These distinctions of tone and colour which I have ventured to point
out are by no means universal, so that a piece which does not possess
them must not be rejected as spurious _merely on this account_.
Sometimes it is impossible to say from what county a piece came, and
this has led experts to refer to the products supposed to emanate from
the Cork or Waterford factories as "Munster glass." Even this term is
not broad enough, however, for it fails to include the pieces turned
out by the Dublin factories, and these are nearly as likely to be
mistaken for Cork or Waterford wares, as the two latter are likely to
be mistaken for each other. _The blue-grey tinge popularly regarded as
exclusively associated with Waterford glass is quite an erroneous means
of identification, as most of the pieces I have come across, actually
impressed with the mark "Cork Glass Co.," were of this tint._ Dublin
glass, before 1800, was very dark in colour, and the very early pieces
are almost black.
It is very frequently suggested that the chemical action of the air on
old Irish glass may have something to do with the mystery of its unique
coloration; and, strange as it may seem, it is an undoubted fact that
glass does change its tone with the slow lapse of years. I believe this
to be specially so with Irish glass which has remained a long time
in Ireland; and the existence of such phenomena is borne out by the
effect that the atmosphere of Ireland has on old white marble. It may
be argued that, should this be the case, the coloration of Irish glass
may be caused entirely by the atmospheric conditions under which it is
kept, and owe nothing to its local peculiarities of manufacture. This
theory, however, cannot be substantiated, _as English glass does not
appear to be affected by Irish atmosphere to anything like the same
degree as the native metal_. I have frequently seen old Irish dessert
services and chandeliers in which individual pieces which had been
broken had been replaced by facsimiles made in England. These replaced
pieces, however early their origin, do not appear to have changed
colour in the least, and because of this can be readily singled out
among their fellows of native manufacture.
RESILIENCE OF IRISH GLASS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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