LONDON.- An important single owner collection of quality 18th and early 19th century glass, including decanters from the celebrated Irish Distillery, Bushmills Distillery, and rare stipple engraved and diamond point engraved drinking glasses, will be offered in Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions’ Fine and Important Furniture, Paintings, Ceramics & other Works of Art sale on Thursday 28th August 2014.

The collection from County Antrim in Northern Ireland was begun in the mid-1980s with a focus on Dutch engraved glass and Irish glass. It boasts a fine Dutch diamond-engraved commemorative light baluster marriage goblet signed and dated A.F. Schurman, 1757, engraved to dexter with the arms of Barthold Douma Van Burmania (1695-1766).

Barthold Douma Van Burmania was a Dutch statesman and humanitarian, noted for his efforts to prevent the expulsion of Jews from Bohemia and other parts of the empire.

Fashionable during the 18th and 19th century, skillfully engraved marriage goblets were a given as luxury tokens of enduring love. This fine example, estimated at £6,000-8,000, is by Adam Frederik van Schurman (1730-1783), an amateur engraver related to the famous engraver Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678), only 11 signed glasses are known by his hand. [Lot 402]

Also from the collection is another Dutch diamond-point engraved example signed and dated by A.C. Schonck, 1755, estimated at £3,000-5,000 [Lot 400] and a Dutch stipple-engraved facet-stemmed ‘Friendship’ goblet attributed to David Wolff, circa 1785, estimated at £1,500-2,000 [Lot 401]

From the Bushmills Distillery Co. Antrim, is a set of three cut and engraved commemorative spirit decanters with two original stoppers. The Bushmills Distillery is widely regarded as the oldest licensed distillery in the World, having recently celebrated its 400th birthday and is also a popular tourist destination in the area, regularly attracting crowds of visitors.

The set of three were probably made for a tantalus and are inscribed THE BUSHMILLS OLD DISTILLERY PURE MALT Co. ANTRIM IRELAND. Engraved in the center is a pot still, the company’s original trade mark from when the Old Bushmills Distillery was registered by Hugh Anderson in 1784. The pot still, a piece of equipment used in the distilling of whiskey, remains a mark of genuine distinction within the company today. The late 19th century set is accompanied by a Bushmills decanter label and together is estimated at £300-500 [Lot 437].

The sale will be held at Dreweatts Bloomsbury Auctions’ Donnington Priory saleroom, in Newbury, Berkshire on Thursday 28th August.