An English Toasting Glass c1735

Heading : Toasting glass
Period : 18th Century
Date : 1725- 1750
Origin : England
Colour : Clear
Bowl : Trumpet
Stem : Plain
Foot : Conical
Pontil : Snapped
Glass Type : Lead
Size : 19.3cm tall with a 6.8cm bowl and 7.6cm foot   
Condition : Excellent.
Weight: 71 grams

Additional Information : Toasting glasses were thought to be made for one time use such that having toasted the well being of some fair lady. or the health of the king then the glasses would be smashed to prevent the value of the toast being denuded. Despite the seemingly repetitive confirmations of various authors. Sydney Compton. Joseph Bles and others simply being in accord with one another the primary sources of information do confirm that this was not always the case. Such was the cost of glass that toasting glasses were offered for “a toast to their majesties” and then removed for subsequent use within gentlemens clubs (Laurence Sterne – clergyman and novelist 1713-1768). The reality however is so much less romantic and less dashing.

References :

Eighteenth Century English Drinking Glasses an Illustrated Guide. By L.M Bickerton – Page 136 Plate 332.

Old English Drinking Glasses Their Chronology and Sequence By Grant R. Francis F.S.A – Plate 179.

The Arthur Negus Guide To British Glass By John Brooks – Page 34 Plate 16.

Glass By E. Barrington Haynes – Plate 50e.