Topic: Wrythen Stemmed Georgian Ale Glass - ID = Greta Runeborg-Tell for Ekenäs

[NevB]

I think I'm right in calling this an ale glass and dating it from around 1800. It is 4.75" tall, rim diameter 4" and foot diameter 3.5". It has a stepped rim to the foot which has a ground pontil and lots of wear. The glass contains lots of what look like bubbles but are perhaps tiny spots of sand. I can't find another of this type where only the stem is wrythen. I also think the colour is due to iron oxide in the sand used, Scottish Antiques have a glass which they say points to glass from the Kent/Sussex weald but I'm not sure if they were even making glass in the area at that time.

[NevB]

A close up of the stem. Also it weighs 300gms and rings nicely.

[Lustrousstone]

The colorant is likely iron but more likely deliberate than accidently from the sand IMO

[Ekimp]

There is a two piece dwarf ale glass from the late 18th century shown in Bickertons Eighteenth-Century English Drinking Glasses that has a wrythen stem that stops at the start of the bowl, a bit like yours. It’s 5.25 inches tall.

I don’t think yours is an ale/dwarf ale glass though, as the proportions look wrong. For example, the dwarf ale I mention in Bickerton is about the same height, but looks about half the diameter.

[NevB]

Yes Christine the colour is consistent so most likely would have come from added iron. Ekimp, calling it an ale glass was a bit of a guess, I couldn't find another the same shape and size. The book reference seems to confirm the date.

[Lustrousstone]

I don't colour consistency relates to where the iron comes from. It's all melted together and stirred. Builder's sand is orange because it is full of iron...

[Ekimp]

Wouldn’t lots of clear glass be this colour if they didn’t add manganese?

[NevB]

Yes it would Ekimp, but I don't think it would be as green as this, perhaps just a hint of green, I suppose it depends on how much iron is in the sand.

[Lustrousstone]

Yes. Think old coke bottles. Your glass doesn't look old enough to me (note the to me) to have been made from any old sand as was the case with wald glass. 18th and 19th century glass is often beautifully clear because they had worked out that sand mattered

[NevB]

Oops, slightly out on this one. Actually designed by Greta Runeborg-Tell who worked for Ekenäs Sweden between 1941-52. Examples are shown here and elsewhere online.

https://lovedecanters.co.uk/LDEkenas.html