This pitcher is unusual in that the polished engraving on the body and the engraving on the silver rim are both designs of grapes and grape leaves. Both are almost three-dimensional in their depth. The silver is marked “D-1481” with the Gorham trademark, and the Gorham archives at Brown University show that the glass was purchased from Pairpoint. The design was made for a very limited time. According to the archives, Gorham paid $4 for the glass, and then sold the finished piece for $46.50 at wholesale, which means that the retail price would have been between $70 and $100 dollars when it was made. This was a huge price, more than either the glassmakers or the silversmiths earned in a month, so relatively few Americans could have afforded such a handsome pieces of tableware. The design was probably created by Gorham, but Pairpoint had just introduced “Artistic Rock Crystal Engraving” in 1904, according to an article published that year in the Jewelers Circular Weekly: “Rock Crystal Glassware is shown in a profusion of patterns and shapes by the Pairpoint Corporation. . . and the manufacturers in this line approach about as closely as possible to the brilliant effects of natural quartz. Nearly everything required for the table is displayed, including a large variety of vases, candlesticks, bowls, bottles, decanters, goblets and water glasses. The patterns are worked out in intricate fluted work, conventionalized flowers, stars and other ornamentation. This is one of the finest lines of its kind that has so far been turned out at the company’s factory in New Bedford, Mass.”