Original, or knockoff?

That is indeed the question. The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company was not above creating knockoffs, it turns out! A case in point is Peachblow glass vases.

Several American factories produced Peachblow glass, which had a surface that shaded from opaque cream to pink or red, sometimes over opaque white. This glass was made in imitation of the Morgan Vase, a famous 18th-century Chinese peachbloom porcelain vase that sold at auction in 1886 for the astonishing price of $18,000. The sale was widely reported, and glass and pottery manufacturers raced to capitalize on the publicity by producing objects that resembled the famous vase in shape and color.

The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company was no exception, producing its own line of Peachblow items, imitating the Morgan Vase both in form and (somewhat less plausibly) in coloration.

I was asked recently whether a Peachblow cruet was made by the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, but judging by the photos, it seems somewhat unlikely. The BSGC cruet has a cylindrical neck, whereas the item being asked about has a tapered neck. That, and the difference in how the two pieces are finished, make me question whether it came from Sandwich, or was produced by one of the many other glass factories that by this time were popping up all over.

From the Community

This is the photo we were sent. Note the ornate shape of the neck.

From Our Archives

This is the verified Boston and Sandwich Glass Company factory produced cruet we have in our collection. Note the difference in form both of the neck and handle. According the the catalog page sent to us by the owner of the item in question, shown below, BSGC did make glossy finish pitchers, so the difference in finish is not definitive. Our BSGC product has been sandblasted to give it a matte finish, but others would instead have been flame polished to a glossy finish.