What's it all about?
This site represents the industries that produced glassware for all manner of uses: industrial, utilitarian, technical, scientific, to name a few, but also general domestic glassware types.
Essentially, this means virtually anything produced in glass that is not necessarily decorative! Accepting the premise that any vintage glass is collectable — take insulators for example — then this site will make efforts to cover it, and/or link users to other sites better suited to help.
Two large UK companies, Pilkington Brothers and Chance Brothers, feature heavily. This is due to the on-going research into the two companies. It was Chance that was the more diverse and
concentrated on virtually all aspects of
glass manufacture, while Pilkington held
mainly to its core business — the production
of flat glass.
Decorative Glass?
Well, here is the problem. Paperweights are highly decorative, and were originally intended as functional items, but nowadays they have a collectable field entirely its own. There are also many web sites to cover this topic, so for the purpose of this site, only those items which are truly functional will be shown.
Advertising on Glass
This was, and still is, an area that some companies will exploit. Often, a normal household item could be printed with the company name. Most commonly seen are those trays produced by Chance Bros. (and others) that were produced solely for this purpose.
URGENT! Broadfield House under threat
Broadfield House Glass Museum is under threat of closure, and a subsequent reduction in services.
As a 'Glassie' your help is appreciated in making your voice heard. Please visit the following links:
Glass Association
Friends of Broadfield House
If possible a recipricol link to http://www.friendsofbroadfieldhouse.co.uk would be appreciated! |
Skerries Lighthouse, 1904
The scale is deceptive: it is about 24-foot (8 metres) tall! |
Chance Brothers, 1824-1981
The main industries supported by Chance
were; flat glass, optical glass, rolled-plate
glass, blown glass, pressed
glass. |
For
information on domestic glassware, visit
|