This decanter and stopper is part of a "Centennial Set", which is also comprised of thirty-eight wineglasses. The set took highest honors for cut glass at the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876. After the Centennial, the Museum received the set as a gift from the Dorflinger Glass Company. It was the first American glass to enter the Museum's collections.

The decanter has three engraved panels: one reads LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND FOREVER, ONE LAND INSEPARABLE and bears the seal of the United States; another reads GODDESS OF LIBERTY and bears a portrait of Liberty; a third reads MAYOR WM. S. STOKELY, PHILADELPHIA, PENN (the name of the mayor of Philadelphia in 1876) and bears the seal of the City of Philadelphia.