Читать книгу Collecting Old Glass, English and Irish - J. H. Sir Yoxall - Страница 7

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Collecting is a form of education, but it is not difficult to become a knowledgeable collector of old glass. Counterfeits are sent out by the thousand, forgeries lie in wait, totally new glassware, imitative of the old, is on sale in hundreds of curio dealers’ shops, some of them otherwise honest and respectable; but only ignorance or carelessness need be taken in. A little study, a little observation, a little care, and the beginner will soon be able to avoid mistakes. Connoisseurship in old glass is less difficult than it is in old china, for example; porcelain or earthenware collecting is more various, more detailed, has reference to longer periods of manufacture, and involves much more specific knowledge than glass-collecting does. Yet I have known two or three collectors of porcelain who declined to begin collecting old glass because, they said, they would “never dare”—as if an almost miraculous skill were needed to become a connoisseur in old glass! In point of fact, this is the easiest hobby to study and know; glass-collecting requires an eye for the different shades and tints of the metal, a finger-tip for the feel of it, an ear for the ring of it, and not much money as yet, and practically that is all. There are no trade-marks to puzzle or deceive you; there is no such distinction, difficult to understand and master, as between “soft” china and “hard.” At present old glass is easy to know, and not difficult to find.

I propose in this book to give general hints, “tips,” and instructions applicable to every variety of old glass; to explain the seven principal tests of genuine age and antique make; to prepare the beginner to go out collecting glass with the infallible rules and principles for it fixed in his mind. Equipped with these, anyone may examine, test, and if satisfactory buy any vessel of glass which he or she may find in any odd corner. I am not writing the book for the rich, but for people with more taste and cultivation than money, and though I deprecate “collecting” for the sake of selling again at a profit, I may well point out that old English and Irish glass, bought cheaply now, may become an investment de père de famille; the collector may have the joy of finding it, the continual pleasure of owning it, and yet know that it will turn out to be “good business” for his heirs, when the sale comes, at the end.