Technical Description
A very rare, engraved 19th century wine glass made for the Vienna World fair in 1873, just over 150 years ago.
It has a four-sided funnel bowl engraved with geometrics around the rim and an engraved star on each side. Hollow bubble knop above a small capstan. Matching engraved foot with snapped pontil. It has its original gummed sticker marked Vienna Exhibition 1873 stuck to the base.
The Vienna fair in 1873 was a disaster and very few of these glasses were either made or sold at the fair. They had expected over 20 million visitors through the gates starting in May but due to serious flooding at the start of the fair and a cholera epidemic and a stock market crash, by the time the fair finished some six months later, only 7.3 million visitors had attended, leaving a gigantic hole in the states finances.
We have never seen another example of this glass and were unable to find another example during our research. There are no documented examples, and this may be one of the very few still in existence some 150 years after the fair.
Date & Origin
Vienna, Austria, c1873
Condition
Excellent, no chips cracks or restoration
Dimensions
Height: 15cm,
Rim: 6.7cm,
Foot diameter: 7.3cm
