Set of Six Walsh Bell Bowled Lead Crystal Sherry Glasses c.1930s

This is a high-quality set of six lead crystal sherry or port glasses produced by the Walsh factory and dating to the 1930s.

Each glass is made from lead crystal and has a capacious bell-shaped bowl that is moulded with a faint vertical ribbing. This is cut in the lower half with three rows of cross-cut diamonds, which is surmounted by a band of blaze cutting (fine vertical needle cuts) with a zig-zag edge. The bowl sits on an elongated inverted baluster stem, which merges with the plain, flat foot. The latter is marked in the centre with the words ‘WALSH ENGLAND’. This mark was in use from the 1930s.

An example of these glasses can be seen on page 26 (fig. 59) of the book ‘The Glass of John Walsh Walsh 1850 – 1951’ by Eric Reynolds.

Each glass has a height of 10.9cm, with a diameter across the rim of about 6.1cm and across the foot of about 5.2cm. There are minor discrepancies in their dimensions due to their handmade nature.

Each glass has a liquid capacity (to the brim) of 70ml.

The set has an unwrapped weight of 460g.

They are in excellent condition, with no chips or cracks, although there is one glass with a flattened polish mark at the edge of the rim where they caught it with the cutting wheel whilst undertaking the blaze cutting and then tidied it up. This is a manufacturing flaw.