not easy for us viewers to be confident that this 'mark' really is the remains of gilding (i.e. real gold) - bit too obscure too assess accurately on the screen, and although possible, this isn't a British style that might be associated with gilding ordinarily, but might be Continental.
Hard substances, like glass, can often 'pick up' a mark of colour from other material simply by grazing/bruising/impact in some way - try scratching it for say 1 - 2 mm, and see what happens - although appreciate you might not want to do that. Old lead based paint can sometimes transfer to hard substances, and mislead.
I don't think the possibility of this being gilding will change the suggested date line - my personal opinion remains that this is from somewhere in the middle third of the C19. Circular or oval 'punty' marks were a common form of simple cut decoration on drinking glasses during that period and together with the shape, help to date reasonably well, although I'm more than happy to be corrected should that be wrong
It seems a variety of processes were used to apply gilding to glass - some quite early methods (late C16) were amazingly permanent apparently - although you needed to be royalty to afford the work - some required burnishing in the same way that bookbinders used the agate stone, some used the muffle kiln which burned off the lavendar oil and honey carriers, and others used dodgy chemicals like mercury.
Like many activities which flourished during the industrial revolution, the mid C18 rise in British ceramics factories that copied the gilding of Continental wares may well have benefited the glass trade.
Probably depends of which author you read - some give a date of about 1770-80 (the mercury method) as the beginning of a more durable gilding which could withstand repeated decades of wear (and possibly the dishwasher)
G. Bernard Hughes 'English, Scottish & Irish Table Glass' includes a relevant chapter on gilding plus has other info on the sort of glass you might collect, but if you know of a more recent and reliable volume, pease tell us. What's the title of the book you're reading at the moment??
I've attached pic of a rummer of sorts (probably Continental in view of the ground/polished/bevelled rim and panel of art nouveau style decoration - c. 1900 possibly) with very thick applied enamelled flowers etc., and some gilding which has survived quite well. Some of the gilding hasn't survived, so bit of a hit-and-miss process, and probably too fussy for modern taste in design.
Topic: Rummer (Read 1873 times)
