The Portland Glass Co. (Portland, Maine) manufactured glass in several pressed patterns including ‘Tree of Life’ and ‘Loop & Dart’ from 1864 to 1874.

A great number of early early decanters were made with a heavy ‘donut’ shaped lip often referred to as a bar lip. These were designed to be used with cork plugs or what were referred to as ‘patent’ stoppers. These were much less expensive to manufacture than matching glass stoppers which required grinding by hand to the correct size. As an example of this practice consult the McKee Bros. (Pittsburg) price list for 1868 which listed only one out of thirteen decanters as having a glass stopper.

Patent stoppers were often a combination of pewter and cork, occasionally with a self-closing device as part of the design. For three examples of these devices, see Plate 189, Page 641, Early American Pressed Glass by Ruth Webb Lee”, 1931 (self published).