I will preface this blog post by saying this is not the total list of variants found in Michter's items. These are to give a visual guide to some of the imperfections, variants, and abnormalities in their various products versus an actual different decanter, cup, knickknack or whatever Michter's product you may be looking at.
First thing's first: Most Michter's decanters, in some capacity were hand made, or if made on a production line, made in small numbers. Variants in color, blending of paint, edging, and ability of the painter/manufacturer are common things to see on Michter's decanters.....
Note the poorly drawn pinstripe on the Packard car:
Or the abnormality in the lower black area of Nefertiti's hat. Or the blue outside the line on Tut's hat:
Here you can see obvious differences in the lines on the football decanters:
Noticeable here is the large variance in the background color of the Pitt Panthers decanters:
There were also variants in the heat or machine applied decals as well:
Note in the two below photos the green and brown Michter's logos on the bottoms of the Hex pitchers:
1/10th pint Jug decanters in blue and green. It is rumored that since the first edition of Michter's jugs did not include a 1/10th pint jug, when the 1970 series came out, some were made in green to fit the earlier series. It is unknown if that is true or not.
Sometimes there were small changes in text or orientation of graphics. One very easily noticeable variation is on the Hex jug tops. Also of interest on the forward-facing text top is that a sticker has been applied covering the 4/5qt text with a 750ML label.
Variants carried over into other items too. Here are some various cups that, while they are the same type, have small differences:
Addition of "MICHTER'S" text on side of Hex cup sets:
Two different Irish Coffee mugs, both made by Hall China:
Four slightly different coffee mugs (Three made by Hall, one made in England):
Variants carried over to shot glasses too. In the first photo you can see the center graphic changes and in the second photo, you can see the addition of the "EST 1753" text:
Like everything glass and ceramic, there were a multitude of variants of other Michter's items as well. A quick rummage through the cabinet yielded 3 different fabric patch variants and 3 different variants of the same coin:
This is just a TINY sampling of unique variants of items made by or made for Michter's over the years. When dealing with decanters, it's important to make the distinction between a variant and an actual different decanter. The Hex decanter had a 230th Anniversary version made, then there were the gold pot stills, the series of footballs, the series of casino decanters, or even the red and blue Fireman's Convention decanters. None of those are variants as they are all individually cataloged and marketed decanters. I am attempting here to show some of the variants in a singly cataloged or marketed product. If you ever come across something that you're not sure if it's a variant or something entirely different, please send me and email and I'll help you determine what you have.
