Looking at history we find that although cut glass was around for 2000 years, it was only in the second half of the 17th century that pure lead crystal came into existence. George Ravensrcoft an English glassmaker was experimenting with ways to improve the luster and clarity of his glassware found that by adding lead oxide to his molten mixture changed the properties of glass very dramatically. It increased the clarity of glass and also increased the weight and the refractive index of the glass. The glass also became very soft and it was very easy to cut this glass without fracturing it. The popularity of this cut crystal spread so much that it led to a boom in the markets in Britain. Eventually it spread all over Europe and America. History of crystal dates back thousands of years to the Mesopotamian times....... More