I Adore Glass

I just LOVE anything glass!!!!!

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Glass is created by volcanoes melting sand into the beautiful black obsidian and lightning flashing onto beaches creating the beautiful pieces of green glass but the oldest man-made glass has been found in graves throughout Mesopotamia.  It has also been found in Egyptian tombs that are over 4,000 years old.  Ancient cultures considered(as do I) that glass was more valuable and beautiful than gold. Later in the 1st century BC, the technique of glass blowing was discovered in Syria and glass became common throughout the Roman Empire.

Photo from Antique Trader

Do these perfume bottles look like they are  over 2,000 years old???  Just beautiful!

Stained Glass Canterbury, England

During the Dark Ages glass making also declined only to be gloriously revived with the stained glass of the cathedrals that were built during the 1100's.  I love these from Canterbury Cathedral which I visited last November.  The colors are so vivid.

Venice became and remains a glass making center. The glass makers techniques were so secret that the glass blowers were not allowed to leave the island of Murano so that they would be unable to teach their methods to others. Luckily they didn't succeed in keeping the secret but they are still make the most beautiful glass pieces on the island.

In 1676, the Englishman George Ravenscroft added lead to glass and brilliant, sparkling glass was born. This glass was softer than regular and could be carved making cut glass.  My grandmother had many pieces of cut glass so I'm a lucky ancestor.

The U.S.A. now has some of the world's greatest glass artists like: Dale Chihuly, Richard Satava and Craig Zweifel.

When I win the lottery...

So I have all kinds of glass all over my house. I have a collection of paperweights in my bedroom, cut glass in my dining room, perfume bottles in the up-stair's guest bath, colored pitchers in my kitchen and then mid-century vases( my current obsession) everywhere.

If you are considering collecting glass, here are some of my personal rules.  I have to make rules for my collections so I don't get carried away and have 87 pairs of candlesticks.  Yes, I did!



 1)Look for signatures - They hide them!

2)Keep labels on piece if possible.


3) Heaviness or lightness are equally desirable.


4) Since most pieces are unmarked and unidentifiable,  look for great color and shape - Good pieces will jump out at you.

5) Punty marks on the bottom are an indication that the piece is truly hand blown.  I especially like anything that is hand blown.

6)  And please, please, please don't drive the price up. There are still beautiful vases in my price range!