Featured Question about American Brilliant Cut Glass

I used to collect American Brilliant. I packed it all away quite a few years ago to do a remodel and never unpacked it. I've been thinking I could part with most of it but just looked up the prices it brings. The bottom has really dropped out!

How long ago did that happen and do you see the prices recovering? It sure is pretty stuff...

Thanks for your input! ~melissa

 

Unless you are teaching your grandchildren to love collecting fancy glass to display but not use it wont recover $$$$$. The ABC is not dishwasher safe and prone to chipping in a sink. Servant to wash are needed for its care. Some will always want the history and workmanship but not enough to keep the price up.

 

Alas, no grandchildren. Funny you should mention the dishwasher though. I recently made personalized ceramic mugs for each of the great nieces and nephews. One of the parents immediately asked if they were dishwasher safe! They are and he was happy.

Thanks for the input, although it makes me sad.

 

I have a large collection of ABCG--yes...market is the pits...and has been for a few years. Even my more valuable pieces would be impossible to sell at a decent price..and the lower value pieces are now worth nothing

It is really sad...the workmanship on the best pieces is extraordinary...and mostly now unappreciated by most people.

I still display a few items...but most ...packed away...

 

What a shame. I'm sure if I keep it, it will just get garage saled when I'm gone, not that I'm going anywhere anytime soon ~ that I know of! At least if I sell it now it will go to someone who appreciates it. I'm trying to clear out some of the non family related accumulation.

 

Hi,
I was lucky for once. I sold all of mine in 2007 and gave the rest away.. The prices now a days are a joke. The only piece I really wanted to keep was a wonderful lamp shade. Only it weighed a good 25 pounds. Far too heavy for any lamp I had at the time. I never see any for sale anymore I guess they are all in collections or stored in the attic again.
greg

 

That problem is drastically reduced if you stop listening to the doomsayers and proceed within the original guidelines............ALL glassware in our home(s) was washed in a lead lined sink. Lead being relatively soft, most glass would "bounce" off of the sides of the sink and the rebound was lessened so that it did not crash into other pieces in the sink (NEVER more than three pieces at a time) with as much momentum as it does off of stainless, porcelain enamel, or copper, though copper was "second choice" - which is why so many bar sinks are copper even unto this exalted day and age.........................

and yeah, we used the lead sink in the butlery even after all the servants were retired...........or fired..............

 

Hmmm, lead poisoning?(LOL) Would that explain any of the relatives?

 

We didn't have servents or lead or copper sinks, but we never washed crystal or anything fragile without lining the sink with a couple layers of bath towels and never washed more than one piece at a time. As far as I can recall, I've never chipped anything...knock wood!

Now I want a copper sink.

 

Absolutely NOT................we chalk THEM up to inbreeding..............

On a medical level, there was never any lead ingested. Just like using water with a high lead content to shower, launder, clean, it is rinsed off and does not have an affect on the human system. It is only ingesting lead that is an issue. But the alarmists in this world hear the word LEAD and they go running off screaming about that bit of sky that is falling....................

If you should seriously consider this route, you want a COPPER sink, not a stainless steel sink with a copper finish. Decorators, and most plumbers of today, won't know the difference.

 

Amen. They'd know the difference if they priced them out. Copper isn't cheap. I've always wanted copper backsplash in a kitchen, in back of a stove or the like. Beat it up and it just looks better, there's no grout to mess with and no nasty granite, and it looks a lot less institutional than steel.

 

...actually we had a water filter pop and flood our kitchen and den about ten years ago, that's when we remodeled and when I packed up the glass. When I thought I was going to have to replace the kitchen cabinets I found a fabricator who would make me a copper sink. I was also considering at least partial copper countertops. I'm so glad we didn't have to rip out the kitchen to that extent, I really like my kitchen, but I am disappointed I didn't get the copper....and I never want to go through that again...so no copper for me :-(

 

@evelyb30 & @Mansons2005, one of my friends family's still has an adobe home built in the late 1800's. It has the original copper sinks and counter tops. They're breathtakingly beautiful. They show all the history of the house. Dings, dents, scratches, shiny spots where acidic foods were recently spilled on them. I get really quiet and reverent in that kitchen! I'm sure they think I'm a little odd...okay they know I am...but it's incredible. They rent it out for fundraisers and celebrations.

 

That sounds wonderful. They're used to that kitchen, but the rest of us just have to read about it to drool.

 

Years ago I was given a crystal decanter and was told that altho it had been meant for sherry or madeira, I should not fill and store anything in the decanter as the lead would leach out
Does anyone disagree with this practice?

 

I dont know about glass, but as a potter, I know about heavy metal leaching from glazes. Glaze is essentially glass. Heavy metals leach from glaze into food fastest when in contact with acidic foods, tomatoes, citrus, vinegars...wine...

Most heavy metals have been phased out in glazes in the US.

 

That's no one eats off old red Fiestaware. It's pretty, but the original version had lead in the glaze.

 

yep.

Lead lowers the melt point of glazes, a good thing to speed up production. It was in (I think) most of the old Homer Laughlin (fiesta ware) glazes, earthenware, and majolica which is all low fired. As a rule, I don't use old pottery for acidic foods.

 

Good to know. Hadn't realized that some of the older pottery could be a health risk. I've got Hall pieces and such... May have to rethink things.

Thank you Melissa and Ruth.

 

I have several lead crystal decanters. I have been told that it is okay to use them for an evening or an occasion, but never to store anything in them.