Drinking glasses from the 18th and 19th centuries are enormously varied and survive in surprisingly large numbers, making them affordable and attractive items for collectors.

At the end of the 2nd century BC the Romans were making cups and beakers in pale green or blue-tinted glass in large numbers. Glass was a material of everyday use in a way that was not to be seen after the fall of Rome until the l9th century. (more…)

Dinner consisted of a soup, fish, fricassee of chicken, cutlets, veal, hare, vegetables of all kinds, tart, melon, pineapple, grapes, peaches, nectarines with wine in proportion. Six servants wait upon us, a gentleman-inwaiting and a fat old housekeeper hovering round the door. Four hours later the door opens and in is pushed a supper of the same proportions.’ So the Countess of Granville recorded in 18 o a meal served just to her husband and herself. Food and drink were central to luxurious living and the wealthy offered guests dozens of dishes at dinner. (more…)

Tumbler cups were simple, amusing little vessels which never actually tumbled, because the silver in their rounded base was of a heavier weight than the sides, causing them to right themselves before they spilled their contents. Thus they were most convenient in carriages when refreshment was taken, since they could be relied upon to stay more or less upright, however rough the road or unpredictable the reactions of the horses in an emergency. These tiny cups appeared from about 1650 and were much in demand thereafter, particularly during the eighteenth century. They were usually devoid of decoration except for the owner’s crest or a little engraving, and measured from around two inches in height, seldom being more than four. (more…)

Coasters are much in demand, not only by collectors, but by all who appreciate the subdued glow of old silver on the dining-table. They came into more general use from approximately 1760 and were sold individually or in sets. Often described as bottle stands, their purpose was to prevent the surface of the table from becoming scratched or marked as the wine bottle was pushed along for the replenishment of the glass. The base of the coaster was usually made of boxwood, covered beneath with green baize. The beautifully pierced and embossed sides were similar to other contemporary table pieces such as salt cellars or dish rings. After about 1770 the sides were mechanically pierced. The join between the sides and the wooden base was generally disguised by some form of ornament such as reeding. (more…)

I do not know if waiters were especially talkative in the eighteenth century, but when English cabinet-makers found a demand for a piece of furniture which, asSheraton put it later, “served in some respects the place of a waiter”, it was called a “dumb waiter”.

At first it took the form of three tiers of diminishing table-tops mounted upon a central pedestal with claw or tripod feet. It seems to have evolved from the tiers of glass tazza-shaped stands on which one placed jelly and sweetmeat glasses. Sometimes this kind of dumb waiter stood beside the main table and was used for carrying the wines; at other times it would be loaded with cakes or dessert. The great point about them was that the trays or shelves could revolve, so that to avoid spilling the things upon them, the general structure had to be pretty tough— which is probably why so many have survived. (more…)

Looking at the row of old bottles some people might well wonder what possible interest or attraction they might have. Surely the onlyperson likely to collect them would be a dustman!

Yet anyone with a taste for history and interest in old things can find a fascinating quest in old serving bottles— or “sealed” bottles as they are sometimes called. For in many cases it is possible not only to date them but to trace their actual owner anything up to three hundred years ago.

These bottles go back to the time when an establishment of any consequence—a big house or a college—would buy its wine by the barrel, and have it brought to the tables in bottles. At first these bottles, short, round and dumpy, were made of stoneware or delftware and they often bore the initials or arms of the original owner, a date, and sometimes the name of the wine, say Rhenish or Sack. (more…)