Perhaps as an out-growth of the rapid advancement of technology in recent history, it seems that many people make some erroneous assumptions about the age of antiques. An example of this was a gentleman I recently overheard stating that a piece of furniture could not date from the 19th century, because beveled edge mirrors hadn't been invented.
Glass (and by extension, mirrors) have a fascinating history. Archaeologists know that glass-making was well-established in Egypt by about 1500 B.C. And, we know that glass was greatly advanced by the ancient Romans. Through the middle-ages, glass sheets were generally formed using centrifugal force to spin a disk of glass. The glass disks could then be cut into useful shapes, but the glass was found to be thicker as one approached the outer rim of the disk. Imperfect glass eventually came to be ground manually on a flat abrasive surface.
- Small sheets of glass were then assembled into window panes by use of wood, lead, or other connective materials. And, eventually led to "stained glass" techniques.
- Once the techniques of grinding glass were established, it was only a matter of time before they were used to decorative effect. So that beveled glass appears about mid-way through the 17th century.
- The Glass Press was invented in 1827, allowing glass to be formed in a mold.
- Glass Rolling machines came into common use in the mid 19th century, and allowed production of continuous or nearly-continuous sheets of glass. However, these machines tended to embed bubbles in the glass, as well as imparting a somewhat "wavy" surface.
- Cylinder-formed glass was created about 1900, and eliminated most of the undesirable qualities imparted by rolling machines.
- And, while wavy glass is generally considered an attribute of 19th century glass, truly (optically) flat glass only became widely available in the 1950s.
See some of our antiques at crystalmoongallery.com
David Abbott
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