Antiques and Collectables for Pleasure & Profit SUMMER 2013 | Page 3

“The fortunate circumstances of our lives are generally found, at last, to be of our own producing.”
OLIVER GOLDSMITH

curios

a name in antiques...the beilby family

n July 2011, a lucky UK car boot sale enthusiast sold three opaque
twist wine glasses at auction for $24,000. He had paid less than $1
each for them. The secret of his success was in the name – the
glasses came from the famed Beilby workshop.
The Beilby family of William, Ralph and Mary were all skilled
glass decorators working in Newcastle in the UK in the 1760s. It’s
been suggested that they pioneered the technique of firing enamels
onto glass, but what has never been in dispute is the amazing quality
of their work and its attraction to collectors.
William Beilby was the oldest of four boys and a girl born to
goldsmith and jeweller William senior and his wife Mary. When the
family moved from Birmingham to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1757,
William jnr and his sister Mary found work as enamellers for local
glassmakers. In 1761 William Beilby became the first man in England
to fire enamels into glass, a technique that allowed the decoration to
become integral to the glass itself.
In his 1946 book, English Glass, author W.B. Honey notes:
‘Painting in enamel colours was not attempted in England until the
18th century. But soon after 1750 two sorts of enamel decoration
were practised with great success. The most original work was done
by a family named Beilby…in particular by William and Mary,
brother and sister…the enameling is exquisite in colour, as cool
bluish white and a soft turquoise predominating.’
Although William taught Mary to paint enamels and they worked
together from 1760 to 1778, her skill is not considered to be quite to
the same standard as her brother. As William’s reputation grew he
became sought after for commissions of commemorative pieces and
heraldic glasses, with the most complex works produced by the firm
being the large glasses and decanters that were made as special orders
for aristocratic fam