Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects

Among glassware aficionados, the name Waterford has earned a place of eminence — both for antique crystal made by the original Irish company in the 18th and 19th centuries, and for new versions of the firm’s classic patterns produced after its rebirth in the 1940s. With either iteration, Waterford is a byword for traditional elegance.
Waterford crystal was born of a tax loophole. In 1783, business-minded brothers George and William Penrose founded the Waterford Glass House in southeastern Ireland because Irish glass was exempt from steep British import duties. The two wanted to make fine-quality wares and hired artisans from England, including master glassmaker John Hill. The factory’s flint glass — a precursor to lead crystal — soon won a clientele among British and continental aristocrats. One of Hill’s aesthetic innovations was to polish glassware after a pattern was cut, to buff off the resulting frosted surface. The look became a Waterford trademark. Through the fame of its wine goblets, claret jugs and decanters, the firm continued to win honors at the many industrial expositions of the early Victorian era. But over those years, higher and higher luxury excise taxes were placed on fine crystal. Waterford products became prohibitively expensive, and the company closed in 1851.
The brand’s renown was still intact when it was revived in 1947 by a Czech glass manufacturer named Charles Bacik, who moved to Ireland after the Communist takeover of his country. For centuries, the region now called the Czech Republic had been the great glassware center of Middle Europe — source of crystal to great Viennese glass design firms such as Lobmeyr and Bakalowits. So Bacik brought with him the master glassblower and designer Miroslav Havel. In Dublin, Havel studied the old Waterford style book archives kept in the National Museum. He used these classic patterns as the basis for new ones such as Lismore, with its crosshatching and flame-like vertical cuts, and Alana, with its heavily textured diamond cuts. Past and present are thus linked at Waterford. As you will see on 1stDibs, antique or recently made, Waterford crystal is the essence of refinement.
Late 20th Century Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
20th Century Northern Irish Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
1990s Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
19th Century Irish Georgian Antique Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
20th Century Northern Irish Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Finnish Post-Modern Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Late 20th Century Irish Modern Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Irish Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Glass
20th Century Northern Irish Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal, Brass
Late 20th Century Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Northern Irish Modern Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Modern Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Ceramic
Early 20th Century Classical Greek Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Shell, Porcelain
Late 20th Century Chinoiserie Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Porcelain, Hardwood
1980s Rustic Vintage Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Ceramic
Early 20th Century Neoclassical Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Porcelain
1990s Irish Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Irish Modern Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Glass
Late 20th Century Irish Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Irish Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal, Quartz
20th Century American Modern Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Cut Glass
20th Century Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Irish Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
Late 20th Century Finnish Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Art Glass
1990s Irish Modern Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal
21st Century and Contemporary Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
1970s Vintage Waterford Crystal Decorative Objects
Crystal