XIV Candlesticks, Lustres, and Lamps
Lustres and girandoles are often collected; glass standard lamps seldom, at present; glass candlesticks are much hunted for.
1 Candlesticks
The most beautiful of glass candlesticks are those made and cut at Waterford, which stand about 12 inches high; £10 is a low price for a pair. Bristol cut-glass candlesticks are nearly as fine; Bristol opal-glass candlesticks, plain or painted in the Battersea enamel style, are exceedingly rare. Candlesticks with air-spiral and cotton-white stems are occasionally met with. Ordinary moulded-glass candlesticks, of the early nineteenth century, are pretty numerous: fine moulded candlesticks are of earlier date.
Glass candlesticks of Georgian date follow much the same order as the contemporary wine glasses, in the feet, pontil-marks, and stems. The earliest have baluster stems about 9 inches high, and round feet between 6 and 7 inches in diameter; the feet are domed or high instep, and the pontil-mark is a lump. The dome foot occurs with the air-spiral stems, later, and even with the cut stems, later still; in these last, as in the moulded and in the cut and engraved examples, the pontil-mark does not show. Fine candlesticks ornamented by purfling were made (see, page 60). Glass taper stands are found.