This little Victorian glass dates to the late 19th century / early 20th century. The generic term for these wee glasses is a “penny lick” glass.
These were used by street vendors to serve up ice cream – standard servings would be charged at a penny – or two pence or tuppence for a larger serving. My glass is a rarer “two penny lick” glass. The bottom of the glass is very thick so that the ice cream would not reach all the way to the bottom of the glass – so it would initially seem that you were going to get a lot more in the glass – a bit of a deception!
The customer would then lick the glass clean of its contents, and the glass returned to the vendor – who would then top it up and give to his next customer. The passing of germs and hygiene issues eventually stopped the sale of ice creams in these containers and ice cream cones became more popular.
My glass is over 100 years old – and in excellent condition with no chips or cracks. It has a good weight to it and it has been hand-blown. As mentioned, these tupenny lick glasses are not as common as the penny ones and this is reflected in my asking price. There are a couple of little air bubbles in the foot which have occurred in the making, as photographed.
This is a very nice example with its thick rim, tubular stem and shaped foot. It is a heavy piece of glass with a good weight to it. It is listed at £30 - which is a fair price for this little piece of culinary history.
Dimensions: The height is 4 ½ inches. The diameter of the rim is 2 ½ and the foot is 2 ½ inches. The foot is made of sturdy glass and is ¼ inch thick.
Postage will be with Royal Mail Tracked (Small Parcel). This will be applied to your order at the checkout.