chanceglassware.uk

My own experience with Chance started when I volunteered to report on the standing display of Chance glassware at Smethwick Heritage Centre Trust in 2005, just a mile or so from the old Chance Brothers factory. These findings were reported on the glass collectors forum, Glass Messages Board (GMB). It was while at SHCT that I discovered the old glass plates given to my mother as a wedding present in 1949, were in fact the Britannia pressed glass pattern. Not only that, delving deeper into her cupboards and I discovered a slumped glass cake plate in the Calypto pattern.

So far, so good. But like all researching, you get drawn into the various aspects of the company and seek to self-educate yourself on the subject. This then developed into a massive thread on GMB, with the help of members trying to identify all the shapes, sizes and patterns. There were lots. 

After a few months of digging, someone (Anne B) mentioned that she would buy the book if I was to ever write one! After some careful thought – I had written several computer manuals and co-authored one book before – I took a leap of faith and the first book, Chance Expressions, was produced and published by myself in December 2006.

Then, of course, more patterns and shapes started appearing, followed by the opening of the Chance Archives at Sandwell Library that gave unprecedented access to new material. From here, new catalogues were found that helped to pin-point even more data. I made the decision that a "supplement" was required and calculated that a 32-page book would suffice. Then 48-pages, 64-pages and eventually producing a whole new volume called Chance Additions in November 2014.

Even when Chance Additions was ready for publication, new finds were still coming to the fore, and as promised in that book this new website will continue to report and show new findings. Not just on Chance, but on all other manufacturers of slumped glassware that will help as a process of elimination.