Topic: Tat or treasure? old cut decanter i.d please

[buttonfluff]

Hello all!!   it would be really helpfull if i could find out if this decanter is a genuine old one and if its worth keeping hold of as i have a bootsale approaching and i have so much tat now i only want to keep the good things to pass on to my five year old (already a glass collector son) ,i bought it because of the three neck rings but havent really a clue as to who made it or age ,,it has a polished star cut base and is very worn lly the stopper is a bit nibbled,it cost me two pound and something made me buy it  any info would be great -thankyou

[Kevin B]

This response if probably way too late, this design is UK from the 1830s.  The stopper doesn't look to be original, so not very valuable.

[Paul S.]

we are a bit late on this one  -  don't seem to remember it now.

In view of Kevin's earlier comments about the size of his decanter collection, I must show respect for his knowledge, but for what it's worth my thoughts are......

This very simple broad slice/panel cutting looks to me to be possibly later than the more detailed and varied cutting typical of c. 1830  -  three applied neck rings were a common feature on Prussians  -  apparently they were the first type so treated with multiple rings to aid grip and to reinforce the neck.
Then again there were the deliberate copies from most of the major factories during the first third of the C20 - making it difficult to date these things accurately - especially from pix on the screen.     
As an original shape, Prussians appear to have spanned a long period  -  last quarter of the C18 to well into the 1830's, but my own opinion is that this very plain cutting looks to be a long way from the fussy pre-Victorian decoration, so I'd go for c. 1840 - 70.

I wouldn't rule out the stopper as being original  -  although the majority of Prussians would have been fitted with a mushroom, and even rarely a  target, there seems to have been some variation.            When I first looked at this one it made me think it might have been moulded, but guess now we'll never know, and now too late to ask if there were matching Nos.

I wonder what it made at the boot sale.  
 

[chopin-liszt]

Sorry, I shouldn't have posted or said anything. I'm in the wrong place.

[Kevin B]

Sorry, have to reply.
Most of the books I have place 3 ring decanters with flat panel cutting somewhere between 1820 and 1840, and that is why I gave 1830.  I was trying to give a median date, as it would be foolish to try and squeeze anything tighter than 20 years out of most of this stuff because fashions dragged on.  Obviously I am only passing on the opinion of book authors, but in Andy McConnells book The Decanter there is a reproduction of a page straight out of Apsleys Pellats catalogue of 1838 with a decanter just like that one.  If you were feeling brave you could say it was Apsley Pellat 1838.

In the period 1900-40 there was a fashion for producing copies of Georgian and Regency decanters.  I have several of these and they are always reproducing flasher more expensive decanters, either older models or heavily cut Regency ones, but not relatively plain later ones as yours is.  I don't think yours is a copy.

If you look in the claret jug section of my web site you will see one that is the kind of thing I am talking about.  I also have two Edinburgh and Leigh decanters to go with that jug.
http://www.lovedecanters.co.uk/LDClarJugs.html

At some point I will do a section on my web site about 1900-1940 copies but it is quite labourious building it up, so don't hold your breath.

Kind regards
Kevin
www.lovedecanters.co.uk

[Paul S.]

and if we were brave enough to suggest A.P. from 1838, then you'd be correct Kevin in having said the stopper was a replacement.

This one does appear to be a Prussian - perhaps a little later than others, and there does seem to be this noticeable change from the 1820 - 30 type of decoration to what became the more plain restrained early Victorian cutting.

Look forward to seeing the new section on your web site.