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Why You Should Buy Vintage Glass?
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Smart Choice View printable PDF Version
Old beautiful glass objects are a good investment 
Retro, vintage and antique glass art and glassware are the smart choices for home and office décor and special gifts. Beautiful, well made and innovative glass of yesteryear far outshines anything available in retail stores today. Vintage and antique glass was made well. It comes from the time when products were meant to please the consumer with beauty, quality and innovations.
From the beginnings of civilization up until the mid 20th Century glass objects were made by artists and craftsmen at great glass houses or infamous studios. The designs were carefully engineered with style, quality and usefulness in mind. The décor and artistic skills found on vintage glass is exceptional and unique. The glass was real glass, made from a complex recipe and heated to an extreme high degree in on-site furnaces and blown or molded into shape by hand.
Most new glass found on the shelves of retail stores today is imported. Ninety nine percent of the glass objects come from China where it is mass produced by machines and human handlers. China is reproducing vintage and antique styles by the jillions. The reproductions are very poor in shape, décor and quality. The décor on Chinese glass imports is brash and messy. Mass produced glass objects are made of a pre-mixed glass of poor quality which is lacquered with a substance that makes it look shiny. This “lacquer” washes off. It’s probable that the magic temporary lacquer is not good for our health if ingested. Water can easily penetrate this cheap glass and leave calcium deposits that do not wash off. The glass weighs considerably less than what well-made glass should weigh. Yes, it’s cheap…and disposable.
 A few real glass houses still remain in the world today. Steuben (American), Salviati (Italian), Iittala, Kosta Boda (Scandinavian), and a few more, have all survived the 20th Century. Fine glass house items can be found at the upper-crust retail stores and boutiques. Expect to pay a fortune..and it is usually worth it.
The Pilchuck glass art school, run by Dale Chihuly, is renovating the studio art glass industry of the 1950s – 1970s and producing fabulous new artists. New studio glass artist’s work (made with quality and ingenuity…the old fashioned way) can be seen in galleries around the world. Contemporary studio glass is very expensive due to today’s high energy costs and other high costs of living. But the stunning new innovations resulting from the new era studio glass movement is mind-popping and well worth the investment…if you have thousands to spend.
| Vortex Vase by Robert Fritz 1960s |
Buying old beautiful glass for décor or gift saves money and energy. Antique (glass over 70 year old), vintage (40 to 70), and retro (20 to 40) glass objects can be purchased at a fraction of what the same glass would cost if it were made today. Old glass is of better quality and less expensive. And as a plus for everyone, there’s a big savings in energy whenever you buy vintage glass instead of new. The incredible amount of energy needed to make old glass has already been spent. New studio glass
must be heated and worked by very hot furnaces (as in the past). Buying new glass means you are buying products made with new energy, 99% of it being spent by China, a country that already uses far too much energy and produces a massive amount of pollution.
Buy distinctive and beautiful old glass. You’ll be happier with the product. Your item will be very unique, will gain in value, it can be passed down to your children, you’ll save money and get better quality, and you’ll be active in saving energy.
| 1950s Blenko Giant Onion Airtwist Decanter |
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