Item Tag: Crystal

Dimensions/Capacity: 4.5″H x 2.25″W – 8.5 oz Set of 5 glasses Tempered glass suitable for hot and cold beverages Fits the Russian metal glass holder podstakannik Table-glass or granyonyi stakan (Russian: ???????? ??????, literally faceted glass) (Ukrainian: granchak ???????, derived from ?????, meaning facet) is a type of drink-ware made from especially hard and thick glass and having a faceted form. It is a very widespread form of drinking glass in Russia and the former Soviet Union. Granyonyi stakan has certain advantages over the other drinkware since due to its form and hardness it is more difficult to break. It is arguably handier in usage on moving trains or rolling ships, where it is less prone to decline and fall or slip from hands, and less likely to be broken when hitting the floor, compared to non-faceted types of drinking glasses. Granny stakan may be used to drink any type of beverage. It is often used in combination with a tea glass-holder (Podstakannik). The classical form of Russian and Soviet granyonyi stakan is that with 14, 16, 19, or 20 facets; possibly with other values. Such glasses have been produced since 1943 at a factory in the city of Gus-Khrustalny, the famous center of Russian glass-making. According to one theory, this version of the drinking glass became a preferred one and was massively produced in the Soviet Union because it was more fit to be washed using dishwashing machines. The popularity of hard-to-break table glasses diminished after the 1970s when thinner glass drinkware began to be produced using equipment brought from Hungary. Several factories in Russia and Ukraine still produce granyonyi stakans, which became somewhat symbolic of the Soviet era and are sometimes perceived as souvenirs. An image of granyonyi taken in popular culture is associated either with vodka and pickled cucumbers or with tea and podstakannik, a metal holder with a handle, for the glass.