Engraved Tankards– Great Business Gifts For 100’s Of Years

you may be surprised to learn that engraved tankards all not a new phenomenon in the promotional merchandise industry. As with most things if you look back far enough into history you will find that very few items such as this are new. One only has to think of old films on television showing taverns and public houses from the 16th and 17th century to notes that engraved tankards have been used for a lot longer than, perhaps, printed pens for example. Back in the early days it was not lead crystal tankards that were being used, but rather tankards made from pewter. As well as the tankards being stamped to show that they held a certain amounts of beer they were also stamped with the name of the public house to stop people stealing them.

It could be possible to think that the reason that glass was used at the bottom of tankards was to improve them however that is not the case. The only reason that glass, which was an expensive commodity, in those days, was used was to discourage the practice of press gangs who were always on the lookout to sign up drunks into the Navy. The way it worked was this, a press-gang would go to a public house and offer the king's shilling as a reward for signing up to the Navy. However, in many cases where the people in the pub were drunk the press gangs simply dropped the shilling into the drinker’s pewter tankard and without realising it the drunkard then swallowed it. This meant that they had accepted the King’s shilling and were therefore there and then signed up to anything up to 10 years in the Navy. Why drinking from class oughtn't to tankards even drunks were able to see the shilling at the bottom of their tankard before they started drinking. They could then choose to hand the tankard back to the press-gangs and avoid being press-ganged into the Navy.

Fortunately, things have changed a lot since then and lead crystal promotional engraved tankards are extremely popular as presentation gifts and prizes for competitions etc. Golf is one of the sports that uses engraved crystal a great deal and items such as engraved tankards are often given as subsidiary prizes for competitions such as the longest drive or nearest the pin awards. Glass engraving lends itself to beautiful scenes such as golf courses wildlife etc, which is why it is so popular for presentations. A number of other sports such as rowing and crickets are inclined to use glass tankards especially if they have their own clubhouses where the glasses can hang behind the bar until the owner comes back.

Up until a few years ago all glass engraving was done with a diamond tipped engraving machine. However that is no longer the case. Nowadays all lead crystal tankards are engraved using sandblasting, which simply scratches away the surface of the tankard. This may sound a little odd. However, the system works brilliantly and particularly for intricate crests and designs as well as complex text.

BTC Group have been supplying all sorts of promotional crystal and especially engraved crystal tankards since 1977. Please do not hesitate to call our sales teams on 0845 612 3600 for further details.