An antique decanter is a valuable piece of art to own at home, one that can make a person real proud. You could have easily gotten it from family members or you could have bought it in an exotic antique shop that you found yourself in during your travels abroad. However you are not sure whether what you have in your hands is the real deal or a generic piece of glass decanter.
If you want to know the truth, however, there are several ways to find out, some of which are described below. What is important though is that you familiarize yourself with glass or crystal decanters as this is the best way to learn what you have in your possession. For example you have to know more about decanters in general, how they are used and the types you can currently find on the market.
There are several places that you can start your research, so don't worry if you don't know currently anyone personally who is dealing with these things.
Decanters were quite popular between the 18-19th centuries when aristocracy was using them on a regular basis to pour wine to their guests during their famous parties. Many times a person's popularity with the aristocratic crowd was established by having expensive pieces of crystal that could be used during those said parties.
To learn more about these marvelous pieces of glass and crystal, you would be well served to read Decanters 1760-1930, a book written by David Leigh. In this book you will find more than 80 color pictures and illustrations showing the different antique decanters available in those days. The book in addition describes the many different stages that this crystal-ware has gone through throughout the past centuries. You will find an easy description of the way the decanter styles have changed over time including the many different materials that they have been made of. I own this book and I can really recommend it to anyone starting out with their research on decanters.
Another authority on antique decanter styles and types is Andy McConnell who wrote a book called Decanters in 2004. This is a huge book at almost 600 pages. It not only works its way through the European glass decanters, but also describes many American pieces of art. In this book you can also trace the changes these pieces of glassware have gone through throughout the centuries. If you have a particular shape of decanter, you might find it in one of the pictures of this book or the previous one. Then you will know that your item is the genuine, real thing.
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