GV-8 Boston & Sandwich Decanter

Blown Three Mold

Boston & Sandwich Decanter

GV-8

Attributed to Boston and Sandwich Glass Co.
Sandwich, Massachusetts

Cobalt Blue Pint Decanter

Provenance: Michael George Collection

This exceptional piece of early American glass is a Blown Three Mold GV-8 Decanter in a rich cobalt blue color. The decanter is attributed to the Boston & Sandwich Glass Co. and was made in the 1830s.

You can find these quite regularly in colorless glass pints, and occasionally, you will find the quart in blue. Our pint example is certainly rarer. The decanter has a strong impression, flared lip, open pontil base, and matching stopper. This example came from the Robert Saxe collection.

The town of Sandwich was settled in 1637 and incorporated in 1639 and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. Initially settled by the English, Sandwich became an agricultural community, with its main export of timber sent back to England. It remained a primarily agricultural community, supplemented by coastal fishing during the American Revolution.

In 1825, the landscape of Sandwich would drastically change because of Deming Jarves, a Boston businessman and former agent of the New England Glass Company of East Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Read Yours Truly, D. Jarves–A Glassmaker’s Gifts by Elizabeth and Frank Creech, FOHBC Bottles and Extras, March–April 2014

Read Another Look at Sandwich Glass by Eric McGuire, FOHBC Bottles and Extras, November–December 2017

Deming Jarves did not choose Sandwich as a site for the glass factory because of the readily available beach sand, which is too impure to make glass that needs silica. The company shipped in pure silica supplies first from New Jersey and New York and later from the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. Jarves also chose Sandwich because of its proximity to a shallow harbor and the possibility of a canal being built through Cape Cod to allow for the shipment of goods. The local availability of timber could be used to fuel the glass furnaces. Even the salt marsh hay and grasses could be used for packing material.

Jarves brought master glassblowers with him from the New England Glass Company. He also recruited workers from England and Ireland. English and Irish glassmakers were considered the foremost craftsmen during the early 19th century. They were very skilled in making blown glassware with high lead content, the most desirable of the period.

Primary Image: Museum example Blown Thee Mold GV-8 Boston & Sandwich, pint decanter and stopper in cobalt blue glass imaged on location by Alan DeMaison, FOHBC Virtual Museum Midwest Studio

Support Image: Auction Lot 160: Blown Three Mold Decanter, Boston and Sandwich Glass Works, Sandwich, Massachusetts, 1820-1840. Bulbous with fancy design and tall plain neck, medium to deep sapphire blue, outward flared mouth – pontil scar, quart; (3/4 inch onion skin type bubble has lost its surface on one rib, no stopper). GV-8 Strong mold impression, beautiful color. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #99

Support Image: GV-8 Decanter. Blown-Molded, 11 1/2″ HOA, 9 1/4″ H decanter. Cobalt blue, Prussian form with a plain base, rough pontil mark, period Type 28 stopper. Boston & Sandwich Glass Co. 1825-1835. Base undamaged; stopper with a significant U-shaped crack. The base has a moderate underfill to the underside with an open bubble to the edge and a minor discolored imperfection at the base edge, all as made. From the Don Kelly collection, Altamont, N.Y. Reference the McKearins – American Glass, p. 259, GV-8. Parallels Barlow/Kaiser – The Glass Industry in Sandwich, Vol. 1, p. 236, fig. 1334a.  – Jeffrey Evans, Jeffrey S. Evans & Assoc., May 22, 2019

Support Image: Auction Lot 95: Blown Three Mold Decanter, Boston and Sandwich Glass Works, Sandwich, Massachusetts, 1820-1840. Cylindrical, colorless, tooled flared mouth with type 24 stopper – pontil scar, pint. GV-8 Retains copper label on chain marked “Madeira.” Scarce and attractive “Baroque” pattern. Fine condition. –  Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #189

Support Image: Auction Lot 163: Blown-Molded GV-8 Near Pair of Pint Decanters, colorless glass – Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, August 24, 2018.

Support: Reference to Sandwich Glass Museum website

Support: Reference to American Glass by George S. and Helen McKearin, Crown Publishers Inc., New York, 1989.

Support: Reference to American Bottles and Flasks and Their Ancestry by Helen McKearin and Kenneth M. Wilson, Crown Publishers, New York, 1978.

Support: Reference Early American Freeblown Decanters

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