A substantial private collection of antique British and Irish glassware is set to be auctioned off later this summer. The collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century drinking and table glass is being sold by Dreweatts & Bloomsbury at their summer sale’s first day, Asian and European glass and ceramics, on Thursday 28th August.

The current owner began their collection in County Antrim, Northern Ireland in the mid-1980s, and it now boasts many rare and beautiful pieces.

A particular highlight is a Dutch diamond-engraved commemorative light baluster goblet signed and dated A. F. van Schurman (1757), engraved to dexter with the arms of Barthold Douma van Burmania. Van Burmania (1695-1766) was a notable Dutch statesman at the court of Vienna, known for his attempts to prevent the expulsion of the Jews from Bohemia by the Austrian Imperial government in the 1740s. The work is a fine example of the engraved marriage goblets popular amongst members of Europe’s ruling classes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and is estimated at £6,000-£8,000. Only eleven signed glasses made by van Schurman survive.

The collection also includes three late-nineteenth-century cut and engraved commemorative spirit decanters, with two original stoppers, made for the Bushmills Distillery Country Antrim. First granted a licence to distil in 1608 by King James I, the Bushmills Distillery is considered the oldest licensed distillery in the world.

The sale will take place at the Dreweatts Bloomsbury Auctions’ Donnington Priory saleroom in Newbury, Berkshire, on Thursday 28th August. The catalogue will be available to view at www.dreweatts.com.