Featured Onion Shaped Etched Inner Vase

Any ideas of age and origin please?
It’s c 14cm tall and is really very heavy. It has a star/flower shaped polished pontil and looks like the inside has been acid etched?
It doesn’t appear to have the ground glass on the inside of the neck for a stopper so I think is a vase not a decanter.
Thanks for any input

 

Very sweet, K. The shape, maybe more like a garlic bulb?

I am no glassie, but it looks to me like etching due to whatever liquid was kept inside it. Vinegar? In which case it could be missing a stopper.

 

True,my horticultural ID skills are obviously even lower than my glass ID skills

Could well be. It’s weight and design are a lot of effort for vinegar though and it wouldn’t be weighted well to pour as the base is so heavy unless you did it two handed!

 

Just pour very warm white vinegar into it and wait over night. You may have to do this a few times.

Use a sucla brush for the last bits.

 

Is this what's called "sick" glass?

 

Yep.

 

Sadly ,and I avoid it like the plague . Not once have I been able to clean one.

 

It’s missing a stopper and yes, glass sick. That looks Georgian. Onion shape.

 

Clearing the calcium could be possible with vinegar. Also a very heavy-bottomed decanter could indicate a ship decanter.

 

Here's a place to start, I can recommend his work.

https://sites.google.com/view/daytonheiseyclub/meetings/side-trip-to-kim-carlisles-workshop-showroom

 

Thanks @Cherryhill I will have a look at that.
If it’s Georgian as OBB suggests I may try to rejuvenate it. It’s a lovely thing.

 

From what I understand, true "sick glass" has nothing to do with calcium deposits… That's a different issue.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_disease

 

I think I may have tracked this one down to Steuben thanks to a comment on a FB group. They made scent and cologne bottles in a very similar shape with the exact same pontil although mine seems to be larger c 1900-1930
Called melon so neither an onion or garlic!
Now to look for a dibbery thing stopper.

 

It does look similar - but with some not insignificant differences (shape, sides of the neck, iridescence, size). I personally wouldn't be confident enough in just the similarities to attribute it to Steuben, but yes, similar shape.

 

@bercrystal

 

I think the Steuben took inspiration from something much earlier. The glass looks different, yes, and it’s not iridescent.

 

So, if this is potentially Georgian, it’s a style Steuben could have taken inspiration from?

 

Yup, that’s my thought. Based a fair bit on gut feel!

 

I agree, not Steuben. I have only handled 1 piece of the Steuben Verre de Soire & it was the most gloriously smooth-feeling glass with just a glistening of iridescence.

IMHO this isn't sick glass this terminal edging into death glass.

Use it for a posey vase. The cloudiness usually isn't that noticeable when the inside is wet. I also remember Gregsglass used to coat the inside of his decanters that had cloudiness with some kind of oil to hide the cloudiness.