Although the finest complete services are out of reach for most collectors, it is possible to find beautiful single pieces such as teabowls, coffee cups and saucers, teapots, jugs and chocolate beakers at reasonable prices.

Tea, coffee, and chocolate have been firm favourites with the British ever since a ‘drink called by the Chineans tcha’ was introduced in the 1630s, the first coffee house was opened in London in 1650, and chocolate was first advertised for sale as a drink in 1657. The three beverages were to have a profound influence on the ceramics industries of Britain and the rest of Europe. The high cost of tea when it first arrived in Europe was responsible for keeping early wares small, so that such a luxury item would not be wasted. (more…)

At Nailsea in Somerset, as you pass in the train from Bristol to Weston-super-Mare, you can still see few creeper-covered stumps of buildings on the site of the famous glassworks, which once employed several hundred men.

Nowadays “Nailsea” is a legend, and the word has come to be applied to several different kinds of fancy or coloured glass which were made at other places besides Nailsea, and often long after the factory closed.

First there are all those bottles, jugs, rolling pins, decanters, cups and mugs which are made of dark bottle glass with coloured flecks. Sometimes these flecks are white, sometimes they are in other colours like red, yellow, and pale blue. (more…)

SPATTER, STRIPE AND SPANGLE

Here are three more recognisable types worth collecting. Spatter is a term you will hear when you are shown pieces which seem to be made of coloured glass with a mottled effect, with clear glass overlay and often having applied decoration of clear glass as well. Apart from candlesticks, there are sugar bowls, lamps, nightlights, even the little hats and shoes mentioned under “Toys.” Then there is another type which comes in coloured stripes, opaque white in combination with pink, green or lemon. This also usually has an overlay of clear glass. Silvered glass gets its effect from having colouring matter between two skins of glass, the outer being cut away to reveal the silver. (more…)

Victorian fancy glass, in all its astonishing variety. Here is a field for the collector who likes pieces which can sometimes be gay and charming, sometimes elaborate and impressive, nearly always triumphs of glass-making skill which will probably never be made again. The group on the front cover shows a few of the types made.

But here as elsewhere the ordinary collector must specialise, otherwise he or she will be overwhelmed with all there is to buy. There are many ways of doing this— you can pick a particular process like spangled glass and collect specimens of it, or you can look for things of one kind, like vases or coloured glass plates. You could also make up combinations of them. But before going too far into selection let us see what there is to select. (more…)

Look in any tray of jewellery, and a cameo will always stand out from the rest of the pieces there. This is probably because it gives us a picture of something—a classical head or a group of children—and we all like a picture.

But perhaps the word picture is rather misleading when we are talking about cameos. For a cameo, properly speaking is not just a “little picture“—in other words a “miniature”. Nor even is it just a piece of sculpture, or carving in low relief. It is, in fact, a kind of carving in layers of different colours or textures, so that something carved out of the top layer stands out in contrast to the ground beneath. (more…)