Vintage View: How to care for antique and precious glass 

Approaching the cleaning of antique or precious vintage glass there are good reasons to plan ahead with meticulous precision

Very hot water in a dishwasher cycle can be just too much for fine crystal. Waterford advises not to twist the bowl against the stem when washing or polishing. Waterford Mixology, Kilkenny Design.

Handling glass? Under any circumstances? It’s brittle, it scratches if you so much as look at it, and countless peer-reviewed experiments have proven it doesn’t bounce very well. Approaching the cleaning of antique or precious vintage glass there are good reasons to plan ahead with slow, mincing, meticulous precision. 

The graded scale of acceptable wear or distress for most antique materials, does not apply to glass. Collectors of everything from Georgian twist stem glasses to mid-century Vicki Lindstrom crystal, demand nothing short of exquisite perfection. Even tiny problems - bruises, pinpoints, nibbles, crizzling and flakes will decimate value.