Wine glasses do not by any means exhaust the list of collectable glasses on stems; there are many desirable stemmed glasses once used for ale, cider, perry, or spirits, to be acquired.

1. ALE AND BEER GLASSES

Many glasses, drawn, bell, or waisted-bell shape in bowl and baluster, plain round, air spiral, cotton-white spiral, or cut in stem, exist, which appear to have been used for the very strong ale then brewed; often these are engraved with representations of hops and barley.

Large vessels, perhaps used for “small beer,” exist, from 9 to 16 inches tall, and proportionately capacious: the biggest of the kind I ever saw was engraved with Jacobite emblems. The smaller examples of this class may have been used daily; the larger may have been kept for occasional use as loving-cups, or were never used at all, perhaps, being merely tours de force of the glass-maker, and kept as ornaments to a sideboard. The very large ones are drawn glasses, with plain round stems, as a rule; the nine-or ten-inch tall glasses of this kind are baluster or plain round in stem. I bought one of these (see page 48) for £2 5s. not long ago; its West-End price now might be £10, for it is “Waterford.”

2. CIDER GLASSES

No doubt some of the glasses mentioned just above were used at times for strong cider; perhaps large goblets were used for draught perry or cider at times. But special cider glasses exist, engraved with representations of apples and apple-tree leaves, or apple-trees, and these, from 6 to 7 inches tall, have ogee or rectangular bowls as a rule, and usually cotton-white spiral stems.

3. CHAMPAGNE OR MUM GLASSES

There are two types of old champagne or mum glasses, each rare: one type has a wide-lipped bell or double-ogee bowl, upon a baluster stem, and much resembles some of the bigger sweetmeat glasses; the other type is 7 to 9 inches high, ogee bowl, and cotton-white stem.

4. RUMMERS AND MUGS

There were three shapes of rummers used, one goblet shape, one on a tall stem, and one on a stem which is also a base: sometimes the base of an old rummer is square. The first of these three shapes has a baluster stem, the second a plain round, spiral, or cut stem.

Fine mugs, with handles, imitating contemporary old silverware, are found; the mugs show something of a stem (see illustration, page 7). Often they are engraved with the initials of their first owner, and sometimes are dated also. Fine double-handled mugs, like loving-cups, exist.

5. SPIRIT GLASSES AND CORDIAL GLASSES

These are small in bowl and short in stem, the bowl is often straight-sided, and the stem is usually drawn, and often cut. But there are many with drawn bowls and plain stems. A “thistle” glass of this kind is specially valued. Often the bowl is engraved. Cordial glasses may have long stems.

6. COACHING GLASSES AND FUDDLING GLASSES

These are glasses which have no feet: they were used at one draught of the liquor in them. I bought a Bristol opal glass of the kind for 6d., but these are excessively rare. Almost as rare are the plain glasses, with cut stems, used in coaching days. When the stage coach paused at an inn, a waiter came out with a tray of footless glasses, each resting on its bowl; the traveller took one up, inverted it into the proper position, held it out to the bottle or decanter in the waiter’s hand, drank, and set the glass down upon its bowl again. A fuddling glass was a variety of coaching glass used indoors, for a rapid dram; a “thistle” glass of this kind was favoured in Scotland.

7. TOASTMASTER GLASSES

These are less capacious dram glasses than they seem; the lower part of the bowl was deceptively made very thick, so that the toastmaster at a banquet need not drink so much as would otherwise have been necessary, when announcing and sharing in every one of the score or two of the toasts and “sentiments” which were honoured at every convivial board. A relic of the “sentiment” habit was preserved by Dickens in the language of Mr. Dick Swiveller: “May the wing of friendship never moult a feather” was a “sentiment” in its day.

8. “HOGARTH” GLASSES

Certain short, short-stemmed, or almost stemless glasses, with “Norwich” feet often, and with drawn or waisted-bell bowls wide at the mouth, are known as “Hogarth” glasses, because they were often shown in Hogarth’s pictures of contemporary social life.

9. TAVERN AND KITCHEN GLASSES

Old glasses are often found which in shape and purpose correspond with those described in this chapter and chapters vi, vii, and viii, but were obviously inferior in finish of make when new. These may be taken to be glasses made cheaply for tavern and kitchen use; though not so attractive as the better qualities, they should not be neglected by the collector.

10. YARD OF ALE GLASSES

Evelyn tells in his diary that in 1683 the health of James II was drunk at Bromley “in a flint glass of a yard long.” Imitations of these are made, but the real old ones are excessively rare. In shape they rather resemble a coaching-horn, the mouthpiece being the foot, or the mouthpiece being replaced by a bulb. They were used at merry-makings, as proof of bibulous skill in emptying a glass a yard long. There are also half-yard glasses.

11. “THIMBLEFUL” GLASSES

These have a very small straight-sided or ogee bowl, upon a plain round, or spiral stem and big foot. They are very rare.