Postby dragonflywink » Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:54 am
Suspect Charles-Edwards is using the fairly common "Rock crystal" term for a type of polished cutting and engraving on glass blanks. Feel sure that the silver mount is American (believe I have a piece somewhere marked similarly), but without a trademark, unless you can find a marked piece with the same decoration, will probably remain unknown. If I recall correctly, a few of the glass companies supposedly produced their own mounts, and some of the silver companies had glass divisions. American brilliant cut glass can be truly spectacular, but personally find the rock crystal pieces more appealing - love the griffins/dragons on this one. Will trust your estimate of age as claret jugs are your area, and the engraved pieces did become more popular a few years into the 20th century, but wouldn't be surprised if this piece were a bit earlier, there were some American cutting companies doing nice work in the 1890s (also the possibility that the glass is English or Bohemian). A good number of the cutting companies signed their work, did you look for a small acid-etched mark on the base? My first thought was Sinclaire or Hawkes, but someone with real knowledge of American glass would no doubt be much more helpful than I could ever be. Do have a few old references with silver-mounted glassware, will dig them out and see if anything turns up.....
~Cheryl
