Something Different - Modern Ebony and Crystal Champagne Flutes

These champagne flutes are not what I usually sell as they are contemporary and moderate quality glass. The ebony stems hold the clear glass bowls and look like they are wrapped around. Rather a neat design and I could not resist getting these to resell.

It is interesting that so little glass is still made in America and I think one reason is that styles changed and stems like these, which are rather plain and do not require handwork to make, are more popular than the lovely etched glass from before the 1950s.

Flipping through my Fostoria reference books makes the point obvious. Glass before about 1960 was often etched, usually required skilled craftsmen, and was fairly intricate. Glass companies could compete on style and design and having a skilled workforce was an advantage. Glass patterns became increasingly plain during the 1960s, etchings became far less popular, and there is very little to differentiate Fostoria's patterns like Argus or Mesa from mass-produced glassware. If you pick up a Fostoria Argus tumbler the quality is obvious, but just looking, especially looking at pictures, it is not immediately clear why a Fostoria tumbler would be several times as expensive as the mass-produced glasssware.