Baccarat – The Game of Chance

Baccarat is a game of chance played between the banker and player. It is a highly strategic game that offers some of the lowest House Edges in the casino, although it can still be quite risky and you should always enter into this game with a plan. Determine how much you’re willing to lose, and leave the table when you have reached your loss limit.

Baccarat was founded in 1764 in the town of Baccarat, in the Lorraine region of eastern France. It originally specialised in producing crystal glassware, and its perfectly clear, lustrous works of heavy lead-based crystal became the toast of 19th Century luxury. Today, the company continues to produce its original pieces as well as new designs, and is one of the best known brands of luxury glassware in the world.

Like all glass, baccarat is made from silica, a ‘flux’ such as soda, and a’stabiliser’ such as lime (calcium oxide). These ingredients are heated together to form molten glass which can then be blown or pulled into a shape. Often, baccarat glasses are engraved with patterns which can be achieved by either cutting the glass with a copper grindstone, or by acid engraving – covering the surface of the glass in bitumen (a tough tar-like substance) to show a negative of the pattern to be cut, and then using acid to remove the uncovered glass.

Among Baccarat’s most famous creations of the 19th Century were the monumental 157-light chandeliers it produced for the Dolmbahce Palace in Istanbul. It was also responsible for another pair of monumental candelabra, this time for the Russian Imperial Court under Nicholas II.