Cambridge Nearcut No. 2666 Green 32 ounce Decanter
Description
This whiskey decanter is very difficult to find. Once they settle into a collection, they stay there for years to come. This particular one belonged to Dean & Diane Fry, authors of Carnival Glass Heaven & Carnival Glass 101. I had always wanted one and when I saw it in the auction catalog, I thought what better provenance was there to have something from their collection.
It was auctioneer Jim Seeck who sold the Fry Collection on September 23, 2017 in Mason City, Iowa and I was the lucky online winner. This auction was great timing because it was just before I left for my trip to Cambridge, Ohio to visit the National Museum of Cambridge Glass.
I had always wanted to visit this museum some day. I had imagined bringing along some of my other Cambridge glass rarities to show and share with the museum staff. Since I was going to Millersburg, Ohio to a Wroda Millersburg Glass auction there anyway, this was the perfect opportunity to combine the two trips with Cambridge and Millersburg being only an hour apart. I had emailed the curators ahead of time to be sure they knew I was coming and they were very friendly and interested in my visit.
They greeted me warmly, giving me a personal tour of the museum and then we had fun unwrapping each item I brought for "Show & Tell", discussing each one in depth with several glass catalogs at hand.
Before I left, they placed a small table in front of the Cambridge "Carnival Glass" section and set up my pieces to take some photos for their Facebook page. That's me in the photo with my other glass that is listed here on Showcase as well. As you can see, happiness was written all over my face. It was a wonderful time and I was very proud to be a part of this glorious museum in a town steeped in American glass history.
The catalog page shows this decanter listed under "NEARCUT" NOVELTIES and describes it as:
No.2666 32 ounce Decanter
Packed 2 1/4 dozen in a barrel
Price, $8.00 per doz.
This decanter is quite heavy. It stands exactly 12 inches tall and has a 4 1/4 to 4 1/2-inch base but the width at the bulbous part is 6 inches. It displays the words NEARCUT along the bottom right side of the handle, just barely visible because it's smothered in iridescence. The photo shown has picked up enough to show you. The 3-inch tall stopper has a definite sweet spot which can be found by turning it until it fits level and tight. It has a rough bottom tip that wasn't originally ground down. It was just left that way, just like the bottom has a "broken pontil" that was left jagged and rough...not polished after it was made. This has four mould lines that I can see. As with all these large Cambridge pieces, they have a primitive feel about them, jagged and deep cut in geometric splendor.
The Christina Katsikas Collection
