A pair of Varnish & Co. pale-ruby flashed, silvered and clear glass overlay goblets, mid 19th century, the bell bowls cut with a diamond band above a fluted and waisted baluster stem and circular foot, 22.5cm high, the feet set with a patent disc Provenance: Peter Petrou. Ex: Parkington Collection Part II, Lot 250 Christie's South Kensington, 8th April 1998. Note: Michael Parkington, who died in 1994 was a solicitor who made his name defending Nelson Mandela on treason charges in the 1960s. He developed a passion for British 19th and 20th century glass and legend has it that his Kensington flat was covered floor to ceiling. It was the largest collection to come to market at that time through Christie's and covered nearly all areas of Victorian and post-Victorian British glass. Hale Thomson and Edward Varnish first took out a patent for silvered glass in 1849 (see the patent disc in the foot of each goblet) and exhibited their wares at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. They were retailers and much of their glass was manufactured for them by the Whitefriars Glassworks. Perhaps as a result of the patent, silvered glass of this type is rare?