Antique Glass Candlesticks
Glass candlesticks are candle-holders in clear, cut or coloured glass, made to throw light about a room rather than absorb it the way metal does.
What They Are
A pair of cut glass or crystal candlesticks is what you'll meet most often. Of the twenty-one listings on Sellingantiques, fourteen use the word candlesticks in the title, thirteen say pair, and ten say cut. The single most repeated listing is a pair of cut crystal sticks of about 1900 to 1930.
Glass was used for candlesticks from the seventeenth century onward, the cut and faceted forms exploiting lead glass's habit of scattering candlelight. Pressed glass, shaped in a mould from the nineteenth century, brought the form within reach of ordinary households, and the Art Deco pressed pairs of about 1930 are the late end of that story.
Beyond the clear cut pairs come the one-offs: Venetian vaseline green, Bristol blue, a Nailsea hollow-stem stick, Biedermeier red cut glass, a group of mercury glass. Two listings are lustres rather than candlesticks, and one is a Georgian mouth-blown storm lamp or hall candlestick of 1800.
The dated field runs from 1800 to 1930, but the weight sits late: five pieces in the 1930s, four each in the 1920s and 1900s. Dealers' dates and titles don't always agree, so read the two together rather than trusting the period bucket alone.
What Sets Them Apart
The unit matters first. A matched pair is the norm, and pairs sit above singles; a set of four matching cut crystal sticks appears once in the whole archive and sits in the upper half of the range. Singles turn up, but they are the minority.
After that it's the glass itself. Cut and faceted work runs through the middle and upper part of the range, while the pressed Art Deco pieces sit at the bottom, and colour lifts a piece clear of the plain clear examples. Bristol blue, vaseline green, Nailsea and Biedermeier red all outrank the standard cut crystal.
Size and age pull in the same direction. Large and tall appear in the titles of several of the higher-priced pairs, and the 1830s and 1840s examples top the range while the 1930s pressed pieces close it. The Biedermeier red cut pair of about 1840 is the highest-priced thing here.
Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for glass candlesticks, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
The most expensive glass candlesticks ever sold on Sellingantiques were a pair of 19th century Biedermeier red cut glass sticks, in April 2022.
The Antique Glass Candlesticks Glossary
- Pair
- Two matching sticks sold together, and the usual unit in this category by a long way.
- Cut glass
- Glass decorated by grinding facets or patterns into the surface after forming. The commonest treatment in the archive.
- Pressed glass
- Glass shaped in a mould rather than cut or blown, named in the Art Deco examples of about 1930.
- Lustre
- A candle-holder hung with cut glass drops. Two listings are described as lustres rather than candlesticks.
- Vaseline glass
- A greenish-yellow glass tinted with uranium; one Venetian pair carries it.
- Folded foot
- The rim of the foot turned under on itself, thickening and strengthening the edge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are glass candlesticks usually sold as pairs?
Yes. Thirteen of the twenty-one titles in the archive say pair, so the matched pair is close to the standard unit.
Singles do appear, including a Victorian cut glass stick and the Nailsea hollow-stem example. A set of four matching cut crystal candlesticks has turned up once.
How old are most of the ones for sale?
Later than the category name suggests. Five dated pieces fall in the 1930s, four in the 1920s and four in the 1900s, so the twentieth century supplies the bulk of what comes to market.
Earlier material is thin: one from the 1800s, one from the 1850s and one entered loosely as 19th century. The dated field as a whole spans 1800 to 1930.
What does cut glass mean on a listing?
It means the surface has been ground into facets or patterns after the glass was formed, rather than shaped in a mould.
It's the commonest treatment here, named in ten of the twenty-one titles. Facet cut describes the same idea worked into flat planes.
Is coloured glass common in this category?
No. Among twenty-one listings there is one Venetian vaseline green pair, one Bristol blue pair, one Biedermeier red cut pair and a single group of mercury glass.
Everything else is clear cut crystal, cut glass or pressed glass. Coloured examples sit above the plain clear ones in the range.
Why are lustres and storm lamps listed alongside candlesticks?
Dealers file closely related candle lighting under the same heading. Two listings are lustres, candle-holders hung with cut glass drops, and both sit in the upper half of the range.
One further piece is a Georgian mouth-blown storm lamp or hall candlestick dated 1800, the earliest entry in the archive.
How many glass candlesticks come up for sale?
Around three a year reach Sellingantiques.
Fifteen different dealers have listed the twenty-one pieces in the archive, so almost every one arrives from a different hand.