How can I tell the difference between pressed glass, cut glass, and cut crystal?
It’s the sharpness of the design. On a truly “cut” glass item the design will be consistently crisp and sharp. Older cut glass almost always has cut decoration around the top edge, and that’s the easiest place to check the sharpness. Closely examined, [older] cut glass will also tend to show minor variations in the pattern. All the rays on the bottom of a piece may not be exactly the same length, for example. A lot of new, very intricate, cut glass is on the market and it could possibly be machine cut so more exactly. Pressed glass, is, as the name implies, glass that was pressed into a pre-cut mold. If there are mold lines in the glass (typically either 2, 3 or rarely 4), then it’s not cut glass. Pressed glass will usually have smooth outside edges or rims, due to the difficulty of getting the molten glass to fill in any intricate designs consistently. The design will also feel smoother. If there’s a star in the bottom, that’s a great place to check. Run your thumb over the outside ri
