Facet Stem Wine Glasses 1750 to 1825
The first facet stem wine glasses originated from 1750 however only a few examples are believed to exist with the majority being produced from 1770 onwards. Cutting on Stems normally comprises of diamond or hexagonal cuts.
The facet stem wine glass became more popular as the Excise Act of 1777 was a tax introduced on glass doubling the previous tax set in 1750, thus reducing the amount of air and opaque twist wine glasses, thus the introduction of the facet cut stem in order to reduce the weight of the glass itself due to these high taxes.
The stem was produced hand or foot operated wheel where water was used to cool the glass.
The introduction of the Mathew Bolton Beam engine in 1785 changed the way that glass was polished and workshops were set up and would comprise of teams of cutters.
Tax Free Irish Glass
The tax free Irish glass had a profound effect on the glass industry in the United Kingdom where there was no tax imposed on the manufacture of glass and lot of workers migrated there to work, hence the boom in the glass trade in Ireland at the time.