Crystal
When Beverley and I were married, we were given a few pieces of crystal which were highly prized for times when we would be entertaining guests. That would be a regular part of our lives during fifty years of ministry, of which more than half of that time was spent leading Wesley Mission where entertaining visitors was the norm. Over the years, other pieces of crystal were added as gifts. I came to know something about crystal from a most unusual source.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s, I was the NSW President, then Australian President, of the Boys’ Brigade, the oldest uniformed boys’ association (established in 1884 by Sir William Smith of Scotland). The Boys’ Brigade was a Christian forerunner of the Boy Scouts. I enjoyed my association with thousands of boys and Officers throughout Australia. In 1990, I went to Singapore for the International Conference of Boys’ Brigades from all over the world. As the Australian President, I spoke at the Conference and became friends with the International President, Lord Thurso of Scotland.
At Singapore’s Changi Airport, we looked at a magnificent display of coloured paperweights made from crystal, featuring magnificently coloured clusters of tiny flowers. I did not know just then, but Caithness Glass was a company commenced by our International President, Lord Thurso. The Rt. Hon. Viscount Thurso of Ulster, whose name was Robin Sinclair, died in 1995 and was succeeded by his son Malcolm. Lord Thurso will be remembered as a most gracious host with his wife, Lady Margaret, and made each one feel special about a visit to Caithness, Thurso and Wick areas.
Two years after the Conference in Singapore, I took some study leave and went to Oxford University, staying at Somerville College and attending a theological study conference. When it was finished, we journeyed to the northern most point of Scotland to visit Wick, Caithness and Thurso. This is where the Clan Sinclair hold their international gatherings with about two hundred Sinclairs from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom. They gather in Caithness and the Castle Sinclair where the Sinclair flag flies proudly. There is held a ceilidh (traditional dance) with the Gordon Pipe Band and Drums, and Clan Sinclair Pipe Band, and dancers. This is an historic fishing and farming area.
If you are interested in knitting then you might take a look at the Wick museum for examples of Caithness ganseys (knitted woollen sweaters) once worn by fishermen up and down the coast. Every village had their own distinct patterns so that when the body of a drowned fisherman was washed up, they could identify the village from which he came.
At the heritage museum are items from the smallest object like tools or whistles made from cabbage roots to major items like sea going boats – one of which the Isabella Fortuna, now restored and seaworthy, is housed in the old lifeboat shed. There are also several other boats and even the whole framework of lamp and lens from the top of the old lighthouse stretching through two floors, completely taken down and reassembled inside the museum. There is plenty of old equipment, diving suits, old signs, every kind of machine and engine from old fishing boats to masons’ tools from old craftsmen.
The centre has within its walls an actual kiln used for smoking herring, which were considered of too poor quality to be cured in salt, and these smoked herring were called kippers. This kiln was used for about 100 years. It could hold nearly 10,000 herring when full, as the racks went right up to the roof. There were 50 companies in Wick making kippers at one time. While the work of preparing and packing the herring was done by women, the men hung the herrings in the kiln. The herring stood in smoke for 24 hours and fresh quantities were made every day. The largest kiln in Wick held 90,000 kippers and Wick kippers were sent all over Britain and overseas in barrels.
In the 1860’s, there were 650 coopers in Wick and they made 125,000 barrels a year, nearly all for export. Wick at that time exported almost as much herring itself as all the other ports in Scotland put together. But since the 1970’s, the North Seas began to be fished out. The unemployment crisis in this area, when the farming and herring fishing industries collapsed in the mid 20th century, meant the future of the area was bleak. The local Council, chaired by Lord Thurso, turned to him and asked what he was going to do about it.
Lord Thurso could speak in the House of Lords, but as the Laird and Clan Leader, it was expected he would solve the problem. He told me he considered all kinds of new industries, but eventually after a trip to Scandinavia, decided the local area could become a centre for making crystal. He built a factory at Wick and hired experts from other parts of the UK. So Caithness Glass was founded in 1961 at Wick in the far North East of Scotland, by the late Robin Sinclair, Lord Thurso. The Sinclair family was closely concerned with the county of Caithness and he wanted something that would find a market with the tourists who came to this remote part of Scotland, and could be easily exported. Hence Art Glass.
It converted readily available raw materials (pure fresh water, sand and lead) into prestigious products by means of artistry and skill. Robin decided to seek Government sponsorship to build the glass factory that we visited. Now a new purpose-built factory funded by the Scottish Industrial Estates agency, is one of three factories all near by. Initially, the Company made crystal bowls, vases and drinking glasses in the popular Scandinavian style of the time. They soon became well known for their distinctive coloured glass designs, which echoed the haunting colors of the Scottish landscape.
That was not the end of our interest in crystal. Four years ago I was giving some lectures on Urban Ministry at the World Convention of Churches of Christ in Brighton, England. Before we began, we spent a week in Ireland. One of our desired destinations was Waterford. I had hoped to purchase some beautiful Waterford crystal from their factory. The beginnings of glass making in Ireland are lost in the mists of time but there is sufficient archaeological evidence to show that, from the early Iron Age, glass was regarded with respect. Indeed, medieval documents can prove glass making existed in Ireland back in the middle 13th century.
However, the Waterford Crystal story started to blossom in 1783 when two brothers, George and William Penrose, founded their crystal manufacturing business in the busy port of Waterford. They were important developers and soon became the city’s principal exporters. They succeeded in producing crystal with a purity of colour unmatched in Ireland or England. Merchant ships sailed regularly from the port of Waterford with cargoes of crystal bound for Spain, the West Indies, New York, New England, and Australia.
But less than 100 years later the initial company failed due to lack of capital and excessive taxation. Another century passed before the enterprise was revived. In 1947, while Europe was still in ruins after the Second World War, a small glass factory was set up in Waterford close to the original glass factory.
The traditional cutting patterns made famous by the artisans of Waterford became the design basis for the growing product range of the new company. In November 2000, Waterford Crystal was named as the top world-class brand from among 19 world-class brands in the US market. Other brands included Rolls-Royce Bentley, Bose stereo and speaker systems, Philadelphia cream cheese, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Kodak, Heinz ketchup and National Geographic magazine. Waterford Crystal has become almost a synonym for the finest quality crystal sought after by collectors and connoisseurs around the world. Many great sporting events seem to have Crystal trophies held up by the winners.
In chemistry, mineralogy, and materials science, a crystal is a solid in which the constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are packed in a regularly ordered, repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. As the father in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” always said, “Tell me any word and I will tell you the Greek word from which it comes.” Well, the word crystal is a loan from the ancient Greek word κρύσταλλος (krustallos), which had the same meaning. It means anything congealed. The word once referred particularly to quartz, or “rock crystal”.
The process of forming a crystalline structure from a fluid, or from materials dissolved in the fluid, is often referred to as crystallisation. In the ancient example referenced by the root meaning of the word crystal, water being cooled undergoes a phase change from liquid to solid beginning with small ice crystals that grow until they fuse, forming a polycrystalline structure. The physical properties of the ice depend on the size and arrangement of the individual crystals, or grains, and the same may be said of metals solidifying from a molten state.
While the term “crystal” has a precise meaning within materials science and solid-state physics, colloquially “crystal” refers to solid objects that exhibit well-defined and often pleasing geometric shapes. In this sense of the word, many types of crystals are found in nature. Snowflakes, diamonds, and common salt are common examples of crystals.
Lead crystal is lead glass that has been hand or machine cut with facets. Lead oxide added to the molten glass gives lead crystal a much higher index of refraction than normal glass, and consequently much greater “sparkle”. The presence of lead also makes the glass softer and easier to cut. Crystal can consist of up to 35% lead, at which point it has the most sparkle. Makers of lead crystal objects include Baccarat and J.G.Durand in France, Royal Leerdam Crystal of the Netherlands, Steuben Glass in the United States, Waterford Crystal in Ireland, Mikasa in Japan, Swarovski in Austria, Preciosa in Czech Republic and Rogaška Crystal in Slovenia.
We are aware of the problem with lead poisoning in paint but what about lead crystal and food safety? It has been proposed that the historic association of gout with the upper classes in Europe and America was, in part, caused by their extensive use of lead crystal decanters to store fortified wines and whisky. There is statistical evidence linking gout to lead poisoning in drinking containers.
Significant amounts of lead can migrate from lead crystal containers into beverages stored in them. Lead crystal typically contains 24–35% lead oxide. In a study performed at North Carolina State University, the amount of lead migration was measured for port wine stored in lead crystal decanters. After two days, lead levels were 89 micrograms per litre. After four months, lead levels were between 2,000 and 5,000 micrograms per litre. White wine doubled its lead content within an hour of storage and tripled it within four hours. Some brandy stored in lead crystal for over five years had lead levels around 20,000 micrograms per litre. To put this into perspective, EPA’s lead standard for drinking water is 15 micrograms per litre.
Citrus juices and infant formula leach lead from crystal just as effectively as alcoholic beverages. Several companies do make lead crystal baby bottles and it is suspected they may present a health danger to infants. Similarly, the luxury champagne Cristal may also present a danger to consumers from their lead crystal bottles. But all of this did not make a piece of crystal from the Waterford factory any cheaper. The booming Irish economy and the high price of the Euro meant, regretfully, we could not afford to bring home any Waterford crystal.
Not long afterwards we retired from Wesley Mission. One of the farewell gifts came from our staff in our Employment Services. It was an extremely large box, very carefully packed and very heavy. It contained the largest Waterford crystal vase you have ever seen, beautifully cut, and when filled with flowers is absolutely stunning. You don’t have to worry, as teetotalers, the only fluid going into this crystal is water, not wine.
Rev The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes, A.C., M.L.C
