Object Type
The first table services entirely in glass were devised by the mid-1820s. Extensive services became increasingly popular by the end of the 19th century. Such services might include up to seven or eight goblets, each for a different drink. This example is for port, a rich wine fortified with brandy and usually taken at the end of the meal. Increasing mechanisation of manufacture and decoration reduced the price of such sets, making even the most elaborate designs affordable to a wider audience.

Materials & Making
Etching glass by drawing a pattern in a layer of wax on the surface of the glass and then plunging it into hydrofluoric acid was first practised in the late 18th century. The process was developed commercially in the 1840s. By 1861 John Northwood (1836-1909) and James Northwood (1839-1915) at Wordsley, West Midlands, were among the first major producers to use it extensively. They had earlier invented the template etching machine for inscribing the pattern through the wax. With the invention in 1864 of a gear-driven, geometric etching machine, interlocking patterns such as loops or the ever-popular 'Greek key' border patterns were applied to virtually all table glass. They were used especially on the new paper-thin glass that appeared in the 1870s.