The Cork houses, the product of which was finer and slighter than other Irish glass, turned out a great quantity of these. Prices run from six guineas upwards. They are copied in great number in Holland, often in small sizes and with flat cutting, so that care must be taken in choosing. Unfortunately the distinctive features--design, colour, and shape--all readily lend themselves to reproduction and, with increasing skill in imitation, make it exceedingly difficult to determine between the true and the false. CHAPTER VII CURIOUS AND FREAK GLASSES Hitherto we have confined our attention to what one may term the legitimate drinking glass in its different varieties. But there were many freak glasses and curious objects made of glass by our forefathers, and these have a special fascination for lovers of the antique. In some cases they appeal because of their quaintness and _bizarrerie_ of form, in others because of their purpose, while other examples have little to commend them save their antiquity. One curious specimen which I came across not long ago was a flask in the shape of a pair of bellows. The nozzle was closed by a cork, and there was a hole in one handle of the bellows by which it might be suspended from a nail in the wall. It was probably employed by some ancient apothecary or alchemist to hold drugs. I should hardly care to dogmatise as to its period, but it was unmistakably of English origin, and certainly quaint and interesting enough to be worth acquiring. Among the commoner “finds” of this kind are the glass paper weights, made with, apparently, a bunch of flowers inside, which is visible when viewed laterally and disappears on a vertical view, when the observer sees nothing but clear glass. I have seen many examples of this kind on sale in shop windows in London, and the price asked is usually modest enough even for a good specimen. In olden times it was customary to place names and dates upon the bottles which held the best ale. Many of these are still in existence, mostly, however, in collections. They are certainly by no means beautiful as far as appearance goes, their interest being centred upon the date, and upon the fact that the practice has now been obsolete for many years. To a casual eye these ale bottles appear black, but if held up to a strong light a greenish tinge is plainly marked. They are very stout and amazingly tough, so that they may even be dropped upon the ground without fear of breaking or chipping. This, by the way, is often put forward by experts as the best test of their genuineness. The test is, however, something on the drastic side. Moreover, dropping other people’s bottles to test their _bona fides_ is a practice hardly likely to commend itself to the seller, and one which might prove unexpectedly costly to the connoisseur. There are many other objects made in glass which are worthy of note--knife-rests, rolling-pins, walking-sticks, quaintly shaped jugs, baskets, forks, bells and horns.