I see why Tom, more than most people, needs wine glasses that are difficult to break. Some poor soul, who does not know Tom is trying to make Chateau Burbank more powerful that David Bruce's in the 70s, drinks too much and gets clumsy :-) .
There are many thousands of glass formulations, but the three main ones that have been used for fine art glass are lead crystal, and the classic Bohemian and Venetian formulations that do not contain lead. There are many tempered glasses, and some of these probably would work for a wine glass. However they might not look as good as a high lead content crystal.
All you need for a clear glass is very pure quartz(silicon dioxide). It melted alone makes a glass that is very clear and does not fracture with rather large sudden temperature changes. However it must be worked in a very high temperature hydrogen-oxygen flame. An old professional Dutch glass blower we had at work many years ago had no trouble working with pure quartz glass.
However most practical glasses have many additives to vary the properties of the silicon dioxide in many ways. Some compositions and heat treatments make the glass more resistant to breakage or sudden temperature changes. Lead greatly increases the refractive index of the glass to make it sparkle more, especialy when it is cut. Some of the traditional Bohemian formulations were well suited for adding enamel and gold decoration. Some elements are added in trace amounts to color the glass - cobalt for deep blue, gold for ruby red, etc. Moser, in the early 1900s, made some glass contaning up to several percent of some of the rare earth oxides. One of these rare earth glasses is considered the most beautiful yellow colored glass ever made by many. Also uranium often was used to color glass green. Riedel was famous in the 1800s for their green uranium glass.
I keep both fine and everyday glasses. You can get well shaped glasses made in China and elsewhere at just a small fraction of the price of Riedels and other popular brands. My good glasses are Baccarat. Baccarat has no axe to grind. They will sell you about any style you want and do not try to push pet theories on people. If you want a baby bathtub size, they have it. If you want a glass that is paper thin they have it in the Brummel which makes the top Riedels seem thick and wide stemmed on comparison. They can provide you with very heavy, clear cut glasses. They can provde very ornate cut glasses with multi layers of colored glass. They have many bowl shapes. What their glasses have in common is that they are all very well made. They have a wider and heavier base than many, so that they are difficult to tip over. Seconds are destroyed rather than sold. They use a very high lead content for maximum sparkle. They continue to sell replacements long after a style is introduced, and can even duplicate many of the very early patterns on special order.
Of course fine glasses must be washed by hand, one by one. One must pay attention so that one does not strike a hard sink, the glasses should be lightly held by the bowl, and a very soft cloth or sponge should be used without undue pressure. A very large sink helps. It is well to rotate the sink faucet out of the way if possible, because many glasses are broken when they hit it. Also make certain there are no cup hooks are magnetic latch strike plates at the top of a shelf in a cabinet used to store tall glasses. Many glasses have been broken from the rim hitting a cup hook or strike plate when they are stored on a shelf.
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