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Description, References and Size

This is a tapered decanter with a combe moulded base and a press moulded bullseye stopper. Engraved around the middle of the decanter is meander of foliage, with the word WHISKEY on one side and spriggs of foliage on three other sides. It also has a deep kick in the base. Made c.1780-1800.

I don't know the manufacturer of this decanter. Whilst all of the motifs that go to make up the decanter are seen other attributed decanters, I have seen none with this exact combination. The shape and the deep kick in the base lead me to think it is probably an early piece in this period.

The only decanter that I have seen that has this foliage meander is in the Dudley Westropp, Irish Glass book. That decanter was marked for B. Edwards of Belfast.

Reference: Irish Glass, Dudley Westropp, page 87.

Height: 10 inches

Width: 3.5 inches

This is a tapered decanter with a combe moulded base, three squared neck rings with a disc stopper with engraved sprig of foliage. Engraved around the middle of the decanter are two meanders of foliage that cross over, with the letters MR on one side amongst a field of stars and spriggs of foliage on where the meanders cross. Made c.1780-1800.

Whilst this decanter has that slightly niave look early Irish decanters have, I really like it and seems like a together design.

A decanter like this is in the book the Decanter is attributed to Belfast or Cork.

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 234

Height: 9.75 inches

Width: 3.5 inches

This is a Prussian decanter shaped with a combe moulded base, three featured neck rings and a press moulded bullseye stopper. Engraved around the middle of the decanter is grape vine frieze. Made c.1824-1838, possibly by Newry

The grape vine frieze on this decanter feels almost too generic to be Irish. You generally expect to see some sort of Irish motif, however there are 5 decanters illustrated in Glassmaking in Ireland from the Newry and Mourne Museum and they all have this grape motif.

Reference: Glassmaking in Ireland, John M. Hearne, page 134

Height: 10 inches

Width: 4.25 inches

This is a Prussian shaped decanter with a combe moulded base, two feathered neck rings and a press moulded bullseye stopper. Engraved around the middle of the decanter are swags and stylised thistles. Made by B.Edwards of Belfast, circa.1800

I would like to thank the Ulster Museum for providing advice and guidance on attributing a maker to this decanter :- www.nmni.com/um

There is a marked B.Edwards of Belfast decanter with exactly the same stylised thistle in the The Arthur Negus Guide to British Glass.

Reference: Irish Glass, Warren Phelps, plate 4c

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 234

Reference: The Arthur Negus Guide to British Glass, John Brooks, page 76

Height: 10.75 inches

Width: 4.25 inches

This is a Prussian shaped decanter with a combe moulded base, two feathered neck rings and a press moulded bullseye stopper. Engraved around the middle of the decanter are two rings between are stylised sprigs of fliage and stars and a circular cartouche with the name MARTHA CLEMENTS within it surmounted by two wheat ears. Made c.1800

This decanter might be made by B.Edwards of Belfast.

I would like to thank the Ulster Museum for providing advice and guidance on attributing a maker to this decanter :- www.nmni.com/um

Whilst the shape of this decanter conforms with the shape of those made B.Edwards of Belfast, I am not aware of any other decanters with a cartouche and name as this one has. As such I cannot more firmly attribute it.

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 234

Height: 11.75 inches

Width: 4.25 inches

This is a tapered decanter with a combe moulded base, two bladed neck rings and a lunar cut lozenge stopper. Cut around the middle of the decanter is a ring of wheat ears and on the shoulder are three rows of lens. Made c.1800

This decanter might be made by B.Edwards of Belfast.

I would like to thank the Ulster Museum for providing advice and guidance on attributing a maker to this decanter :- www.nmni.com/um

Whilst the shape of this decanter conforms with the shape of those made B.Edwards of Belfast, none of the marked ones I am aware of conform to the cutting this one has. The late use of the tapered shape with the two bladed rings are usually attributed to B. Edwards though.

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 234

Height: 11 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a Prussian shaped decanter with a combe moulded base, three annulated neck rings and a press moulded bullseye stopper. There is an engraved vesica and diamond pattern around the body. Most probably made be Cork Glass Co. c.1800

Of this type of decanter these are probably less rare and regularly feature in reference books. If you are going to collect Irish decanters one of these is a must have reference piece.

Reference: Irish Glass, Phelps Warren, plate 5B

Reference: English and Irish Glass, W. A.Thorpe, figure 43(b)

Reference: English Bottles & Decanters 1650-1900, Derek C Davis, page 51

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 234

Height: 10.5 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a Prussian shaped decanter with a combe cut base and cut with arches over stars to the body and three annulated neck rings. It has a radially cut stopper with a ball knop stem. Most probably made by Penrose Waterford. c.1810-15

This is another reference piece in Irish glass with all the marked molded ones seeming to be made by Penrose Waterford. This is not a full sized decanter and that is why the neck rings appear chunky and close together.

Reference: Irish Glass, Phelps Warren, plate 11, 13a and 51a

Reference: English and Irish Cut Glass 1750-1950, E.M. Elville, page 60

Reference: English and Irish Glass, W. A.Thorpe, figure 43(a)

Reference: Irish Glass, Dudley Westropp, page 89

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 237

Reference: English Bottles and Decanters 1650-1900, Derek C. Davis, Page 58

Reference: The Arthur Negus Guide to British Glass, John Brooks, page 73

Height: 9 inches

Width: 3.75 inches

This is a shouldered decanter with a combe moulded base, three bladed neck rings and a mushroom stopper with radial cutting and flat cut top. There is scale cutting hanging from the shoulder. Made c.1800

I am unable to attribute this decanter to any particular Irish glass house, but it does have features that could have come from a number of them.

Height: 10.75 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a Prussian shaped decanter with a panel cut base, four neck rings and a bullseye stopper. There is a band vesica cut around the middle within a frosted ring. Made c.1810

Possibly made in Cork due to the cut band of Vesica, I am unable to attribute this decanter more firmly to any particular Irish glass house.

Height: 10.5 inches

Width: 5 inches

This is a Prussian shaped decanter with a panel cut base, four neck rings and a bullseye stopper. There is a band cross hatching around the middle within a frosted ring. Made c.1810

The only reason this might possibly be made in Cork due to its similarity to the one with cut band of Vesica, I am unable to attribute this decanter more firmly to any particular Irish glass house.

Height: 10.5 inches

Width: 5 inches

This is a mould blown Prussian shaped decanter with three anulated neck rings and a mould pressed bullseye stopper. The moulding of the body represents combe cutting, panels of hobnails and vertical cutting, and step cut shoulders. Made c.1820

There is a similar decanter in the Dudley Westropp, Irish Glass book, which described it as probably Waterford. I don't want to seem boastful but I think my example is better than his, as mine is more defined and I am not certain the stopper in his is original.

As nice as it is to have good quality, sometimes it is even better to have something that is pretending quite badly to be something better. The thing that gets me about this decanter and its like, is that it wouldn't trick you into believing it was the cut glass it is pretending to be at 50 paces, so why even try.

Reference: Irish Glass, Dudley Westropp, plate XIII

Reference: Irish Glass (pamphlet), Mary Boydell, plate 26

Height: 11 inches

Width: 5 inches

This is a barrel shaped decanter with three anulated neck rings and a mushroom stopper. The lower body is comb cut, surmounted with a band of hobnail cutting, surmounted with panel cutting that is followed through onto the shoulder of the decanter. The mushroom stopper has a hobnail cut top, serrated edge and panel cut neck. Made c.1820s-30s

This is a good solid cut glass decanter, but what is nice about this decanter is how the body and the stopper go together. It is traditional and designed at the same time.

Although I am low on direct references for this decanter, I did buy this from an antique shop in Ireland in the middle of nowhere. The ladies prices were very reasonable and I bought quite a bit of glass from her. The glass appeared to come various recently dead people, so I expect she did a lot of local probate work.

Reference: Irish Glass, Dudley Westropp, page 172

Height: 10.25 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a Prussian shaped decanter with three anulated neck rings and a radially cut stopper. The lower body has interspersed comb cutting, surmounted with a band of hobnail cutting, surmounted with panel cut shoulders. Made c.1820

This is like the cheaper version of the decanter above. Everthing about it is less, the glass is thinner, the cutting less intense, the stopper is a generic one. In these pictures they are not side by side it's not obvious, but take it from me, it's obvious.

Reference: Irish Glass, Dudley Westropp, plate XXXI

Reference: Irish Glass (pamphlet), Mary Boydell, plate 26

Height: 9 inches

Width: 4.25 inches

This is a cylinder shaped decanter with three neck rings and a mushroom bullseye stopper. The body of the decanter is cut with vertical bands of fine hobnails pillar cutting, the upper body having a horizontal band of hobnail cutting and the shoulders are panel cut. The stopper has radiating bands of fine hobnail and pillar cutting. Made c.1820s-30s.

Whilst I don't have a direct reference for this decanter as Irish I was happy to be sold it as being Irish due to the distinctive horizontal bands of hobnails and pillar cutting. I have seen this pattern variously described as Irish, and it is so distinctive that the modern Waterford factory copied it in their "Hiberian" pattern.

Reference: Irish Glass, Dudley Westropp, page 172

Reference: English and Irish Glass, W. A.Thorpe, figure 55A

Height: 9.25 inches

Width: 4.25 inches

This is a cylinder decanter with combe cutting around the base, surmounted by fields of hobnail cutting, surmounted by panel cutting. The neck has two bands of fine hobnails separated by prism cutting and the mushroom stopper is topped with radiating fields of fine hobnails. Made c.1820-30

There is a bowl on plate C of the Warren Phelps book Irish glass, with the same diagonally crossing prism cutting enclosing strawberry hobnail.

From the description the design sounds like it might be craziness, but infact it looks quite a cohesive design.

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 209 & 237

Height: 9 inches

Width: 4 inches

This is a Prussian shaped decanter with diagonally crossing prism cutting enclosing strawberry hobnails cutting surmounted by band of zig zag cutting intersperst with fine hobnails and fine grooves, surmounted by step cutting, surmounted by panel cutting. The neck has three annulated rings , the mushroom stopper is topped with diagonally crossing prism cutting enclosing strawberry hobnails. Made c.1820-30

There is a bowl on plate C of the Warren Phelps book Irish glass, with the same diagonally crossing prism cutting enclosing strawberry hobnail.

From the description the design sounds like it might be craziness, but infact it looks quite a cohesive design.

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 209 & 237

Reference: The Arthur Negus Guide to British Glass, John Brooks, page 93

Height: 9.5 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a Prussian shaped decanter with vertial prismative cutting separating fields of hobnails, surmounted by band of hobnails. The shoulders and neck are panel cut base with two humps, the mushroom stopper is flat cut. Made c.1820-30

There is a Prussian shaped jug with a similar treatment of the shoulders and neck in plate 54b of the Warren Phelps book Irish glass.

You may notice a metal band around the neck as there is a crack from the lip running down into the neck and there is also a metal rivett on the lip. I bought this decanter in Ireland for very little (and I mean little) and it is great piece with history. It would have been alright if it wasn't cracked, but it is great to see some period repairs too.

Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 209 & 237

Height: 9 inches

Width: 5 inches