held up to the light. The better kinds, too, have almost invariably a large and deep-cut star on the bottom. Cork glass is rarer than Waterford--a result due to the fact that the Cork factories were in existence only for a comparatively short time. The pieces, too, are slighter, less heavy, and by no means so deeply cut. It is much frailer in appearance and, at the first glance, less attractive; but its great beauty is a charming delicacy both of colour and form which grows upon one’s taste. The wine glasses in particular would at once appeal to a connoisseur from this point of view alone. The three decanters shown in Fig. 34 need only be compared with the Waterford decanters shown elsewhere for the lack of heavy cutting to be immediately noticed. The centre one is interesting as being a commemoration piece probably made in the year when the Cork Yeomanry was formed. Irish glass was not unfrequently profusely engraved and gilt. The gilding was done during manufacture, the gold being burnt in by the aid of borax. In existing specimens much of the gilding has been worn off, so that only traces remain. In cases where it has disappeared entirely a careful scrutiny will show pits and roughnesses, indicating where the decoration formerly stood. Sometimes the places can even be discerned by the touch. Dutch, German, and Austrian reproductions have from time to time flooded the market to be sold to the unwary collector as veritable specimens of Irish art. But these on examination are found to be, as a rule, so coarse and unfinished in their execution that the fraud is obvious. The gilding, in particular, is far inferior to the work of the old craftsmen, who were guided solely by the artist’s desire for perfection, irrespective of toil or cost. Now and again specimens of Irish moulded glass crop up. These are chiefly pint and half-pint beer glasses with fluted sides and somewhat sparse engraving. The moulded glass is, of course, easily detected since the edges of the fluting are rounded and blunt. The pieces themselves are usually absurdly light if intended for Cork glass, or clumsily heavy if they are intended to pass for the Waterford variety. A large field, therefore, opens to the average collector of Irish glass. It is wonderfully fine and not too difficult to obtain. Many collectors [Illustration: 18th CENTURY CUT GLASS WATERFORD DECANTERS.] [Illustration: 18th CENTURY FINGER BOWL. FIG. 35.] too, in their desire to acquire only the earliest specimens, overlook the cut glass altogether as too modern. In spite of this Irish cut glass is now more valuable and far more sought after than any other. After exhaustive inquiries I am satisfied that in Ireland, England, France, and the United States specimens of genuine Irish glass are still to be found, often in the most unlikely places--the property of persons who could not be expected to know their value and of others who ought to but do not.