Topic: Old Glass Man Required Please Help????

[BRADBURY7308]

Got an interesting set of 8 glasses from a local school fete at the weekend i got them cause  shape is good etc also the thing is there worn on the base as anything are they well used 20th century glasses or are they earlier than i thought interesting as ive always read wear is hard to fake but maybe they are just well used wine glasses any thoughts welcome.Glasses are 61/4" tall 3" foot and 31/4"rim very heavy lead crystal i think.The double knop stem appears to have air bubble trapped for decoration, Very little in the way of air bubbles inside the glass the odd bit of frit.

[oldglassman]

Hi , They look to be as you guessed early 20th c ,at best late 19thc , they could also be later in the 20thc , the wear does look a little contrived with many of the scratches appearing to travel in the same direction , possible indicating a little assistance in the wears creation ,country of origin could be many , England, France, Belgium ,would all be possabilities ,as you say a good size for the glugging of wine and a set of 8 too ,although to me I would not put them into my old glass time frame , but could still be 100 yrs or so old ,or considerably later !!  sorry not to have been a great help .

cheers ,
                 Peter.

[BRADBURY7308]

Thanks Peter,
Thanks for information only cost little money so im gonna use them a bit myself  :thup:

[Frank]

In the 1980s when I went to a lot of antique fairs it was not uncommon to see stallholders sitting behind their table with a sheet of emery over their thigh and a glass in the hand busily adding wear to the base. Not hard to do at all, but as Peter said easy to recognise. Genuine wear is extremely fine scratches that are each usually very short and totally random in direction - it is not possible to fake that, except by emulating normal use which would be very time consuming.

The trade term for this distressing practice  was 'distressing' and is found in all types of antiques, blowtorches and coolant to crackle pottery glazes, chain beating to improve not old enough furniture. The ingenuity of the unscrupulous is remarkable.