Vintage Cobalt Blue Glass Bug Catcher, Antique Hanging Fly Trap

This is a beautiful antique, blown glass fly trap in excellent, well-preserved condition! These typically were in use during the 1920s and 30s and sometimes earlier. They were used to catch flies by baiting them with sugar water or honey inside. The top would be corked or otherwise blocked and the trap would be hung from a ceiling. Flies would enter in the open cone at the bottom. The inner reservoir would be filled with sugar water or honey and the flies would exhaust themselves flying around inside. They usually couldn't find their way out and ultimately would fall in the water and drown or get caught in the honey.

Catchers like these were used in homes, shops, and factories, primarily before window screens were in wide use. This glass trap is cobalt blue glass with a metal hanger fashioned around the neck for hanging. It is new old stock, found packed away in a warehouse where it was stored away for decades. It measures just over 6 3/4 inches high and is about 5 1/8 inches in diameter at its widest. It's a great-looking, old piece of glass, filled with lots of waves and tiny bubbles. No chips, cracks, or other damage. Bottle collectors, antiques enthusiasts, and interior decorators like these blown glass catchers because of the varieties of shape and colors they are found in. What was once an ordinary utilitarian item in the earlier part of the 1900s is now considered a very nice-looking decorator's piece!