How catalogers merchandise a once-in-a-lifetime product

The category—houseware, gift or collectible—to which such a glass belongs depends largely on the flute itself. They run the gamut from low-priced “functional” glasses sold in larger sets to expensive, custom-designed “high-end-collectible” type flutes.

If the flutes turn up in time capsules, they will help future cultural anthropologists assess “turn-of-the-millennium” tastes and styles. Some are crystal, some glass, some metal, some painted, some with numerals arranged vertically as the stem, some with the year molded into the base. One has the 2000 arranged in rhinestones on the bowl. All held the promise of festivity and good spirits for a day many feared would be ... the end of the world.