The Crystal Factory of Gus - Khrustalny is well known in Russia and abroad as a traditional center of glass industry. The plant was founded in 1756 by a merchant Akim V. Maltsev. It was the time when glass industry development began in Russia.

The Gus – Khrustalny Crystal Factory was the first on the market to offer an affordable assortment of products made from plain glass - jars, carafes, stemware, glasses, etc. Famous carafes with rooster figurines inside, glass flower bouquets produced in Gus - Khrustalny became well known in Russia and all over the world. Lead crystal has been manufactured here from the moment of foundation. Maltsev's crystal quickly got recognition on the Russian market. At the first All-Russian Fair of manufactured products Maltsev was rewarded with a Great Golden Medal for "excellent crystal". High quality of Gus crystal was noticed in foregoing years.

In 1857, the Crystal Plant was granted with permission to depict the State Coat of Arms of Russia on the produced items. In the newspapers issued in those years Gus - Khrustalny was represented as "a pure Russian crystal producer", which was working with exceptionally Russian raw materials and fuel, and also with only Russian staff (about 4000 people worked there at the that time). The plant executed the orders of the Tsar's Court and supplied unique crystal products for the Shah of Iran.

Maltsev's crystal products were used for the Emperor’s “cavalierâ€� and “commonâ€� tables, and in suburban palaces of the Emperor. The assortment of objects delivered to the all - Russian market was wide: from kitchenware to church plates, from the simplest and cheapest things for using in the household to the most expensive carved things. Traditional technologies developed and expanded; everything new that had appeared in the European artistic glass production was implemented by the plant. The best products executed by the masters of the plant were represented at the exhibitions abroad and won prizes for originality and high level of professional mastership.

At the Universal exhibition in Paris in 1900 the Factory won the highest prize "Grand Prix".

At present, the ancient plant has a big staff of artists - masters of decorative art, and has the official status as the artwork producer. In September 1990, the International Symposium of Artists Working with Glass took place in Gus-Khrustalny with famous participants from Spain, England, Germany, USA, France, Netherlands, and masters from Ukraine, the Baltic states and Russia. The specialists representing different trends of glass production were united there.

Currently, Gus-Khrustalny Crystal Factory produces a wide assortment of coloured and clear crystal and coloured glass.

Name: decanter (shtof) with stopper
Form: 3946
Item #: 110613
Material: 24% lead crystal
Height: 193 (mm) 10'
Width: 89 (mm) 3.5'
Length: 89 (mm) 3.5'
Volume: 700 (ml)
Weight: 1545 (gr)
Artist: Olga Kozlova.