| For a wine decanter to be a collectible item it needs | | | | decanters with or without stoppers, with or without |
| to have a couple of special properties, including it | | | | handles and even the stoppers can be of several |
| being useful, distinctive, beautiful, artistic, varied, | | | | different materials, such as crystal, metal, hard plastic |
| stylish and a favorite with many people. | | | | (not so favored by collectors), pewter and several |
| First of all it should be useful as it should serve the | | | | others. |
| purpose of decanting wine and pouring it into glasses | | | | Nowadays you can also find wine decanter sets of |
| before drinking. It should also be artistic and varied, | | | | several sizes, going beyond what was offered years |
| which means it should not have qualities of being | | | | ago. You will find an 18oz, 20oz, 22 oz and even 26oz |
| mass produced. Each piece should be similar, yet | | | | decanter. There are even huge decanters that can |
| different from each other. | | | | hold up to 12 bottles of wine or other alcoholic drinks |
| A collector loves his or her pieces to be visually very | | | | in them. |
| appealing, since usually the decanters end up | | | | Finally it is well known that the lead crystal decanter |
| displayed behind glass doors in cabinets for | | | | can have health dangers for people who like to store |
| everybody to enjoy. Guests are usually very | | | | their wine in decanters. This is why traditionally |
| attracted to a beautiful wine decanter collection in | | | | decanters made of lead crystal have been mostly |
| the house of a well known crystal barware collector. | | | | used to decant and pour wine. These days however |
| While the traditional decanters have a typical shape | | | | manufacturers have created lead free crystal glasses |
| and form - such as the well known ship or duck | | | | that are used in a modern wine decanter which is |
| shape - such as the well known Peugeot Prestige | | | | perfect to store your favorite beverage for more |
| duck decanter, the modern wine decanter goes | | | | than one day in it, without any dangers or lead |
| beyond this tradition by offering several variations on | | | | poisoning. This expands greatly on the purpose of |
| the starting theme. For example you will find | | | | the piece as it was traditionally known. |