Lead oxide increases both the refractive index and dispersion (separation of colour) of the glass, lending it brilliance and colour, as well as making it easier to work. Modern, lead free alternatives can get close, but they lack the clarity and freedom from colour cast that real lead crystal possesses.
It also gives it the ability to ring beautifully like a bell when you tap it. I’ve got quite a lot of glass inherited from my mum, some is glass that was handed down to her, and the best I’ll be keeping. I’ve got some at the moment that I need to give a clean before taking to the charity shop.
Alternatively…it’s bought by people who are comfortable in themselves and appreciate ‘nice things’.
Nice glasses are nice – but cut crystal is horrible.
That is entirely a matter of taste, appreciation of quality of manufacture, and also entirely subjective. There’s also a difference between cut-crystal, and ‘cut glass’. Much has the appearance of cut glass but is moulded, but real cut glass will have been literally cut by hand on a diamond wheel, and which involves a great deal of skill. I have two cut-crystal goblets about 8-9” tall, that ring clearly with just a brush of a finger, and will not be leaving my possession; while they may not be to tj’s taste, they are things of real quality and beauty, and should be appreciated as such.
Oh, and my mum’s love of glass and crystal came from her decidedly working-class background, she, like my dad and myself, were and are working-class, but like so many others, appreciated quality and good workmanship when seen, and appreciated it all the more when she came in possession of it, rather than owning it just because it was an expectation of a position in society.
