Need help on this dug decanter

[ruccello]

I dug these the other day along with the 2nd coffin poison. One is a crier, the other is in great condition. I just got them cleaned up and I think they are pontiled. They are flint glass (I tested under a black light and they glow bright green), and they are really heavy. I thought at first they were pressed glass, but didn't think pressed glass would be pontiled. I posted both bottoms - they have the same type of scar - it's small, maybe a 1/4" rough spot - very sharp glass that I can stick my fingernail under, surrounded by about an inch of more of a smoothed out rough area, and it almost looks like it's swirled. The decanter is only 5 1/2 inches tall, and the handle is not applied, and there is a seam on it, and also a barely visible seam on two sides of the decanter that don't appear on the bottom, and almost look polished off. Hopefully someone here can give me the scoop. Also, the inside lip where the glass stopper would sit feels ground, it's very rough. Check out the pics and let me know what you think.

 

[ruccello]

decanter close up

 

[ruccello]

Pontil?

 

[ruccello]

Pontil 2?

 

[ruccello]

Lip

 

[cobaltbot]

That's known as a cut and shut mark used to make pressed glass. KentOhio explained it to me and here:


It's pressed. The plunger came in from the bottom. Then the bottom was tooled narrower and narrower until it was all the way shut, and the mark is where it was sealed shut. The method is called cut-and-shut.

 

[RED Matthews]

Hello, I just bought a water bottle with these same characteristics and the cut-shut mark on it. When the item was pressed there was a round moil of glass added to the bottom of the pressed design. This moil was usually about four inches high. After the glass was pressed in the mold, the plunger was pulled out and the moil was rotated in a turning action which brought the glass into a small point between two cones. The glass was then sheared in the point area and the removed glass was pressed on a marver plate to flatten the bottom. I know the top of my water bottle had a bottom plug to make the inside of the neck. In the case of a pitcher the pouring lip was also formed. Some of these pitchers had handle cavities in the two part mold and some required an applied handle. There just isn't much procedural information available for my satisfaction. But the glass work is remarkable. A lot of vinegar cruets are made this same way.

I think the pouring lip and handle were in the mold of yours, ruccello.

I know when I worked with Thatchers, we had to drill holes into the mold halves and in towards the handle core area. Then we put copper rods (usually two of them in each half) to extract heat from the inside of the pressed handle glass. Expensive solutions.
RED Matthews

 

[ruccello]

Cobaltbot and Red, thanks for the info. It sounds and looks just as you described it. You can actually see the rotation of the glass on the bottom. And Red, you're right about the handle and lip, they were definitely done in the mold, the seam is visible on the handle. This is a cruet also, not a decanter as I described originally. Maybe I'll find the stopper on the next dig! Thanks again guys.

Richard