Vintage Waterford Crystal Wine or Water Goblet Glasses, Set of 10
View Similar Items
Vintage Waterford Crystal Wine or Water Goblet Glasses, Set of 10
About the Item
- Creator:Waterford Crystal (Maker)
- Dimensions:Height: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)Diameter: 3 in (7.62 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 10
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 20th Century
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. - Very Good condition as show in images with no chips noted.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1314214208182
Waterford Crystal
Among glassware aficionados, the name Waterford has earned a place of eminence — both for antique crystal vases, glasses, chandeliers and serveware 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 — the source of crystal to legendary 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.
Introduced in 1991, the Marquis by Waterford range of vases, bowls and other wares were priced for everyday use and were intended for use in modern homes. It was the first new brand debuted by the company in what was then its more than two-century history.
As you will see on 1stDibs, antique or recently made, Waterford crystal is the essence of refinement.
Find Waterford crystal vases, serveware and other collectibles for sale on 1stDibs.
More From This Seller
View AllLate 20th Century French Barware
Crystal
Late 20th Century Belgian Barware
Crystal
Late 20th Century French Barware
Crystal
Late 20th Century French Barware
Crystal
21st Century and Contemporary Organic Modern Barware
Glass, Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Czech Barware
Crystal
You May Also Like
20th Century Irish Mid-Century Modern Crystal Serveware
Crystal
Late 20th Century Irish Crystal Serveware
Crystal
20th Century Irish Barware
Crystal
Late 20th Century Irish Crystal Serveware
Crystal
20th Century French Crystal Serveware
Crystal
20th Century North American Georgian Barware
Crystal
