Winter Tablescape with Vintage Glass and Crystal Candlesticks

Even though brass is in it’s hey day, there is something that is still so beautiful about the sparkle of glass. Vintage glass and crystal candlesticks are one of those items that have a timeless, elegant style. I find them abundantly at not only thrift stores, but estate sales and antique stores. I will occasionally pay up to $15-$20 for a pair, but many times as low as $2-$5 for individual glass candlesticks.

If you’re into decorating with Grandmillenial style or Cottagecore style, these will certainly fit right in! I love my brass candlesticks, but the nice thing about glass and crystal candlesticks is that right now it’s very affordable and very easy to find. When you look at the difference between crystal and glass after some research I found out that glass is a generic term, and crystal is a subcategory of glass. Many times crystal will also contain lead oxide which makes it heavier and gives it more sparkle. On a different note, after reading into lead crystal, it’s recommended to not drink out of vintage crystal glassware anymore due to the lead content.

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You can normally tell the difference between glass and crystal because crystal will feel heavier and glass is less sparkly. I still find it all pretty, and they display very well together. While sometimes I get very lucky to find matched pairs of crystal candlesticks, many times I will find singles because people will get rid of them when one breaks or is damaged.

Singles don’t have to be lonely! In fact, by mixing and matching vintage candlesticks in a more eclectic manner, it means that those singles fit right in. There are so many different styles of glass candlesticks, and they can vary from really plain to super intricate and etched. When styling a tablescape with different candlesticks by varying the heights, it makes mixing and matching seem effortless and they all flow together. Just pass up any chipped or damaged candlesticks, and inspect them closely before purchasing.

I paired the candles with reclaimed small glass jars filled with clippings of pine branches, dogwood sticks, and miniature crab apples from the yard. With the beeswax candles, it made a pretty, glistening display. Many of the older candlesticks aren’t just pressed glass, many are lead crystal with gorgeous etchings, which you know where every expensive when they were initially purchased.

We bought Waterford crystal goblets for toasting glasses at our wedding, and even that many years ago we paid over $100 for the pair. We have them in a box…somewhere.

I hope you have fun finding pretty vintage glass and crystal candlesticks on your thrift store and estate sale hunts and enjoy using them in your decorating as much as I do!