Collecting Antique Glass: History of Antique Glass

Basically glass consists of sand with the addition of an alkaline flux to help it melt at a lower temperature and a stabiliser, usually lime, as glass tends to be quite unstable so over time all glass will break down and crumble. How long this takes depends on how well the glass is made and what went into it, in what proportions.

Generally glass has a greenish tint, due to the presence of iron in the sand, so neutralisation is usually accomplished by the addition of its spectrally opposing colour achieved with manganese. Of course some glass is meant to have colour and this is given by adding various metallic oxides such as copper, cobalt, gold etc.


In early times these were probably impurities in the sand and glass makers learned how to use them for decorative effect. Over the centuries people have tried to improve the clarity and brightness of glass and this has been achieved by adding lead oxide as a flux.

George Ravenscroft is usually attributed with this discovery in the late seventeenth century but lead oxide was already being used in Italy in the production of paste jewellery and it is more likely that he had found out this fact and put it to use here and in doing so put Britain to the forefront in the production of glass vessels during the eighteenth century.

Glass is worked in a molten form requiring constant reheating to keep it plastic. It is shaped usually by being free-blown through a rod and then manipulated into the desired shape or blown into a mould a technique used in Ireland and America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries though this method had been invented in about 25 B.C. In this way decoration can be produced quickly and easily.


Once the piece has been made it then has to be annealed i.e. cooled very slowly so that any stresses can be reduced that might build up causing it to shatter. Even so glass still has stresses within it with handles being particularly prone to damage.

The exact origins of the process of glass making are unsure but it is thought that it first appeared in Mesopotamia about 3000 years B.C. probably as a result of experimenting with glazes for pottery. At first glass was used as an alternative to precious stones as it could be coloured and cut.

Glass reached Egypt by about 1540 B.C. where vessels were formed using various complex techniques of moulding and shaping. By Roman times glass was being blown in large quantities to form containers for liquids and for drinking from. Some beautiful pieces were being made in early times with coloured glass, trailed decoration even double-walled pieces containing gold leaf decoration and by the first few centuries B.C. the millefiore style had been invented. Some of the greatest pieces of Roman glass are the cameo cut examples such as the Portland Vase from the end of the first century B.C.

Glass was produced in the Islamic Kingdom from the seventh century where they continued using similar techniques to the Romans including the invention of one or two others such as the use of lustre decoration.

Until the Venetians became the worlds leading glass producers in the fifteenth century Islamic glass makers led the world with their colourful and innovative designs.

They cut, engraved, gilded and moulded using great skill in the production of intricate and splendid designs.
After the Roman Empire had declined the glass produced in Europe was of a fairly mundane bubbly green type generally of plain and functional form. By the eighth century however luxury glass was again being produced and throughout the centuries that followed techniques improved and some more interesting pieces were being made.

In the twelfth century stained glass windows were being used for churches and by about 1400 colourless glass was being manufactured again on a large scale. Towards the end of the fifteenth century the Venetians had perfected the production of colourless glass and became the leading glass makers in the world. The manufacture of glass brought great wealth to Venice with exports to all over the world and Venice is still renowned for its magnificent glassware.

Glass was being produced all over Europe in Spain, France, Holland, Germany and Britain. Spanish glass having a very much Islamic style and in other countries the Venetian influence can be seen as well as taking on the forms of silver and pottery wares from these respective countries.

Before this time glass was produced on a small scale in woodland furnaces where timber would have been used as fuel.


In the seventeenth century the next great development was the invention of the coal burning furnace by Sir Robert Mansell allowing much higher temperatures to be achieved. Because of this the main centres for glass production moved to areas where coal was mined such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Bristol. At this time the Venetian influence was still prevalent but as the century advanced the style became more individual and less flamboyant with the emphasis being on balance of form and refinement of engraving on colourless glass.

With the introduction of lead as a flux in the latter part of the century by George Ravenscroft glass could be produced which had a denser and clearer appearance thus lead crystal was produced. This meant that good quality mirrors and chandeliers could be made as well as wine glasses and consequently Britain manufactured some of the best glassware throughout the eighteenth century. However early Ravenscroft glass had a tendency toward crazing or “crizzling”. And some of the best engravers in the world came from the Low Countries of Europe.

Britians close politically ties with Holland in the late seventeenth century meant that fashions and styles were closely linked and it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate between the two as lead glass was also made in Holland.


So called because of the architectural nature of the stem, but as time advanced more and more complex designs were being produced with multi sided stems different shaped knops, tears in the stems, i.e. carefully formed bubbles of air, beaded knops with many bubbles and probably as a development of these the air twist and opaque twist glasses.

Wineglasses in the eighteenth century often had engraved decoration sometimes commemorating causes such as the Jacobite and Williamite glasses. Family crests and armorials were also engraved on glasses. The Beilby family, based in Newcastle, are famous for their enamel decoration on glassware in the second half of the eighteenth century with pieces decorated with armorials a considerable rarity. Other glassware produced in the eighteenth century included decanters, tankards, salts, tumblers and a wide range of tableware. Cutting was employed to decorate glass during the eighteenth century at first it of the flat plane type.

As the century progressed different cutting techniques developed and by the end of the eighteenth century steam power was being introduced so speeding up the process and allowing more intricate cutting styles to be used.

By the early nineteenth century the regency style began to emerge and many of these pieces leave very little areas of glass which are uncut. Many new techniques were being developed France, Germany, Bohemia and America as well as Britain were producing some wonderfully exuberant pieces.


Acid etching, fine engraving, magnificent cutting, cameo and rock crystal style engraving were all being used to great acclaim.

In Britain the Dudley, Stourbridge and Wordsley areas in the West Midlands are renowned for quality items that were produced and there is still much to learn about the manufacture of glass in these areas. In Manchester the technique of press moulding was being used to mass produce pieces and items could be made with a variety of designs on them including some by great names such as Walter Crane.

In the early part of the twentieth there was a continuation of the nineteenth century style and some of the best glass was being made in America and France. In America Louis Comfort Tiffany is particularly famous for his iridescent glassware and for leaded glass lamp shades. In France René Lalique was making very high quality pressed glass.

However there were many more producers of fine decorative glassware throughout Europe at this time.
With the First World War there was a decline in quality though some good pieces were still being produced between the wars.

However after the Second World War there was a marked decline with the production of utilitarian designs dominating the glass industry. Many of these pieces are collected and they fit in well with the modern home.

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Antiques Collection - Spatter Glass Basket

From the antique-marks collection we have a wonderful Nailsea Glass Basket roughly formed from various pieces of coloured glass spatter with a clear glass, twisted branch handle. Possibly 19th Century and highly collectable Nailsea glass which included this type of decoration, with white and sometimes colored splashes on a dark green or amber glass.


Spatter glass was extremely popular with Victorians in the late 19th century, along with many other Roman and Egyptian glass styles. Spatter Glass is actually hand-blown glass which has been rolled over a hot steel or iron plate to pick up small chips of crushed or powdered glass on the outside. The glass is then rolled smooth and shaped by blowing

This Nailsea Glass basket is in very good original condition, with some traces of wear. A few small burst air bubbles here and there and typical imperfections found in early glass. No cracks and the bowl rings when flicked with a finger.

Makers marks provide a reasonably reliable dating system but typically, there are no makers or factory marks present on antique glass. Northwood Glass carnival wares are one exception. However, there is an indented and polished pontil mark to the base of this Nailsea glass basket demonstrating the hand blown manufacture and quality.


It is uncertain when glassmaking first started in Nailsea but Nailsea Crown Glass and Bottle Manufacturers "The Nailsea Glassworks" was one of the new factories that opened in the Victorian glass boom. It was set up by John Lucas in 1788.

Nailsea Glass became widely used by the 1830's and the glassworks expanded to become one of the four largest in England. Because of the heavy duty on 18thC. Flint Glass, it became common practice for glassworks like Nailsea to manufacture tableware out of bottle or window glass, and to decorate it very simply with white dots or lines to make it more attractive.

Nailsea Crown Glass and Bottle Manufacturers were just one among many glassworks that manufactured this type of glass, and they gave their name to this style. The flecked and festooned glassware, such as this Nailsea spatter glass basket, included jugs, carafes, vases, bowls, paperweights, twisted canes, rolling pins, pipes and jars, which are now highly collectable items. Collectively they are often simply referred to as Nailsea glass.

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Antique Clocks Timeline - Tips To Help You Estimate The Age of Your Antique Clock

Clock Evolution

1600's
1660 - Calendar movements were introduced to English longcase clocks. The first American patent issued for a calendar movement was in 1853.

1663 - Minute hands were introduced to longcase clocks.





1700's

1745 - Phases of the moon were introduced on clock dials .
1775 - Up until 1820, only hour hands were used in clocks. In 1775, matching minute and hour were introduced.



1780 - Second hands began to be added to longcase clock dials.
1785 - Dots in the minute rings of brass dials were added



1792 - Paper clock dials were introduced and applied to a wooden or metal backing.



1800's
1800 - Painted dials came into general use on clock faces.
1800 - Reverse-painted glass tablets date from the early 1800's.

1806 - Machine made wood screws were introduced in France as early as 1806.
1820 - Wooden movements were generally used in early American shelf clocks until around 1820. Up until then hand cast and finished brass movements were very expensive. Chauncy Jerome began manufacturing cheap 30-hour brass movements in the 1830’s; by the early 1840’s brass movements virtually replaced wooden ones.

1836 - Gold electroplating was used to provide a safe alternative to the hazardous use of mercury in gilding  metals, which was banned in 1799.
1840 - Coiled wire gongs were used in English bracket (shelf) clocks.
1869 - Celluloid was patented. Adamantine celluloid veneer was patented in 1880.
1882 - Clock models in Adamantine veneer finishes which mimicked marble, slate, wood and other materials were introduced by Seth Thomas.


1890 - Chime bars, also known as chime rods, were introduced to clocks. These metal rods are specially tuned to produce a sequence of chime notes when struck by the movement's chime hammers.

1896 - It is required that the country of origin be mark on the clocks that are imported into the United States.




1900's
1901 - The Anniversary trademark on 400-Day clocks was introduced.


1905 - Plywood was first used.

1910 - An early inflammable, mouldable plastic, called Bakelite was invented.

Signatures on an antique clocks dial or movement can sometimes help to date a clock if you can find the clockmakers name and the date of activity listed in one of the many guides accessible to watch and clockmakers.

However, a signature may refer to someone other than the clockmaker. 19th century retailers and distributors often put their own names on clocks as an attempt to brand their product. The actual clock movement may have been made by someone else, as until the 19th century clock cases were almost always made separately from the movement and were rarely signed. And, of course, a signature may be fraudulently added as an attempt to increase an antique clocks value.

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