Crystal Glasses - middle class(?) content

Just buy glasses that you like the look and feel of.

EDIT: these look nice

https://www.ecookshop.co.uk/ecookshop/product.asp?pid=G1127-10-991

Ignoring your comment about price - Waterford, Edinburgh, Baccarat, Lalique.
Alternatively, do the rounds of charity shops as heavy cut-glass tumblers are usually disposed of during house clearances; if you're lucky, you might find a set of tumblers with matching decanter.

Not really a middle class thing - more like 1970s/80s thing!

My mum has tons of it along with Crown Derby.

Amazed anyone still buys it.

Just to add...antique shops.
EDIT: get whatever Mrs K wants and then get yourself a Georgian Rummer.

cut glass tumblers?  Horrible things

My dad plays a lot of bridge. He has won a cabinet full of cut class glasses. None of which match.

Bridge prizes are now m+s vouchers.

It's all going in the charity shop eventually.

Loads of his mates have passed, and will have had similar glass collections. Id start hunting in charity shops frequented by ex bridge players children.

{Best prime of miss jean Brodie accent}
Get yourself to morningside in Edinburgh young man

Middle Glass Content, surely?

Charity shops. Save your money and spend it on what goes inside the glass.

Iittala. The only mass produced crystal glassware I’ve seen glassblowers fawn over.

sold in supermarkets in Finland.

buy secondhand off eBay.

I started drinking out of various styles of Duralex goblets in primary school and have never found anything more functional and pleasant to drink out of. I taught English classes at la Cristallerie Baccarat, a fascinating place but I'd rather drink out of Duralex.

I have a load of mismatched crystal from races way back when, I wouldn't drink anything out of it as most of it is Waterford lead crystal.

Most crystal is lead as it makes it much easier to cut and polish. It shouldn’t dissolute out, though I wouldn’t keep spirits, or indeed anything in a decanter long term. There’s very little new lead goes into crystal nowadays -  it’s largely recycled cullet. My ex was a little paranoid about gloves and face masks when charging the furnaces with cullet as the dust would get everywhere. It was 50/50 what was the more hazardous bit: that or the silica dust from the raw ingredients.

The lead made the molten glass easier to work with as it remained maleable for longer. Water from a water filter in lead crystal would also be a bad idea.

This woman put a decorative metal fish in her water-filter jug. She got lead poisoning and had her feet amputaed among other things. Don't take chances with lead.

https://drs.org/2021/02/10/ex-triathletin-amalia-sedlmayr-meldet-sich-als-sportlerin-zurueck/

I like a nice glass. I received a pewter-and-glass glass made by this lot for Christmas and it's amazing:

https://www.aewilliamsshop.co.uk/

Honestly though, for day-to-day 'nice glass' duties, a set I got from the Middle Of Lidl is as decent as any cut glass I've previously paid considerably more for. I think they were ten quid for four.

My parents would just buy local, which at the time was Pasabahce.

Not much use to you though.....

Duralex!  It bounces a couple of times an then shatters in mid air....

Otherwise indestructable!

Cut crystal glasses aren't to my taste, but the risk from drinking out of lead crystal glasses is nigh on zero. The risk from storing drinks in lead crystal decanters is minimal. The lead content is an integral part of the glass structure and can't come out unless the glass is dissolved.

Bear in mind that "proper" lead crystal glass is about 40% lead oxide. "Modern" lead crystal is only about 24% lead oxide and is significantly less soluble than the 40% lead [oxide] crystal. I used to make glass with 80% lead oxide content (for use in camera lenses and nuclear shielding) and it was perfectly stable.

Lead oxide increases both the refractive index and dispersion (separation of colour) of the glass, lending it brilliance and colour, as well as making it easier to work. Modern, lead free alternatives can get close, but they lack the clarity and freedom from colour cast that real lead crystal possesses.

Much modern "crystal" glassware is cheap, moulded stuff. Ergo: Pick something you like and buy it.

Auction houses sell it by the bucket load for pennies. 2nd hand shops, just a little bit more unless you go to some crazily priced antique boutique.

But on the middle class thing - you mean people actually buy crystal glassware rather than inheriting it? Poor things.

Save your money and spend it on what goes inside the glass.

This was the right answer, fine rums aren’t getting any cheaper.  🙂 I decided to keep the £15 x 2 JL specials and be done with it.  I’m not looking to impress anyone just add a slight sense of occasion when sipping at the XO.

I was in JL buying glasses the other day and was really surprised to see they’re still selling cut glass stuff. It just reminds me of 80s chintz and curtains with pelmets and tie backs. If they feel nice in your hand though, that’s probably the most important thing.

I was in JL buying glasses the other day and was really surprised to see they’re still selling cut glass stuff.

Probably as a present when you can’t think of anything else to buy someone. We got a stupid amount of it when we got married despite specifically saying we didn’t want any presents. Felt obliged to keep it but finally cleared it out last year after it sat for 7 years untouched.

You like crystal? Maybe you need some Franklin mint style collectables too?

Despite my post above, we have loads of it. Mostly Tyrone crystal given as gifts in a previous life. It's OK, I still use the tumblers for whisky but the 3 or 4 port decanters are gathering dust! Not something I'd choose to go out and buy for myself, but as they are gifts from people I like and they jog good memories I keep them.

For me, at this time of the year  I  like how a well made glass adds to my drinking experience.

A bit of weight and the way the glass catches the light from the fire as the weather rages outside,perfect 😃

If you are fine drinking out of plastic mugs,crack on.. 😆 🤣

Yeah, I've got crystal (Edinburgh Crystal iirc) was a wedding present from gawd-knows-who. Never drink out of it. My favoured whisky glass is a lovely thing I stole from a pub 41 years ago.

I was in JL buying glasses the other day and was really surprised to see they’re still selling cut glass stuff.

It's aimed at aspirational middle class, the Hyacinth Buckets of the world.

I need the Elvis Presley Dambusters Tutankhamun clock!

It’s aimed at aspirational middle class, the Hyacinth Buckets of the world.

*waves*

*waves*

You don't need to, we already knew 😉

😂

Alternatively...it's bought by people who are comfortable in themselves and appreciate 'nice things'.

TK Maxx / HomseSense usually have a selection of crystal tumblers and more palatable prices if you don't want to buy S/H

Not really a middle class thing – more like 1970s/80s thing!

To separate you from the people who got their glasses from buying petrol.

I did inherit a few nice glasses from an old neighbour but the ones I use most of his are old Nutella jars. 😂

To separate you from the people who got their glasses from buying petrol.

My family had a petrol station. My folks still have 40+ glasses from a shell promotion.

They are indestructible. I've never broken one or seen one do any more than chip in 30 years.

Perfect for hard drinking bridge players parties as they get progressively older

I'll be fighting my sister to inherit them 😃

Alternatively…it’s bought by people who are comfortable in themselves and appreciate ‘nice things’.

Nice glasses are nice - but cut crystal is horrible 🙂

cut glass tumblers? Horrible things

I drink whisky from my grandfather's crystal tumbler. About the only thing he had of any material value, and it's a nice memory.

I've got (non-cut) Dartington crystal glasses because they were one of my father-in-law's first customers when he moved into sales for Shell. Nice glasses and an interesting company - set up as a social enterprise to bring jobs to Devon.

I have a couple of really special ones that I can remember my mother buying as a wedding anniversary gift for my stepdad. Both are now gone but the glasses are a lovely memory. I use them regularly.

I drink whisky from my grandfather’s crystal tumbler

I asked for the bar mine used and received it too. (Biedemeier wardrobe conversion with plate glass shelving, lighting and a small fridge). There's lots of whiskey in it nowadays and some great memories of times past.

Hmm better than those 80’s globe drinks cabinets, I suppose the new thing is to build your own bar.

Lead oxide increases both the refractive index and dispersion (separation of colour) of the glass, lending it brilliance and colour, as well as making it easier to work. Modern, lead free alternatives can get close, but they lack the clarity and freedom from colour cast that real lead crystal possesses.

It also gives it the ability to ring beautifully like a bell when you tap it. I’ve got quite a lot of glass inherited from my mum, some is glass that was handed down to her, and the best I’ll be keeping. I’ve got some at the moment that I need to give a clean before taking to the charity shop.

Alternatively…it’s bought by people who are comfortable in themselves and appreciate ‘nice things’.
Nice glasses are nice – but cut crystal is horrible.

That is entirely a matter of taste, appreciation of quality of manufacture, and also entirely subjective. There’s also a difference between cut-crystal, and ‘cut glass’. Much has the appearance of cut glass but is moulded, but real cut glass will have been literally cut by hand on a diamond wheel, and which involves a great deal of skill. I have two cut-crystal goblets about 8-9” tall, that ring clearly with just a brush of a finger, and will not be leaving my possession; while they may not be to tj’s taste, they are things of real quality and beauty, and should be appreciated as such.

Oh, and my mum’s love of glass and crystal came from her decidedly working-class background, she, like my dad and myself, were and are working-class, but like so many others, appreciated quality and good workmanship when seen, and appreciated it all the more when she came in possession of it, rather than owning it just because it was an expectation of a position in society.