Topic: Help identifying glasses

[MissAyla]

Hi there

I need help identifying these glasses. From what I can tell on a few antiques sites, the glasses are likely Georgian and baluster style.

I may sell them so first need to identify and value them, any help would be greatly appreciated. I have 5 of each glass, all in mint condition.

https://imgur.com/a/lWIBy

Glass A:
Bowl is 8cm across
Base is 9cm across
Stem is 9cm tall
Entire glass 24cm

Glass B:
Bowl is 9cm across
Base is 8.5cm across
Stem is 6cm tall
Entire glass is 19.5cm tall

[Paul S.]

Hi - welcome to the GMB.             There are a group of sturdy/robust wine glasses from the first half of the C18, which are known as 'heavy balusters', often with folded feet and, like yours, with inverted baluster stem knops.           Your glasses are very simple in construction, unlike most of the book examples and your bowl shapes are different too from most examples that come within that group, which may just possibly suggest that, assuming yours are period items, might be from continental Europe rather than the U.K.           Another feature of your glasses, that is at odds with the period, is that the feet are too flat in comparison with examples of other heavy baluster pieces  -  in this period the foot was domed so that the pontil scar didn't scratch the table - later the scar was ground away and the foot became lower and more flat.

May we please see pictures of the underside of the feet, and would appreciate some information regarding the source of these glasses.

Unfortunately, we don't provide valuations on the GMB  -  as you can imagine, what something is worth is a personal matter, and we all have different ideas as to what glass is worth, so your options here are to look on antiques dealers sites plus on line auctions where you will probably get an idea of value.        But - before you attempt to sell, please pause until we have provided you with our best shot as to authenticity, and dating - the word mint is unexpected.               thanks.
 
P.S.     I'd appreciate other opinions on this post please, so welcome anyone's input to assist the op. (and me).

[MissAyla]

Hi Paul! Thank you for the detailed and helpful response.

I will take some more pictures today. 

The glasses belonged to my grandad and I believe that he got them within the UK but I really cannot be sure, unfortunately.

Is the word mint unexpected due to its use? Should I be using a different term?

Thanks again for the response! It is greatly appreciated.

[chopin-liszt]

Hi and welcome. 
We have plenty of techie. help and info. here:

https://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,34093.0.html

to help you post your images directly here.
Images hosted elsewhere have a habit of vanishing and leaving a thread with information, but unillustrated and so the info. is useless.
Thanks.

[Paul S.]

   -  hi - I should have been a tad more explicit in my comments.               To have ten drinking glasses from, what you are assuming is the C18 i.e. Georgian, and with five from each pattern and all of them mint - is indeed unusual .............  it's also unexpected to have the five matching examples for each design.                  That's not to say it's impossible, but ordinarily not something that we see on the GMB.
The Georgians started in 1714 and lasted right through uninterrupted until 1830 - some might say too long
The heavy balusters I mentioned occurred during the early part of their dynasty, and there were other groups such as 'balusters' and 'balustroids' that occurred simultaneously or a tad later.              These other glasses have many features similar to the earlier group such as folded feet and bowls of a similar design, but are less chunky - and there is a final group of a much lighter construction known as Newcastle light balusters - though whether they were ever made in Newcastle is doubtful.               Their names are presumably a reference to the type of stem formation where the baluster is either of inverted design or a conventional shape i.e. with the lump toward the lower end of the stem.

However, all that aside, regret to say my uneducated opinion is that your glasses are not the age you are suggesting  -  though since I'm no expert at these things I hesitate to suggest their birthdate - features that should be present on C18 glasses are absent.          Your group with a total height of 19.5 cms. is literally on the maximum of size for some of the baluster group, but the other taller pieces are too high, in my opinion, for inclusion in the entire group, though it's possible that at this height they were made specifically as glasses for toasting.

The absence of replies for such pieces is not unexpected - had your pieces been bona fide then I'm sure we would have had some definite response, and I suspect that the silence is due to the lack of genuineness.                  My thoughts are that these may well have originated on the Continent, somewhere, and later than you suggest - are you aware of any family members who might have travelled outside the U.K.?
This is about the sum total of my knowledge on these things, and regret unable to assist further  -  as a suggestion you might take these to a professional dealer who hopefully will be able to give a reliable appraisal.                      However, we may yet be surprised, and you may be offered a more specific and reliable assessment than my efforts  -  fingers crossed

[MissAyla]

Here are the updated photographs of the glasses, finally figured out how to resize them to the forum specifications! 

[MissAyla]

More pictures here

[MissAyla]

Hi and welcome. 
We have plenty of techie. help and info. here:

https://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,34093.0.html

to help you post your images directly here.
Images hosted elsewhere have a habit of vanishing and leaving a thread with information, but unillustrated and so the info. is useless.
Thanks.

Thank you for the link! I managed to figure it out eventually.

[MissAyla]

  -  hi - I should have been a tad more explicit in my comments.               To have ten drinking glasses from, what you are assuming is the C18 i.e. Georgian, and with five from each pattern and all of them mint - is indeed unusual .............  it's also unexpected to have the five matching examples for each design.                  That's not to say it's impossible, but ordinarily not something that we see on the GMB.
The Georgians started in 1714 and lasted right through uninterrupted until 1830 - some might say too long
The heavy balusters I mentioned occurred during the early part of their dynasty, and there were other groups such as 'balusters' and 'balustroids' that occurred simultaneously or a tad later.              These other glasses have many features similar to the earlier group such as folded feet and bowls of a similar design, but are less chunky - and there is a final group of a much lighter construction known as Newcastle light balusters - though whether they were ever made in Newcastle is doubtful.               Their names are presumably a reference to the type of stem formation where the baluster is either of inverted design or a conventional shape i.e. with the lump toward the lower end of the stem.

However, all that aside, regret to say my uneducated opinion is that your glasses are not the age you are suggesting  -  though since I'm no expert at these things I hesitate to suggest their birthdate - features that should be present on C18 glasses are absent.          Your group with a total height of 19.5 cms. is literally on the maximum of size for some of the baluster group, but the other taller pieces are too high, in my opinion, for inclusion in the entire group, though it's possible that at this height they were made specifically as glasses for toasting.

The absence of replies for such pieces is not unexpected - had your pieces been bona fide then I'm sure we would have had some definite response, and I suspect that the silence is due to the lack of genuineness.                  My thoughts are that these may well have originated on the Continent, somewhere, and later than you suggest - are you aware of any family members who might have travelled outside the U.K.?
This is about the sum total of my knowledge on these things, and regret unable to assist further  -  as a suggestion you might take these to a professional dealer who hopefully will be able to give a reliable appraisal.                      However, we may yet be surprised, and you may be offered a more specific and reliable assessment than my efforts  -  fingers crossed

Assume that I am the noviest of novices! Because I am!

I asked my mother about the origin of the glasses and it turns out that I was totally mistaken! I thought that they were my granddad's but turns out my granddad never even held them. 

So, my father ran a house clearance company. One client hired him to clear out the home of a deceased relative, the client in question told my father that they had already gone through all of the relatives belongings and didn't want anything. He further said that he didn't care what happened to the contents of the house, so my father disposed of contents as necessary and kept what items he couldn't bare to throw away (the client was aware of this and said my father could keep what he wanted).
Unfortunately, the client didn't know their relative very well and clearly didn't care about the contents of the house so the origin of the glasses is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.

You'd be surprised just how often this would happen. Young relatives inherit a house and its contents from an elderly relative and just dump the lot unless there is jewellery or cash! 

I have uploaded some more photographs of the glasses, hopefully these help.

[Paul S.]

thanks for the background history, or rather lack of   -  fear not about being a novice, we all have to start somewhere, and the members here will help all they can to assist - we have arguably the best group of glass collectors this side of the Urals.

I guess the 'oddities' covers a lot of items.              thanks for the pix  -  what in particular I was hoping for was a shot of the centre of the underside of the foot.         You recall the earlier comments about pontil scars and the subsequent habit of grinding away this roughness - it's where, on quality modern glasses, you can find a polished depression in the centre of the underneath of the foot.                In the event, regret I don't think it will help us with your glasses, but good pictures of bottoms are something the guys here are keen to see  -  it can sometimes help, and if nothing else can indicate if the piece has quality.
Lovely scenic shots of the countryside, but distracting when we need to concentrate on the glass.               Try a uniformly grey/dark background (sheet of card or similar) - use additional light to 'rake' the surface of the underside of the foot, and try to capture whether there is a scar or a depression.                 Incidenally, if you 'flick' the glass with finger nail, does it ring as in lead glass, or is the sound a dull short term clunk?            Producing quality pix of glass - especially clear glass - takes much practice, but it can be achieved successfully with some patience and persistence.           The more I see of your glasses the more I have a feeling they may be far more recent than we were thinking - just possibly some pix of the 'pontil area will help.            Also, how is the bowl rim finished - very smooth and polished, or cut and left square ish?          Appreciate this is a lot to take in, but if you stick with it you will acquire knowledge that can be used profitably when you do see the real thing.
Best of luck.