History of the Waterford Crystal and the New York Ball

With the year ending, New York City hosts the largest party with a crystal ball that drops to announce the start of a new year. Delving a bit deeper into the past and how Waterford Crystal came to help shape the ball, the Waterford Crystal Vistor Centre offers a unique look and insight to the birth of one of the world's most famous crystal artists and producers. The site can be found at www.waterfordvisitorcentre.com - A brief history of the Waterford Crystal relates as follows:

In 1783 the brothers, George and William Penrose, never thought that they would help adorn the New York City's Ball that is dropped every New Year's Eve. They only want to produce plain and cut flint glass that was useful as well as ornamental. They set up shop in the port town of Waterford, Ireland. The original name of the company was Waterford Glass Company.

In 1799 William wanted to sell the business, thus local families decided purchased the company and then became their new owners. The opened a shop on the quay expressed their intent to continue to supply customers with an extensive assortment of plain and ornamental glassware.

In 1850 the company faced closing its doors because of lack of customers and capital. They took a bold risk and entered a piece of crystal to the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. However excessive taxation took its toll and Waterford Glass closed its doors.

In 1947 just after World War II, a small shop was set up not far from the original glass house. It started in a suburb of Waterford in a town called Ballytruckle. Because of its own success it is now twenty times the size of the original glass house.

In the 1980's the Waterford Crystal created the sculpting department and because of that move, it has become a success among collectors. One of the first pieces created was entitled Rearing Horse and Labrador from their animal collection. Waterford has also done work for Disney in creating their beloved characters.

In 2000, a partnership was formed between Phillips Electronics and Waterford Crystal, according to the Times Square New York offical website (address below), to create the ball that drops in the center of Times Square. This new ball replaced the second ball that had been made of aluminum and had been used since 1950. Each piece of Waterford crystal is hand crafted in Ireland and shipped to the United States to be placed onto the ball itself. Because of the historic weather conditions, Waterford assessed the crystals to adjust according to the weather to it wind, temperature or snow and ice. Pete Cheyney, the director for the Corporation Committee for Waterford Crystal states that the crystals were are their "greatest achievement" to date.

The original ball that was designed in 2000 only had 504 crystal triangles of various sizes that decorated the ball. In 2006 more than 900 crystals were added, these embraced the themes of hope for, fellowship, wisdom, unity, courage, healing, abundance as well as the star of hope. For the year 2008-2009, the ball doubled in size to a stagger twelve feet in diameter and now boasts over 2,600 crystals. The new designs include angels with the arms uplifted and stylized starbursts. The full and wonderous history of the New York Times Square ball is amazing in and of itself and can be viewed at www.timesquarenyc.org.

Thanks to the partnership between Phillips and Waterford, we all will bring in a brighter New Year.