Kensington is hands down my favorite pattern by Libbey. While it’s often used in the same breath as as Aztec, Grand Prize, and Marcella, I find it to be much more intricate. It’s richly cut, without obscuring how insanely clear the blank is. I think this was William C. Anderson’s best design.I don’t really know where to start when describing this pattern – there’s so much going on. Single bands of cane weave throughout the bowl, framing a host of different cutting. A richly cut 5 sided star fills the center of the bowl and has branches of diamond point hexad coming from all sides. Somehow, the cutters at Libbey managed to wrap this extremely detailed cutting on a sharp angle that makes of the base and side of the bowl. Above the hexad cutting is a clear-button, wedding cake hobstar. The rest of the cane frames two clear button hobstars, crosshatching, and triple miter trellis. Again, there is a lot of masterfully conceived ideas executed on this bowl.2605

The bowl measures 8 1/4″ wide and 3 1/2″ tall. It’s on the clearest of blanks.