Topic: POSSIBLE 17th/18th century wine glasses...

[LeicesterGlass]

Hi all!

I've been collecting glass for a few years now mainly focusing on white friars and Scandinavian so this is well beyond my skill set.

I picked up a couple of wine glasses that caught my eye for relatively nothing, I noticed the true heavy baluster stem usually associated with glasses c1680-1735 and though they were worth a punt. They are 6.5" tall and very heavy but  I have a few issues and under no illusions! Firstly the bowl seems slightly oversized, most glasses of this period have wider bases than bowls but there are exceptions. Secondly, the glass is pretty immaculate with only slight signs of wear to the base which seems to be a folded conicle which dips towards the centre to a polished pontil, that could mean quality or it could mean modernity...one thing puzzling me is if they are modern why the true baluster knop? The design was fazed out very early in the 18th century and replaced with the inverted baluster as it was much easier to hold, so why produce a modern wine glass with such a well known flaw if not purely for decoration rather than use?

Anyway as I say this is well out of my area of expertise and if they are modern I won't be too disappointed as they cost very little, but I am intrigued and would love to hear your opinions, I've tried to post photos so hopefully they will display properly!

Thanks,

Gav

[bat20]

Have to say i haven't seen anything like them in the old glass books i've got ,i think they may be modernish,but the glass world is constantly surprising me.

[oldglassman]

Hi ,
          I have to agree that modernish is probably spot on,they have a passing resemblance to a heavy Baluster but that's it, the metal(glass) is to bright the form is unbalanced, they also do not have folded feet and a polished pontil would never be found on an English Baluster period glass ,though can be found on European glasses of the same period,I should also say that it was the Inverted baluster that was the first knop to be used in the later 17th c followed very closely by a great many other forms of knopping including the true Baluster in the early 18th c but possibly due to problems holding the glass or that they dont seem to have the same presence as other knops they are in fact quite uncommon and command a premium in price due to scarcity .

 Attached is a 1690/1700 inverted baluster goblet and a folded foot .

 cheers ,
              Peter

[LeicesterGlass]

Haha, thanks guys!

Well that ends my brief foray into wine glasses, think I shall stick to what i know!

[bat20]

That's what i keep telling myself,but i'm afraid you get hooked!

[oldglassman]

 Hi,
           An update to this thread showing an early True Baluster wine glass.

cheers,

   Peter.

[bat20]

Lovely ,thanks for posting it.

[chopin-liszt]

The images you have posted really help to illustrate the thread, and make it very informative Peter, thank-you.

[oldglassman]

 Hi

  Many thanks to you both,

cheers ,
  Peter