VONECHE-BACCARAT (founded 1815)

Bishop Montmorency-Laval wanted to encourage industry in his little village of Baccarat, Baccarat is located in Lorraine in eastern France. The Verrerie de Sainte Anne at Baccarat made all kinds of utility glassware,(windows, such as bottles, tableware, and the business flourished for many years. Surviving the French Revolution (1789) but struggled through the Napoleonic Wars (1812-1815).
Baccarat Crystal. The Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat, Muerthe et Moselle, France, is one of France's oldest, and I might say finest glass manufactories in the world. Baccarat makes a wide variety of crystal, which range from architectural pieces to gross ornamental pieces, along with delicate stemware. Baccarat decorative styles, will include numerous adaptations, such as heavy use of prisms, which are considerably wider, and longer in type. In many of their pieces they accept the purity of the crystal. With little or no attempt at accentuation, this permits the decorative cuts to follow a design of limited prismatic effect.
Baccarat artists do not follow the traditional methods in cutting crystal. They have completely overstepped many of the traditional limitations imposed by glass, which lets them achieve a heightened vitality in the end product.
In 1815 the French glassworks at Voneche in Northern France found itself outside the new boundaries of France. The owner of Voneche, a Parisian named Aime-Gabriel D'Artigues, decided to purchase the Baccarat glassworks Company, so he could reestablish his business in France, and continue to produce glass, and serve his loyal French customers. With the bonus of not having to pay a heavy import taxes on his wares. History gives way to rumor that D'Artigues struck a deal with the King of France to reduce his import taxes from Voneche in return for setting up his business again in France.

The new company Voneche-Baccarat focussed on only producing the finest high quality lead crystal glass over. Over the past 180 years Baccarat have developed many unique techniques to give way to some of the finest French crystal glass item's. In 1822 D'Artigues sold the glassworks business.

The new owners started up a company by the name of " Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat" (keeping Voneche as part of the name until 1843). This company soon became the foremost glassworks in France, and remains one of the most competitive, and lucrative producers of fine glass today. The company throughout the years has won many medals at major exhibitions in Paris from its conception, to today.

Baccarat has become well known for their wonderful crystal paperweights, along with its superb crystal glass tableware, 19th century colored lead crystal glass and "opaline" ware. They also make beautiful decanters and bottles, and lead crystal sculptures of animals and birds.

The Bohemian/Venician technique of embedding millefiori canes, was used by Baccarat in the 1840s to produce wonderful lead crystal glass paperweights. Baccarat's millefiori designs far surpassed anything that was being made in that period from Bohemia or Venice.