Click Picture to Expand

Description, References and Size

This is a shouldered shaped decanter, engraved around the body with floral swags and single band of foliage around the neck. The stopper is missing and it would probably have been a solid disk, ball or tear shaped. Made circa 1750.

A beautiful historic piece. On close inspection its age is obvious with the quality of the glass not being great. At the time this was made glass cutters with coming to the UK from the continent and I would like to think that this was engraved by some skilled worker from Bohemia or Southern Germany. On the other hand I could be completely wrong, as I don't encounter much glass this old.

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 121

Reference: How to Identify English Glasses & Decanters 1680-1830, Douglas Ash, page 119 & 131

Height: 10.5 inches

Width: 4 inches

This is a sugarloaf shaped decanter with a lozenge shaped stopper and with absolutely no cutting. The lozenge stopper is roughly fitted and slightly loose. Made circa. 1760.

If you are looking for an early decanter it doesn't get much more minimalist than this. The sugarloaf shape and slightly everted pouring lip are a classic for this period. The shape name sugarloaf can attributed to the solid conical shaped blocks of sugar that were imported to the UK from the West Indies at that time.

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 98-101

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 78 & 79

Reference: How to Identify English Glasses & Decanters 1680-1830, Douglas Ash, page 188 & 193

Reference: English Table Glass, Percy Bate, plate 170

Reference: Great British Wine Accessories, Robin Butler, plate 129

Height: 11 inches

Width: 4 inches

This is a shouldered shaped "Lynn" decanter with no cutting but a deep kick in the base and horizontal ribbed molding. It has a crudely engraved cartoche with the word PORT in it. The stopper is one I have added, but I would expect the original to be a similar shape and size. Made circa. 1760

Early glass this horizontal molded ribbed characteristic is reported to be from a 18th century glass house based in Kings Lynn. Some dispute whether or not this is entirely true and just a wives tale, but all such glass comes under the descriptive of Lynn glass. The shape, quality, deep base kick, and slightly everted lip pushes this example to be quite early. In general it is quite rare, and top money has to paid for good examples.

There is a Lynn decanter with this same engraving in the Ward Lloyd book and apparently such decorated Lynn decanters are extremely rare. It's a pity mine is so small, doesn't have the original stopper and has crack in the base. Oh well, riches will call another time.

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 102

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 92

Reference: A Wine-Lover's Glasses, The A.C. Hubbard Jr. Collection, Ward Lloyd, page 56

Reference: How to Identify English Glasses & Decanters 1680-1830, Douglas Ash, page 188 & 193

Reference: Great British Wine Accessories, Robin Butler, plate 129

Height: 9.25 inches

Width: 3 inches

This is a pedestal decanter with a indian club shaped body, a pouring lip, and a frieze of sycamore leaves. It also has a lunar cut lozenge shaped stopper. Made circa. 1770

This is a pretty rare type of decanter. It's so rare that when I bought it on-line I thought I was buying a cruet. It was one of those listings with minimal description and no measurements, I thought, "it's a cruet", and I was thinking that because pedestal cruets are uncommon but not rare. I haven't seen a pedestal decanter on eBay for any price let alone give away. If I had known it was a decanter I would have put more money down to ensure the win. The moral of the story is; make sure you describe the stuff you are selling properly.

The other thing of note about this decanter is that it is mainly for looks, as there is a lot of glass for very little carrying capacity.

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 147

Reference: Great British Wine Accessories 1550-1900, Robin Butler, page 131

Reference: Decanters and Glasses, Therle Hughes, Page 84

Height: 11.5 inches

Width: 3.25 inches

This is a tapered shaped decanter cut all over the body with find flutes to the base, bordered by horizontal grooves, surmounted by shallow hobnails, surmounted by cut panels that end in swags. The neck has two shallow hobnail cut faux neck rings with a continuation of the panel from the shoulders between them. The disc stopper has lunar cutting to the edges. Made circa. 1790.

This is a huge decanter that you might just two two bottles into. At the time it was made it was probably massively expensive too. For all its size and profuse cutting, the tapered shape and the shallowness of the cutting has given it an elegent fine dining style.

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 179

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 145

Reference: How to Identify English Glasses & Decanters 1680-1830, Douglas Ash, page 188 & 193

Height: 12 inches

Width: 4.75 inches

This is a tapered shaped decanter. The base is cut with horizontal flutes and has three rows of small printies cut around the neck. It also has a band of stylised foliage engraved around the waist between engraved borders. The lozenge stopper has a cut edge. Made circa. 1790.

A small one pint decanter that is right in period. It might be an early Irish decanter.

Underneath it has a paper label with Wm. H. Plummer & Co. Ltd. New York City, ANTIQUE DEPT. ENGLISH 1790. By the power of eBay this was repatiated from the USA. All I have been able to find out about Plummers is that they stuck labels on a lot of antiques and had a court case against them in the 1960s.

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 145

Reference: How to Identify English Glasses & Decanters 1680-1830, Douglas Ash, page 188 & 193

Reference: English Table Glass, Percy Bate, plate 170

Height: 10.25 inches.

Width: 3 inches

This is a clubbed shaped decanter. The waist is cut with an undulating festoon of stars and olives. It has a lunar cut disc stopper. Made circa. 1765.

This is a nice early decanter and a good example of its type. The horizontal line you see a quarter of the way up is a fault in the surface of the glass caused by the tools in its making.

Although these are now called club shaped after the shape of an Indian club, in 1775 these were originally advertised as barrel shaped. At that time barrels tended to be longer and thinner, and the decanters we now describe as barrel shaped are named after what we now consider a barrel shape, which is shorter and wider.

Reference: How to Identify English Glasses & Decanters 1680-1830, Douglas Ash, page 188 & 193

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 79 & 95

Height: 11.5 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a mallet shaped decanter with three neck rings. It also has a disc stopper with cut faces and edges. Made circa. 1790

This is a simple, well made but light weight decanter. The stopper appears to be original and this type tendered to be more late 18th century, so I suspect the date I have given of 1800 may be conservative.

Reference: English Bottles and Decanters 1650-1900, Derek C. Davis, Page 45

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 147

Reference: Great British Wine Accessories 1550-1900, Robin Butler, page 138

Height: 9.25 inches

Width: 3.5 inches

This is a mallet shaped decanter intermitent flute cutting to the base. The neck has three plain applied neck rings. The disc stopper has lunar cutting to the edges. Made circa. 1790.

One of the features that help to date this decanter is the cutting around that base which is really shallow and loose. The stopper too is an earlier shape with an almost serrated edge.

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 147

Height: 10.5 inches, without stopper.

Width: 4.25 inches

This is a mallet shaped decanter with vesica frieze cut to the body and three rows of ellipses cut to the shoulder. It also has cut bullseye mushroom stopper. Made circa. 1780-1800.

This is a beautiful decanter, the cut pattern is a great design. The only books where I have seen similat vesica designs if for Irish decanters, however, I have seen one with this vesica design, and I have seen this shape either, so I am a reluctant to make that attribution.

Height: 10 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a wide-based mallet shaped decanter with three neck rings. It has a lunar cut disc stopper. Made circa. 1780-1800

These slightly wider decanters from this period are rarer, and serious collectors will pay a bit more to get the nice shape.

Height: 10.25 inches

Width: 4.75 inches

This is a barrel shaped decanter with no cutting and two neck rings and two pulley rings around the body. It also has a cut bullseye stopper. Made Circa 1780-1800.

Georgian period decanters with pulley rings are quite rare but were reproduced in the 1900-40 period. Neither of the ones I own have that sparkling quality that most Georgian reproductions of that period have, so I am hoping they are genuine article.

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 165

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, Page 211

Reference: Decanters, David Leigh, Page 9

Reference: English Bottles and Decanters 1650-1900, Derek C. Davis, Page 56

Height: 8.75 inches

Width: 3.75 inches

This is a prussian shaped decanter with no cutting. The neck has three applied feathered neck rings. The disc stopper has lunar cutting to the edges. Made circa. 1790.

A lovely decanter, and at the date I have given, the feathered neck rings and disc stopper as earlier features and the prussian shape as a new feature. This would be a relatively difficult set of features to find together.

Height: 7.5 inches, without stopper.

Width: 3 inches

This is a tapered shaped decanter. The base is cut with fine horizontal flutes and has panel cut shoulders. The panel cuttingfrom the neck has taken up the with breaks in it to create three faux neck rings. The mushroom stopper has a ball in the neck and radial grooves cut into the top of it. Made circa. 1800.

I have attributed an earlier date to this than the decanter above on the basis that tapered decanters when into and out of fashion sooner than shouldered ones. Although this is bordering away from tapered towards being a shouldered decanter, I would say this is a much more elegant than the standard shouldered shape. I have read that the ball in the next of the stopper can be attributed to Irish Waterford decanters, but I am less sure of that.

Height: 9.5 inches

Width: 3.5 inches

This is a Prussian shaped decanter banded with a rustically engraved vine and grape motif and three neck rings. It also has a flute molded mushroom stopper with a ball in the neck. Made circa. 1800

This is a simply made decanter with the only cutting being for the polished pontil mark. There is a possibility that this is a Northern European decanter.

Reference: English Bottles and Decanters 1650-1900, Derek C. Davis, Page 44

Reference: Decanters and Glasses, Therle Hughes, Page 84

Height: 10.5 inches

Width: 4 inches

This is a shouldered shaped decanter. The base is cut with fine horizontal flutes and has panel cut shoulders. The neck has three applied neck rings. It also has a cut bullseye stopper. Made circa. 1800.

Superficially this decanter is similar to one of the decanters above that has a mushroom stopper instead of the cut bullseye as this one does. If you look though you will notice that the shape and proportion of the lip of the decanter is different and goes better this this stopper.

You will notice this decanters is quite cloudy, this is damage to the inside surface of the decanter. No amount of cleaning will fix this, and the way to remove it is to get it professionally polished out. If you use this decanter, filling it with liquid will make the cloudiness disappear. I could have improved this photo by filling the decanter with water, then tipping it out, and taking the picture with the decanter still wet. Herein lies a tale of caution, look out for decanters that are still wet inside when purchasing, it could be masking this damage.

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 166

Reference: Collecting Glass, Norman Webber, Page 116

Height: 10.5 inches

Width: 4 inches

This is a shouldered shaped decanter. The base is cut with fine horizontal flutes and has panel cut shoulders. The neck has three applied neck rings. The mushroom stopper has radial grooves cut into the top of it. Made circa. 1810.

This might be considered a very typical decanter of this period. All of the features in this decanter had been around for at least a couple of decades by 1810 and this could be earlier but I am trying not to be too generous. This shape is generally considered to be 1800 plus though. If you are going to collect decanters I would consider this a signature piece of the period.

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 167

Reference: The Book of Wine Antiques, Robin Butler & Gillian Walkling, Page 138

Reference: Great British Wine Accessories, Robin Butler, plate 138

Reference: Collecting Glass, Norman Webber, Page 116

Height: 11 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a shoulded decanter with intermitant flute cutting to the base, a cut frieze to the body, panel cut shoulders and three neck rings. It also has a knopped radially cut stopper that is cut flat as the apex. Made circa. 1810

This is a standard shouldered decanter of the time with a bit extra. From what I have seen of the way things were advertised back then, you would get basic shapes and then for increasing amounts of money they would add fancy bits. With the frieze and fancier stopper this clearly has some added fancy bits.

If I were to be cruel, I don't think this frieze is a good design. It seems a bit of a hodge-podge of elements that don't go together. It doesn't say wow look at the cutting, it says funny design with triangles and circles.

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 167

Height: 9.5 inches

Width: 4.5 inches