XI. TUMBLERS, TANKARDS, “JOEYS,” AND “BOOT” GLASSES
I class these together because they are stemless. Pewter and silver tankards were imitated in glass, and these differ from mugs in being straight-sided and quite stemless; often they were engraved with initials and dates.
Old tumblers are not found so numerously as old wine glasses are; they are usually large, are often cut, and are sometimes engraved. Some tumblers are barrel-shaped, like some rummers, but most tumblers are “straight-sided” or “rectangular.” Some tumblers are engraved with portraits (as of Admiral Keppel) or with inscriptions (as of “Wellington for ever”). I own two which celebrate the “Independence of Durham and Richd. Wharton its defender,” probably made at Sunderland in 1802, to commemorate a Parliamentary Election in which the freedom of the citizens of Durham from rule by the bishop’s bailiff was involved. Masonic tumblers are rare; so are Bristol opal-glass tumblers, yet I own one which cost me 1s.
“Joeys” are dram glasses, shaped like tumblers, or like fuddling glasses with no foot or stem (see illustration, page 62). Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., had caused fourpenny bits to be coined; fourpenny bits were accordingly called “joeys”; even to-day people call for a “joey” of brandy. When a tax was put on gin, less of the liquor could then be sold for fourpence; so that the glass was made thicker, and the contents accordingly less. For a similar reason to-day there are in public-houses glasses called “Lloyd Georges,” I am told. The two “joeys” I own are of grass-green hue; one is inscribed with “4d.”
“Boot” glasses are small blown vessels in the shape of riding-boots, probably used for spirits in the parting dram, otherwise called the stirrup-cup. There seems little foundation for the suggestion that these were emblems of Lord Bute, in the days of George III; for as Mr. Hartshorne, the founder of glass-collecting, discovered, a jack-boot glass is preserved in the museum of Liège and another in a Dutch museum, and these are older and more elaborate than the English “boot” glasses. I own two of those which Mr. Hartshorne collected, and on which he based the “Bute” suggestion, but small “boot” glasses are exceedingly rare. A big one, cut, and 12 inches high, was once offered me; I think it came from Liège. Large boot glasses striped with white are seen sometimes; “boot” glasses can hardly have been peculiar to Great Britain. Perhaps they were used by hunting men as an emblem of their sport.