An 1832 JR-5 in Glass
by Karl Lamson

My father traveled a lot as a salesman and had a wide variety of interests. Hestopped at many antique shops, museums, places of historical significance, andwhatever interested him. On April 30, 1957 in upstate New York at "a little oldlady's antique shop," as he put it, he discovered a glass goblet with a coin in thestem that intrigued him. He had never seen anything like this and bought it for thesum of $ 9.50. Presumably, the asking price was $ 10 and he negotiated the pricedown to $ 9.50. Dad rarely paid full price for anything! The coin was an 1832United States bust dime, which is the subject of this article. For the next many yearshe searched for additional glassware containing coins and was able to purchaseseveral more, but the goblet that he purchased in 1957 is the only one that has anAmerican coin in it. I inherited his collection in 1987.

The goblet is exactly 6" tall, 3 7/8" rim diameter, and 3 c" base diameter. The wallof the glass is 1/8" thick; it is a heavy, sturdy glass with a beautiful ring when it istapped very lightly. I've been told that this is something that should not be donewith such a valuable piece of glass, but my father very much enjoyed hearing thatwonderful, clear tone when he tapped it. The glass is colorless and has no chips,dings, or scratches.

We know that glassware with an enclosed coin has been made for centuries andoften is made as special, presentation pieces to commemorate an event. This is stillpracticed in England today; for example, goblets are made to commemorate Britishroyal events.

In my research I discovered that the Corning Museum of Glass has a goblet that isidentical to mine, except theirs is engraved. The material, form, and dimensions areidentical, and the construction method is the same. The Corning example containsa U.S. 1821 bust dime in the knop and is engraved "JA 1838."

At any rate, it is a remarkable goblet, and fortunately, it is possible to closelyexamine the coin that was encapsulated in the knop. It is a high grade 1832 JR-5which exhibits numerous die cracks.

As for the grade, Russ Logan inspected this back in 2001 and said it's not mintstate but is very close. He also said that although the coin is immobile inside theknop of the goblet, he thought that originally it was free to move around inside andthat at some point in history it became stuck in one position. However, I do notsee any evidence of the coin making any marks on the inside of the glass, and dueto the way this goblet was made, I think the coin has been gently held in the sameposition by the glass walls of the knop ever since the goblet was made some 180or so years ago.

Remarkably, this really is a time capsule, and nothing has touchedthe surfaces of this coin except the tiny amount of air inside the knop. The surfacesare as original as we will ever see. I calculated the volume of air inside the knopas approximately one-half cubic inch. There was not much oxygen to react withthe silver in this coin! Also, because the coin is immobile, the inside surface of theglass has remained scratch free, allowing clear visual inspection of the coin.

For years Dad had this goblet on display in our home, and we sometimes jokedabout how we should break it to get that coin out! Fortunately today it is still intact.A survey of museums shows that it is a rarity to find antique glassware containing acoin; most of them met the fate of being broken, either intentionally or accidentally.Today, this goblet is carefully stored. Even though it is not on display, I enjoy justknowing that I have it and that it's been in my family for the last 55 years.

For more information on the John Reich Collectors Society, see:www.jrcs.org