Prior to the development of modern refrigeration, only the rich could afford a steady supply of ice throughout the year. The most common method of storing ice was the ice house. Usually built partly underground, ice houses were most often located near natural sources of winter ice which would be taken into the ice house and insulated against melting with straw or sawdust. Archeologists have found evidence of such structures as early as 1780 BC in Mesopotamia and 1100 BC in China. Ice trading was big business in 19th century America. Straw-packed ships transported block ice primarily harvested from New England’s lakes and rivers as far as the southern United States and the Caribbean Sea. Ice harvesting was laborious, cold, dangerous, but lucrative work. Food preservation was one important source of demand, but the desire for a cool drink seems timeless and universal. (Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin used shaved ice to cool the tempers of the sweltering delegates to the constitutional convention). Desire for iced refreshment at bar and table created a lively market for related equipment, utensils, and serving pieces. Many of them were luxury items such as our hand-blown Boston & Sandwich glass wine cooler with its rare reservoir behind the rope twist handles to hold shaved ice. Boston & Sandwich were famous for making “crackle” & “overlook” glassware. Crackle glass occurs when glass is heated; quickly plunged in cold water; and then re-fired so that small cracks appear on the glass surface as it expands. Overlook glass was made by rolling a hot “gob” of glass over small shards of glass to create a distinctive surface texture. Both techniques were used on our pitcher to enhance its ice-like character. The pitcher's primary use as a wine cooler is signaled by the grape button motif with which the craftsman attached the handles. Condition: Excellent. Dimensions: 11" x 13" circumference at the waist.