DOUGLASS, Kan. – It was, said Woody Auctions, an “exceptionally rare opportunity to add an outstanding one-of-a-kind-piece to your collection.” And one very eager bidder did not let that opportunity go. At the firm’s Presidential Auction Weekend on March 16, an American brilliant cut glass (ABCG) centerpiece set in elaborate sterling silver mounts soared past its estimate of $20,000-$25,000 to bring $110,000 ($132,000 with buyer’s premium). The winner was a LiveAuctioneers bidder.

This 14.5in bowl is well known in collecting circles and has been featured in many publications, including Jane Shadel Spillman’s 1999 book The American Cut Glass Industry: T.G. Hawkes and His Competitors. The glass element, cut with the design variously known as the Crystal City or the Wedding Ring pattern, is by J. Hoare & Co., the Corning, New York firm established by the Cork, Ireland glasscutter John Hoare in the 1860s. Although the winged serpents are mounts are marked only ‘Sterling’, the firm worked with both Tiffany and the Gorham Manufacturing Company.

The bowl, consigned in near-perfect condition, save for a small pattern chip, had provenance to the collection of respected members of the American Cut Glass Association, the late Tom and Mildred Jacks.

For three decades before the First World War, American brilliant cut glass was perhaps the finest in the world. Fighting the prejudice that claimed that the best glass was made in Europe, American companies steadily earned their stripes at a succession of international exhibitions. In 1893, J. Hoare & Co. entered a punch bowl into the Chicago World’s Fair; it took two months to make and weighed 70 pounds. The bowl won several medals for its quality and artistic design.