Click Picture to Expand

Description, References and Size

This is a large "Straw" coloured tapered decanter. Elfverson pattern number E.636. Possibly designed by Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This must be about as minimalist a design as you can get, and you can see it sitting on the dining table in some smart minimalist apartment. Although it is minimalist, it is not machine made, and it a quality man made item.

The copy of the Elfverson catalogue reproduced in the Glass Association Journal mentions a few different colours. The colour they use that would appear to match this pale brown colour is called "Straw".

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 58

Height: 12 inches

Width: 4.75 inches

This is a rib molded "Straw" coloured decanter, the solid stopper mirrors the shape of the decanter body and has polished flat top. Elfverson pattern number E.624. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

Slightly less minimalist than the decanter above in that this has a distinct shape.

This decanter is similar to some of the Whitefriars patterns of the time. A key element of with Whitefriars is their stopper pegs are cut with more precision than decanters. Note how the stopper has a slight taper towards the base, Whitefriars stopper pegs have square cut ends with a slight bevel on them. Also I have not found this shade of brown being used by UK manufacturers.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 59

Height: 9.5 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a rib molded "Straw" coloured decanter, with a wide solid mushroom stopper. Elfverson pattern number 2038 and has Y3 scratched into the pontil mark. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This decanter breaks the etiquette of mushroom stoppered decanters where the norm is that the stopper is about the same width of the lip of the decanter. In Strombergshyttan's case the mushroom stoppers are wider than the lip of the decanter on a regular basis and somehow it looks alright.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 57

Height: 10 inches

Width: 5 inches

This is a lobed "Straw" coloured decanter, with a wide solid mushroom stopper. Elfverson gave this pattern the name Osborne. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This decanter seems to be the one everyone wants, and it has quite a cool and different design.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 58

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 413

Height: 10 inches

Width: 4 inches

This is a lobed "Straw" coloured decanter, with a wide solid mushroom stopper and a gilt ring on the neck. Elfverson gave this pattern the name Osborne. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

There are a couple of things different about this decanter than the one above. First it is a different shade of pale brown and I thought this colour was "Smokey Amethyst", but I'm now of the opinion this is just poor colour controlled "Straw". This decanter also came in the pale blue colour and I have also seen one in dark green, but it was in Sweden and that colour may not have been imported to the UK. The other thing is the gilt ring on the neck. I don't why the gilt ring was added, it seems superflous.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 58

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 413

Height: 10 inches

Width: 4 inches

This is a lobed "Straw" coloured decanter, with a black glass wide solid mushroom stopper. Elfverson gave this pattern the name Osborne. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This decanter is the closest Osborne decanter I have to the one in the reproduction of the 1930s Elfverson catalogue with the black stopper and being a bit dumpier. Now all I need is a blue one, a green one and clear one.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 58

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 413

Height: 9 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a conical "Straw" coloured decanter with a single neck ring, and a wrythen ovoid stopper. The Elfverson pattern number is:S.4/912. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

If you don't count the miniature decanter I have this is the most delicate of all the Strombergshyttan decanters that I have and it also feels like a slightly old fashioned design.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 54

Height: 9.25 inches

Width: 4 inches

This is a tall cylindrical "Straw" coloured decanter, with a solid inverted mushroom stopper. The Elfverson pattern number is:E.584. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This is one of those decanters that can make a group of decanters look cool as it has a kind of stand out shape. It's probably not the most practical decanter to use though, particularly with the weighted base.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 59

Height: 10.5 inches

Width: 3 inches

This is a "Straw" coloured flask shaped decanter, with a peg stopper and no pouring lip. Elfverson gave this pattern the name "Dimple Bottle" R.D. 761577. Underneath it has scratched "Elfverson RD 761577". Designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1931.

This is a very tactile piece of glass as the flattened shape and slight dimple lends itself to be held quite easily. What I am saying is that if you get drunk drinking out of this bottle it will be easy to keep using it until it is empty. On the other hand the lack of pouring lip means you need a steady hand to refill it, so it has inbuilt safety.

If you think that Hugh Dunne Cook registered this design in 1931 at the height of art deco it says something about him as a designer, that he was out on the edge being "modern".

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 60

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 413

Height: 8.5 inches

Width: 5.25 inches

This is a "Elfverson Blue" coloured decanter, with rounded body, a very short neck and a wide solid mushroom stopper. The Elfverson pattern number is:S.19/912. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This decanter doesn't quite match the decanter in the catalogue and so I was concered it was a later design. The one in the catalogue has facets cut around the edge of the stopper. I have been reliably informed that in amongst the examples Dunne Cooke gave to the Victoria and Albert Museum in the 1930s the example of this pattern didn't have facets.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 55

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 413

Height: 8.5 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a "Straw" coloured decanter, with rounded body, a very short neck and a wide solid mushroom stopper. The Elfverson pattern number is:S.19/912. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This is the straw coloured version of the decanter above, but it isn't just that. The people I bought the one above from said their parents bought it as new in the 1960s and if you look at it, only the outer shape is the same as this one. The inside of the bottom of the blue is rounded and so you see this bigger refractive effect. Also the stopper peg is wider on the blue one and the stopper peg is shorter. This may not mean much to most people but to me it implies they were made to the same design but by different people and at different times. I think this one was actually made in the 1930s and the blue one is later as told to me by the seller.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 55

Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 413

Height: 8.5 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a "Straw" coloured decanter, with a wide rounded body a short neck, everted pouring lip, and a wide solid mushroom stopper with a blob of green glass centred on the top. The Elfverson pattern number is: S.13/101 1/2G. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This is a nice enough shape, but it is bit of a boring design right up the green blob. If it weren't for that it would fade into the backgound. You can almost see the designer looking at it without the blob and thinking, "boring", adding the green blob and saying "and my work is done".

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 55

Height: 8 inches

Width: 5.75 inches

This is a "Silver" coloured decanter, with a wide rounded body a short neck, everted pouring lip, and a wide solid mushroom stopper with a blob of black glass centred on the top. The Elfverson pattern number is: S.13/101 1/2G. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This is the liqueur version of the above decanter. I bought it thinking it might be a bit smaller than the one above, but it's really petit. This is because proportion wise they have kept it exactly the same as the one above. Quite often when making smaller versions of things like this decanter, designers mess with the proportions. It's something to do with balance, etc.. In this case it seems exactly the same, which gives it a kind of cuteness.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Journal Volume 8 2008, Page 55

Height: 6.26 inches

Width: 4.25 inches

This is a "Straw" coloured decanter, with a ribbed rounded body and a wide solid black glass mushroom stopper. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This decanter is slightly confusing as it is in the photographs on the Journal of the Glass Association it is not in the Elfverson catalogue. As a result I can't give a pattern number.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Volume 8 2008, Page 67

Height: 8.75 inches

Width: 5 inches

This is a "Straw" coloured decanter, with a tall optically moulded conical body and tall conical stopper. The Elfverson pattern number is: BO/912. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This decanter is the tallest decanter in my collection. As beautiful as it is so impractical, if you had a slightly shakey table, one knock and it would be over.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Volume 8 2008, Page 54

Height: 17.5 inches

Width: 4.5 inches

This is a "Tormaline" coloured decanter, with a tall optically moulded conical body and tall black glass conical stopper. The Elfverson pattern number is: BO/912. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

This decanter is liqueur version of the one above. This colour is not in the 1930s catalogue that I have, but Nils Bergquist from the Strombergshyttan Facebook group confirmed to me this is a colour that Strombergshyttan did use.

The volume this decanter holds is tiny compared to the one above, even though it's 14 inches tall. That's all down to the geometry of it.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Volume 8 2008, Page 54

Height: 14 inches

Width: 3.5 inches

This is a "Straw" coloured decanter, with a tall optically moulded body and solid ball stopper with a green ring at the circumference. The Elfverson pattern number is: 2061. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930s.

The ring on the stopper is the only part that is green, however, no matter how you hold it other parts of the stopper look green.

This decanter is really tall and thin and top heavy, I'm surprised it has survived from the 1930s.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Volume 8 2008, Page 59

Height: 14.5 inches

Width: 3.25 inches

This is a "Smokey Amethyst" coloured decanter, with an optic moulded baluster shapped body and a mushroom stopper. Possibly designed by Hugh Dunne Cooke in the 1930/40s.

This decanter is in the 1930s Elfverson catalogue but with a stopper looks inverted compared this the one here. I found the decanter with this stopper in a 1945 book on furnishing with a pair of this decanter sitting on table. The book listed them as Elfverson of Stockholm which kind of sealed the deal of the maker of them.

Reference: Colour Schemes and Modern Furnishing, Plate 56

Height: 9 inches

Width: 5 inches

This is a clear glass decanter, with thick ovoid body, no pouring lip and a stopper whose shape matches the body. Pattern number O.34, designed in 1935 by Gerda Stromberg.

This decanter is not exactly the same as the drawing in the 1930s Elfverson catalogue. I have discussed it with Nils Bergquist from the Strombergshyttan Facebook group, he has one like mine, but not like the catalogue but marked O.34 as per the catalogue. The thing that convinced that this is Strombergshyttan is that the pouring lip is the same as the "Dimple Bottle", and I haven't seen it on any other decanter. Working from a 1930s catalogue of line drawings where the real glass is not exactly the same is a minefield of chancing my arm when buying stuff.

Although I have said this is clear glass, it is not clear by 1930s standard. It's more like 18th century clear glass.

Reference: The Journal of The Glass Association Volume 8 2008, Page 58

Height: 10.25 inches

Width: 3.25 inches

This is a light blue coloured decanter, with an optically moulded body and clear glass stopper. Designed in the 1930/40s.

This decanter is not the same as the one listed in the 1930s Elfverson catalogue. I have discussed it with Nils Bergquist from the Strombergshyttan Facebook group, he has another variation in the catalogues he owns. We are comfortable this is a Strombershyttan decanter.

Height: 9.5 inches

Width: 3.5 inches

This is a light blue coloured decanter, with a slab shaped body that is flat polished front and back. The stopper is cut in a similar way. Retains original paper label. Designed in the 1970.

This is a later decanter and Stromberghytten made other decanters of this style.

Height: 10 inches

Width: 4 inches