Vintage Cocktail Glasses

[Steamtrain]

I think this is the thread one comes to if they have an addiction to glassware.

I have that addiction and here are some cocktail glasses I have acquired over the last four years.

These are for champagne cocktails. On the left is a standard Libbey 5.5 oz coupe for scale.

Smaller coupes.

Nick & Nora and small gold rimmed glass.

Hoots Mon

I don't own any of these.

[janeer]

I have that addiction and here are some cocktail glasses I have acquired over the last four years.

These are for champagne cocktails. On the left is a standard Libbey 5.5 oz coupe for scale.

I am looking for some coupes to give as a wedding present, elegant ones like the one with the rim on the right of the first picture; know a source?

[Steamtrain]

Those glasses were purchased at a thrift store and have no markings.

For champagne cocktails, check these out

http://www.tabletopstyle.com/Minners-Classic-Champagne-p/4854r352.htm

That company also supplied me with the nick and Nora glasses.

[tanstaafl2]

I have that addiction and here are some cocktail glasses I have acquired over the last four years.

These are for champagne cocktails. On the left is a standard Libbey 5.5 oz coupe for scale.

I am looking for some coupes to give as a wedding present, elegant ones like the one with the rim on the right of the first picture; know a source?

Williams Sonoma has some Riedel glasses with a platinum rim that are quite elegant looking but ridiculously expensive (then again what isn't between Riedel and Williams Sonoma...). Kind of a cross between a coupe and a standard martini glass. At 9 oz capacity they are bit large for typical cocktails though. This comes as a set of four different glasses with the platinum band. Have seen at least one review that claims the rim washes off quite easily so caveat emptor. I don't own them myself.

I bought a set of six coupe glasses with an engraved side from Ebay a while back that I like and use regularly. Will try to post a pic later.

[KatieLoeb]

eBay is a constant source of vintage barware for me. Just this week I found an old cocktail pitcher with a chrome rim for straining and a vintage functional soda siphon. I'll post pics when they arrive.

My other favorite places to find cool glassware, etc. are the thrift stores or Goodwills. There's a gigantic Goodwill shop just a few short minutes away from my house in Camden, NJ where I've found some gorgeous glasses for as little as $.25 each. Camden isn't exactly the most fashionable neighborhood, but you'd be stunned at what treasures will appear in such places. If you don't mind being a bit more spendy, the "high rent" area thrift and consignment shops can be a treasure trove as well. Where I live the Western suburbs of Philly (aka the Main Line. Think Katherine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story) qualify as that. The various hospitals, Junior Leagues, etc. all have charitable thrift shops set up. Gold mines if you have the patience. I've found some lovely gifts for friends for weddings, anniversaries etc. just by judiciously combing around a bit. What could be a nicer gift than an old school chrome Art Deco martini shaker, a pair of spectacular (accidentally) matching silver rimmed coupe glasses and a copy of one of my favorite cocktail books? Certainly a fitting gift from someone like myself, and hopefully they'll think of me fondly when they're making their Happy Hour cocktails at home. And if you're merely looking for your own collection, then the fact that there might be an odd number of those lovely glasses you keep coveting just means you'll have however many + a spare when one inevitably breaks.

[tanstaafl2]

I bought a set of six coupe glasses with an engraved side from Ebay a while back that I like and use regularly. Will try to post a pic later.

Some pictures of the Ebay glasses I bought recently. I probably overpaid for them but I liked the rose theme (which is probably obvious if you have seen some of my other pics!) so what the heck.

A libbey 5.5 oz coupe for comparison. A slightly shorter glass with a much wider bowl that holds about 7 oz when full. Could well be a dessert glass for all I know.

They look fairly contemporary to me and I doubt they are crystal. But they have become my go to glasses when friends are over.

[janeer]

Those glasses were purchased at a thrift store and have no markings.

For champagne cocktails, check these out

http://www.tabletopstyle.com/Minners-Classic-Champagne-p/4854r352.htm

That company also supplied me with the nick and Nora glasses.

Those are pretty; thanks.

[janeer]

[janeer]

eBay is a constant source of vintage barware for me. Just this week I found an old cocktail pitcher with a chrome rim for straining and a vintage functional soda siphon. I'll post pics when they arrive.

My other favorite places to find cool glassware, etc. are the thrift stores or Goodwills. There's a gigantic Goodwill shop just a few short minutes away from my house in Camden, NJ where I've found some gorgeous glasses for as little as $.25 each. Camden isn't exactly the most fashionable neighborhood, but you'd be stunned at what treasures will appear in such places. If you don't mind being a bit more spendy, the "high rent" area thrift and consignment shops can be a treasure trove as well. Where I live the Western suburbs of Philly (aka the Main Line. Think Katherine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story) qualify as that. The various hospitals, Junior Leagues, etc. all have charitable thrift shops set up. Gold mines if you have the patience. I've found some lovely gifts for friends for weddings, anniversaries etc. just by judiciously combing around a bit. What could be a nicer gift than an old school chrome Art Deco martini shaker, a pair of spectacular (accidentally) matching silver rimmed coupe glasses and a copy of one of my favorite cocktail books? Certainly a fitting gift from someone like myself, and hopefully they'll think of me fondly when they're making their Happy Hour cocktails at home. And if you're merely looking for your own collection, then the fact that there might be an odd number of those lovely glasses you keep coveting just means you'll have however many + a spare when one inevitably breaks.

At the moment, eBay doesn't have the number I'm looking for: 10 or 12, or 8 minimum. I've always shopped in little antique/used housewares stores but now that I live in Tucson, not sure there are the sort of places I always went to when I lived back East. Will be in NJ and CT for Thanksgiving, so maybe will have some luck there.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

As someone who has been picking up wonderful-to-me vintage glasses for decades, mostly in 3somes, I suggest we have a "bring your threesomes" get together in order to mix and match, swap and sell. Perhaps some of us can go home with 6somes or better.

[ChrisN]

I have a theory about the name "Nick and Nora" glasses--and obviously nothing like proof. Yes the shape mimics the ones in the films, but there may be another reason too. If you read the book and watch all the films--and I heartily recommend that everyone do both--Nick and Nora drink an enormous number of cocktails, especially martinis. I don't mean over the course of the book, any given film, or the series; I mean per sitting. In one memorable scene, Nora finds Nick in a bar and asks how many martinis he's had. He's on his sixth; she immediately tells the waiter to bring her the same number, all at once. Based on the size of cocktail glasses in restaurants these days, Nick and Nora would probably have died on the first date. Similar numbers of martinis are drunk in the Mr. and Mrs. North novels.

Hence my theory: the glasses are so named because they allow one to replicate the Nick-and-Nora experience by having four to six cocktails instead of the two to three that would be more typical (of some of us) now.

For what it's worth.

[KatieLoeb]

I think that's an entirely plausible explanation. Good thinking.

[Chris Amirault]

Thought I'd bump this up with a few great finds at estate sales today:

Punch/glog glasses, two crystal cocktail glasses, and eight mint julep cups that, remarkably, were engraved with big "A"s on them. French Pearls in the two cocktail glasses to celebrate.

[Annette Marron Holbrook]

Saw these today, didn't buy them yet. They are a bit bigger than I like for cocktail glassed (the tag says wine) but I was thinking I could use them for margarita glasses. I absolutely hate the traditional margarita glasses I have. These probably hold 8 oz. The bowl portion of the glass is iridescent, kind of cool.

 

These are kind of cool, the pattern is kind of Americana for lack of a better term.

 

 

Will be going back by tomorrow so may grab them then.

 

Annette