Waterford Crystal Glass Jim O'Leary Vase Limited Edition

Rare Waterford Jim O'Leary Footed Vase. Very limited edition. Only 25 pieces made by master cutter Jim O'Leary. Signed and numbered 18/25. This vase has a multi-dimensional sawtooth rim and exquisite diamond pattern. Dimensions: 12" tall x 7" 9 lbs. Condition: Excellent, no chips, scratches or damage noted. 

Translation: 

Hi, this is Jennifer with City Farmhouse Antiques and I am here as I am every Friday with the find of the week.  All of our Finds of the Week can be found on the website at www.cityfarmhouseantiques.com. I want to talk to you a little bit today about crystal in particular Waterford Crystal and I want to talk about how to know if it is the real thing and how you can evaluate the value of a piece of crystal glass.  A lot of these characteristics apply to many types of art glass.  As you can see, with this piece it is very, very detailed.  It is a large piece, at about 12”tall, and it has a lot of characteristics and detail starting with this exquisite rim.  This is known as a sawtooth edged rim.  Many times when you see a sawtooth rim it is going to be the same depth, it is going to be one depth. This happens to be multidimensional which is not as common and you can see the facets and varying degrees of depth which adds a lot of character.  You can see that every inch of this piece of glass has beautiful facets and a different pattern.  Here we have a diamond pattern then you come down and there is a repeat of the pattern and even on the foot here, it is difficult to show you some of this because it is clear glass, but there you can even see the different pattern on the foot.  Sometimes with crystal, really all the time, it is very difficult to be able to see signatures.  You are going to have pieces where, I have another piece I want to show you that happens to be by the master cutter Jim O’Leary, but here is a typical acid etched Waterford mark that is on the bottom.  But this piece, actually both of these pieces are signed.  They were made by the master cutter Jim O’Leary.  Jim O’Leary happens to do exquisite work.  Very, very intricately cut and detailed pieces and there you can make out the signature.  There. I don’t know that you can see that, but there is the date 1996 if you can make that out. That’s a little better.  I will show you on this other piece it is on the side. Most of these signatures as you can see on this piece on the side you can see Jim O’Leary’s signature and date of 1996.  The other thing that makes this piece exquisite is that this is a limited edition piece and when you look at the bottom of a piece many times they are going to be signed.  They will have that Waterford acid etched mark or they will have one better and you can see that it is numbered. Again, it is so hard to show this because it is a piece of clear glass.  There you can see it says Waterford and there you can see where it is numbered 18 of 25.  A lot of his pieces were made in sets of 50. This one, there were only ever 25 made. This gives you an idea of the value of a piece.

When you are looking at crystal there are different characteristics with crystal.  Everybody talks about the ring.  Well there is lead in crystal and lead makes crystal extremely clear. You are going to have a lot more clarity and brilliance with a piece of crystal than let’s say one of my wine glasses and please don’t look at my hard water spots. But there you can see it just doesn’t have the light reflection that a piece of crystal does and both pieces are under the same light. At a distance it is easier to see. You can see a typical piece of glass is not as clear. The other thing is the sound. Lead is going to give a distinct ring versus regular glass.  Do you hear that?  Versus a flat tone on a piece of regular glass. A piece of regular glass almost looks opaque and cloudy next to a piece of crystal. Another characteristic is the weight.  Because of the lead, crystal is going to be extremely heavy.  These pieces are very heavy.  In fact when you ship pieces of crystal you have to be sure and double box them because they will go to the bottom of a box because of the weight.  They will migrate down through several inches of packing peanuts if not double boxed. So because of the weight of a fancy piece of glass, Murano glass is the same way, you have to take extra care when shipping or moving these items.

Waterford crystal was actually produced back in 1783 off the port of Waterford in Ireland.  You can buy glass to use and vases and things like that, but some pieces are made to last a lifetime or longer, and these are those pieces. With May being here and June with weddings and anniversaries these are the types of pieces that last a lifetime and even after a lifetime to be handed down from generation to generation.