Why I love vintage glass

As I’ve previously blogged, a love of vintage is something that has been with me since a very early age.  That enjoyment I hope comes across in all my posts, and encompasses a wide area of interest, from board games to random street furniture (though that’s probably a post for another day).  Vintage glass though, seems to have captured my imagination more than anything else and I was pondering upon why this might be last night.

First of all, glass has got to have some of the best green credentials of any material known to (or at least created by) man.  It is produced from 100% natural materials and once created, is infinitely recyclable and reusable.  According to the organisation Friends of Glass, one ton of recycled glass saves 1.2 tons of raw materials, and saves 700kg of CO2 emissions.  Always a good start and part of the reason that I do what I do.  I’m afraid what really pleases me about vintage glass though, is much less worthy than that.  It’s because it is beautiful.

Souvenir glass from Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebrations of 1887 – recently discovered at a car boot sale.

I am constantly amazed by the sheer variety of colours, forms and patterns that can be found, not just in vintage glass but going back over hundreds and even thousands of years.  I’m always fascinated by the painted Roman glass found in places like Vindolanda (scroll through the photos in this article to see the piece I mean) but almost equally enjoy the cheap pressed souvenir glass produced by the ton in the Victorian period.  Here’s one I found earlier (inset).

Moving into the 20th century, and especially looking at Art Deco glass, the designs just explode with colour and shape.  Just looking at my collection of trinket dishes (and it’s an extensive collection), virtually every one is different.  I do feel I should be cataloguing all the different types, but that’s probably just the archaeologist in me.

Just a small selection of the myriad colours and forms found in vintage glass trinket boxes.

Oranges, pinks, greens, blues, cranberry and amber, white glass and smoky glass, pressed, cut, bobbly and geometric, pedestalled, flat-bottomed, circular and square.  The beauty of it is that I never know what I’m going to find the next time I step into a junk shop or call into the local car boot sale.  The difficulty is, knowing when to stop!