Mystery Item Identified Through An Old Catalog – French Glass Vase ID

Here’s a great way to identify and date a lot of the vintage items we run across at estate and garage sales. But you have to have a bit of luck first. And never pass up an old catalog!

I had such luck cleaning out my parents’ house. My mother kept quite a few old catalogs, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s. These were catalogs like Lillian Vernon, Drakes, Taylor Gifts, Carol Wright…

At an estate sale Tiffany and I conducted last year, this vase thingy was left over at the end. I thought it was intriguing and besides, it said it was made in France. So it came home with me.

It was so odd that it had four holes in the top. I could only think of it as being a vase for four long stem flowers. Obviously, I have no imagination.

So it sat around here and every time I would look at it, I’d wonder what it was and what I should do with it.

Then I started thumbing through one of the catalogs. Actually, a Family Circle pull-out of 366 New Gift Ideas By Mail. Unfortunately, there is no date, but I estimate it to be mid 1960s to 70s.

Right at the top of page four, there it was! Not a vase at all, but a decanter! Four decanters in one, to be exact.

Here’s the description:

From France, Decanter has four individual compartments to hold 4 different liquers! Hand crafted clear glass. Fitted polystyrene stoppers. Unique!

$4.99

Well, alrighty then. I wonder if those stoppers were in a drawer and I didn’t know what they went with? Anyway, now that I know what it is and that it’s incomplete, with the most important parts missing, I’m torn what to do with it.