this uncertainty of whether a piece of glass is pressed or cut seems to be a perennial problem, especially for folk who are new to glass collecting, and some of us who are not so new
On the face of it there shouldn't be a problem............ pressed glass lacks sharpness of design/pattern, and often shows vertical (usually) lines created where the separate parts of the mould come together. Unfortunately, it's not always that simple, and top quality pressed glass is often fire treated to remove the mould seams, and a good quality mould made piece can run average quality cut glass a very close second.
The word crystal is used wrongly too often and appears on labels attached to many pieces of glass - clear or coloured - it should never appear on pressed/mould made glass. The term should perhaps be reserved for cut glass where the lead content is known to be high - which gives good refractive properties, and full lead crystal glass should probably contain around 34% oxide. On the face of it, it might be imagined that the word should be confined to clear cut glass, since there isn't going to be much in the way of light refraction from a piece of opaquely coloured glass.
For most purposes, certainly on the GMB, if you confine descriptions to using either 'cut' or 'pressed', then this will be adequate for most folk to understand what you mean - and yes, you can use the word 'paid' in that sense.
Looking at the op's lidded boxes in the first post, I assumed - possibly wrongly - that the pattern was what I tend to call 'hobnail', although not sure whether Anne or m have used that term in any of their posts. Not sure of the origin of this design, but it enjoyed a lot of popularity back in the second half of the C19 and into the early C20, appearing a lot in cut form on those heavy round, often silver lidded scent bottles - but also it seems on much pressed glass - I think Davidson in the U.K. produced an entire suite called hobnail, but could be wrong on that.
It should be possible to tell whether the design is cut or pressed - the former will feel a lot sharper, and under a lens some remains of the original cutting marks should still be visible. Reflected light, from within the cut surfaces of the mitres, should allow you to see the slight variation in levels of glass where the worker's hands moved ever so slightly during the cutting - no matter how careful the worker was, there is always some minute deviation in surface level, and by playing the light onto this area the grinding marks and variation can be seen.
Pressed glass avoids all of these visual effects, and shows simply as a smooth surface - plus the fact that the outline edges of the design will not usually be sharp.
Sorry this is boring and long-winded - nice boxes by the way, and sounds like good prices.
Topic: Lidded Boxes Signed "B" - Baccarat?? (Read 3578 times)
