Pair of Late 19th Century ‘East Grinstead Refreshment Contractors’ Railway Station Small Wine Glasses

This is an unusual pair of small wine glasses dating to the end of the 19th century.

Each glass has a U-shaped bowl and sits on a discoid collar. This merges with the plain, straight stem. There is a further collar at the point that the stem meets the plain, flat foot. The latter bears the remains of a central tool mark.

Each glass is etched on one side with a shield-shaped logo containing ‘L&C’ intertwined together. Below this is a stylised banner with the words ‘REFRESHMENTS CONTRACTORS EAST GRINSTEAD’.

The East Grinstead railway station had a remodelling in 1882 and that included building some ‘refreshment rooms’. It is possible that the glasses could have come from there, or possibly would have been in use on the train itself.

Each glass has a height of approximately 11.1cm, with a diameter across the rim of about 4.9cm and across the foot of about 5.4cm.

Each glass has a liquid capacity (to the brim) of 50ml.

They have an unwrapped weight of 160g.

They are in excellent condition, with no chips or cracks.