5 P r e f a c eThe origins of my Ancient Glass Collection; acknowledgrnentsIn the first year of our marriage my wife Marya Prangers unwittingly awoke my interest in glass by presenting me with a 18thcentury Dutch glass. Later on, at one of the Delft Antique Fairs, we bought a small 'golden-brown' flask (no. 90), unaware that this unassuming object would- be the catalyst in the formation of a modest private collection of ancient glass. Although it inight appear inappropriate at this juncture to suggest that 1 drifted into collecting with no set goal or purpose, it now seems to me, as 1 reflect on the collection, that 1 began collecting very haphazardly disparate objects of visual beauty. After a lifetime of collecting 1 can say that I have experienced all the passions and obsessions of a collector and that the evolution of the collection charts the development of my taste and personality. My fascination for ancient glass deepened through museum visits, reading and tireless searching
