Topic: Exceptional Antique Cut/Carved Glass Carafe

[Pinkspoons]

The carafe is incredibly heavy (1.2kg and just 17cm tall), has a ringed decoration around most of the neck and deep vertical pillar ribs around the body. The glass has beautiful refraction, so I'm presuming lead crystal, although its overall tone is somewhat grey. It's finished to the base with a large polished pontil mark and has plenty of wear to the base rim.

There are no marks from a stopper inside the neck, so I'm presuming it is a wine carafe.

At first glance it looks mould-blown with panel cut detailing to the neck, but a closer inspection reveals that the entirety of the exterior profile, including the rings and the flare of the rim, is carved out of a (very) thick-walled blank. All the curved surfaces are slightly uneven, somewhst flat in places, and show small signs of grinding and polishing, with the crevices showing further tooling marks. Also, the interior profile, being smooth and featureless, bears no relation whatsoever to the external profile of rings and ribs - which is the opposite of what you'd expect if it were mould-blown.

I'm way out of my comfort zone here, but I felt I couldn't leave this carafe languishing on a rural charity shop shelf. That said, I nearly passed over it because a member of staff had placed a nasty modern drinking glass on top of it to make it an ill-proportioned bedside carafe.   I let them keep the drinking glass.

Any idea on age / country of origin? I can't imagine it being 20th century, based on the style, the colour of the glass, and the sheer amount of effort that has gone into its manufacture.

[Lustrousstone]

My gut reaction is Moser(ish)

[Dettmer]

Pure quality, this is English and the design is known as 'Pillar Cut' c1840. At first glance it looks like a decanter but the neck is wide and as you say theres no marks (grinding and polishing). As a general rule, there wont be a glass stopper if the neck opening is wider than a thumb.

Cheers,
Dettmer

[Pinkspoons]

Thanks for the comments.

Moser would be nice, I have to admit, but couldn't really find much along these lines when I hit the books/internet.

English does seem most likely, having noted similar modes of decoration in the Regency Cut Glass section of Hajdamach - although I didn't spot any examples with quite so deeply and extensively carved decoration for such an understated design.