Cut Crystal Lidded Biscuit Barrel, Pinwheel & Hobstar Pattern

There is a specific kind of weight that only lead crystal carries — the cold, dense heft of a piece cut by hand from a blank that began as a crucible of sand, red lead, and fire. Pick this barrel up and you feel it immediately: eight pounds of glass shaped into something that has no right to be this beautiful. The pattern never stops. Pinwheels spiral into hobstars, hobstars collapse into cross-hatched diamonds, fans radiate from every junction point. The cutter worked the entire body — there is no resting place for the eye, no plain panel, no shortcut. A scalloped thumbprint band rings the shoulder; the domed lid echoes the radiating star above a faceted ball finial. The base is polished to a single brilliant star. Flip it over and it throws light like a prism.

The form is a biscuit barrel — a staple of the late Victorian and Edwardian sideboard, used for biscuits and confections and displayed because it was worth displaying. The cutting tradition it belongs to stretches from the great American Brilliant Period workshops of the 1880s through the Central European glasshouses that carried the vocabulary forward well into the mid-century./p>

CONDITION

Good. Flea bites to the lid and light shelf wear to the base rim, both consistent with age and normal use. The supplemental reference images show small nicks to the foot ring. No cracks, no repairs, no large chips. The glass is bright and the lid seats properly.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Height with Lid: 9"
• Diameter: 6.5"
• Weight: 8 lb 2 oz
• Material: Cut lead crystal
• Base: Polished star-cut
• Unmarked
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale — Not Included