A recent addition to the collection of American 19th century glass was an amethyst fruit basket made by the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company in Sandwich, Massachusetts, between 1845 and 1860. The form of this object is relatively common in porcelain, but very rare in glass because the openwork sides were very difficult to press and then remove from the mold without damage. The virtue of this shape, however, was that it allowed air to circulate around the fruit, keeping it fresh. The porcelain examples were designed as table centerpieces, perhaps for the dessert course, and it seems likely that the glass basket served the same purpose. Interestingly, the Museum has a colorless basket that may have been made in the same mold, but the glassworker elongated the amethyst example after removing it from the mold, so it more closely resembles the porcelain baskets and is also more imposing on the table. Many fragments of this design have been found at the site of the Sandwich factory, and it is unlikely that the basket was made elsewhere.