The start of the Victorian era saw the removal of the Excise tax on glass, where glass was taxed by its weigth at the mouth of the furnace. This tax had the effect of making heavy glass more expensive and consequently glass produced before 1845 tended to be thinner and less heavily cut. Cutting glass was effectively cutting away glass that had already had tax paid on it. Free from the constraints of the glass tax, initially the glass industry went into overdrive producing heavy glass with deep cutting. The extreme of this was the bludgeon decanters, they weren't a specific shape but were overweight.
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Description, References and Size |
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This is a heavy bludgeon decanter and the body is cut with large flat panels. The neck is also panel cut and has to cut neck rings. The panel cutting of the stopper mimics that of the body of the decanter. Made in the 1840s or 50s. The design of this decanter feels like a real crossover from old, with neck rings, to new, with flat slab cutting. It feels like they wanted to do the new flat slab cutting now that they had the freedom to blow heavy glass, but they didn't actually seek out a wholly new design. Regardless of that this decanter really puts the blows into the bludgeon name for this type of decanter (sorry for the terrible pun). Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 313 & 330 Height: 11.75 inches Width: 5.75 inches |
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This is a pillar moulded decanter, with a single neck ring. The stopper is also pillar moulded with a polished flat top to it. Probably made in the 1840s or 50s. This is the heaviest decanter in my collection and whilst it is a long way from being the biggest, there is just a mass of glass in the body of this decanter. When looking at the enlarged photograph of the decanter you can also see that it has had some hard use too. This is probably made for use in bars and hotels. Most pillar moulded decanters are of the bell shaped type, other shapes like this are much more scarce, so if you see one at a reasonable price and you like it, buy it. Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 401 Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 338 Height: 11.5 inches Width: 4.75 inches |
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This is a gothic bludgeon decanter, cut with V's and printies to the body, panel cut shoulders, a thick bordered neck ring, and ring of printies on the neck. They also has tall panel cut hollow spire stopper. Made circa. 1840-60s Bludgeon turns out to be a apt name as it's very heavy. It has real Gothic appeal and for the patient, sets of this pattern can be made as they must have really churned them out at the time. For the less patient harlequin sets would be easy to form. Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 313 Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 233 Height: 13.5 inches Width: 4.5 inches |
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This is a gothic bludgeon decanter, cut with V's and printies to the body, panel cut shoulders, a thick neck ring, and ring of printies on the neck. It also has tall panel cut hollow spire stopper. Made circa. 1840-60s This decanter is probably from the same manufacturer as the decanters above. Whilst there are plenty of this type of decanter around, there are slight variations, so it is possible to make up sets of them but you need to remember carefully what you are looking for as the variations differences are not large but are obvious when you put decanters next to each other. Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 313 Reference: The Decanter Ancient to Modern, Andy McConnell, page 233 Height: 13.5 inches Width: 4.5 inches |
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This is a tall cylinder shaped bludgeon decanter, with large vertical grooves interspaced with large cut ellipses. The tall stopper widens towards the top and is cut with flat panels. Made in the 1840s or 50s. This shape of decanter frequently has a more gothic look to them with cut arches etc.. This one is particularly plain for its type. This particular decanter came from a local vintage shop for very little money as it labelled simply "Vintage Decanter". Although a lot of people decry vintage shops for their mix of old and modern, I have found them a great place for bargains as the purveyors often know quality, but have no idea of age or provenance. Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 330 Height: 12.5 inches Width: 4.25 inches |
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This is a hexagonal bludgeon decanter, with a concave roundel on the upper body on each side. The flat panels that make up the body follow through up the neck. The stopper is made up of flat diamond and triangular panels with a small bubble. Made in the 1840s or 50s. This is reasonably small decanter for this type, but even though it is not of great size it is still pretty heavy, and the shape goes with others of the same description. This is a particularly quirky design with the roundels. Reference: The Decanter, Andy McConnell, page 335 Height: 10.5 inches Width: 3.5 inches |
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