decide to keep all I have, Damn you Tom!

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    1. Why damn me? You need a clear-out of nice things?

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  3. They are very nice. They make me think of sundae glasses.

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  4. I love your glasses and it's lovely to have one's own ' special ' glass, isn't it Tom ? My only problem is that it's not quite big enough for me { although, I wouldn't say no if you offered me a drop of white or red in one of those glasses ! } I have a bit of a thing about drinking wine out of a large glass. I could just drink green Chartreuse from yours !!!! XXXX

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    1. I hate large wine glasses in restaurants, but I hate the way they under-fill them more.

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  5. Could your glass have travelled? There is a Benjamin F. Smithers who died 28 Dec. 1914 in America. Famous for having had a drink paid for by J. Wilkes Booth moments before Booth shot Abraham Lincoln.

    And you may have come upon this guy in your search already: Private William James Smithers, KIA 1917 at Passchendaele. My husbands name is William, but he has only ever been called Bill, therefore the 'B'? But could a private have had an engraved glass? Would the engraving not also read 1917 and not 1914? Don't know. At epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk war memorials surnames S you can see a photograph of William Smithers, read about his life and learn that his chest measurement was 36 inches.

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    1. Yes, I have seem those, but I don't have any reason to believe that this glass has left England only to come back.

      Chest 36, eh? That's smaller than most women's.

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  6. I don't suppose you will ever know exactly who he is, but I like to think that is probably the best thing - gives the glass an air of mystery. It is lovely by the way.

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    1. Yes - I like mysteries more than I do solving them, usually, until it comes to Plantagenet kings.

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  7. The glasses are very pretty, Tom. I like to think that B. Smithers was a very special person.
    I remember the first antique I splurged on... It's a blue painted cake tin from the 1800s. I think it was $25.00, which was a lot for me at the time. It's been used to hold cookies and treats for 40 years.
    I love old things.

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    1. You'll love me, then. A friend of mine once 'splurged' £30,000 on ONE antique glass. He could afford to keep it - or drop it.

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  8. Could it have been a christening prezzie? Why just 1914 and no day or month? To celebrate a specific 'year' seems rather arbitrary.

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    1. I don't think a laurel wreath would be appropriate for a baby who has not yet had a chance to prove their worth on a battlefield, and I've never heard of a wine glass being given to a baby as a christening present. The date 1914 always conjures-up one little war, doesn't it?

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