John Clayton defends himself:
Thank you for the food for thought, Alan. This debate, even more than “club” vs. “society,” has stirred the club out of its routine.

The proof in the pudding is going to be several years down the road in coming to full realization. The immediate impact will not be felt in the first few months after the closure. Let’s follow the story and see what happens. I am just glad my dollars are “invested” in various artists and silversmiths from several periods and not in one (soon to be defunct) company’s product.
In my experience, which I am paid well to share with Fortune 100 companies, when the brand stops being supported the sales (and re-sales) go down. I will gratefully write the Harvard Business School case study when Steuben becomes the first, and only, company for which that does not hold true.
Your readers are welcomed to critique my observations. It does not hurt my feelings, but I do wonder what documented experience (vs. one example) they can provide to substantiate it. One always gets a better audience when one charges for one’s services…they have a vested interest in listening and not being defensive. Please make a note to email me in 24 months on this topic. It should be an interesting topic to follow up on. Keep it coming, club members. Act, don’t bemoan!

From Gerry Eggert:
I happen to agree with Mr. Clayton about the “branding” issue. I just do not see
any “White Knight” on the horizon. Of course, none of us has anywhere near the
full business picture. We are collectors, not glass business people. Tiffany is still
in business, just not for its own glass. So the name still is current. Durand is not
still in business, but they never made the volume Steuben has.

Burton Arnett of Pendleton, SC raises this issue on color:
I agree with Tommy Dreiling; Steuben might consider returning to the “colored
glass era”, but with one exception; The New Colored Glass should be marked in
such a way as to differentiate the new from the vintage.

John Clayton of LA may have an answer to Burton based on some prior inquiries:
Glass work in color is not a core competency of Steuben anymore. For Steuben to go back into it, they would have to be convinced that (1) they are doing as fine a job as possible (e.g., to the Carder standard) and (2) they would have to find the money to re-tool, re-train and re-market.

The Beeman’s of Media, PA pass on their experiences in the market place.
Being ex-members (mainly due to “the good old boy” feeling we experienced from some of the members and also not a fan of clear glass, our experience is that all is not well in the overall decorative arts community in general. This also is happening with the antique furniture business; with the housing market being what it is, not so many huge houses to furnish, etc. We generally go to many of the craft and buyer’s markets shows to supplement the antique shows we do. New items bring in many people who look at them and not the antiques. What we have observed both as buyer’ and as sellers is that the crowds are smaller with fewer sales/orders being made. Many a times I feel as if we are putting on a museum fair for the general public. Many say how their mother had something like one of our goods……..but can’t afford one for themselves.
Many of the old time entrepreneurs are no more with turnover in dealers for both new items and antiques being high while individuality and quality of goods generally steadily declining. Most of the really good pieces are in collections and the left overs are not of enough desire for people to part with their hard earned discretionary dollars. This can be noted from EBay sales of a few years ago compared with today’s. The good stuff is mostly gone and the leftovers do not sell as well. When exceptional items show up they are scooped up, many times at exorbitant prices. As far as newer items, they are much of the same-old same-old where many newer artists (of whom were trained by the old timers) are doing knock-offs. In going thru the Buyer’s Markets in NYC, Phila. and Baltimore, for example, we see many knock-offs of say Lino Tagliapatra style decorative vases by people who have trained under Lino. Also some of the cheaper overseas products are of surprisingly good to even high quality.
As far as Steuben as a sales company is concerned, they appear to be missing or have at least one venue to sell their product and that is not attending the major wholesale and retail buyers market where many of the individual galleries go for new items. Also, I have noted for years now that the involvement and attendance of younger people both as buyers and sellers has been and still is steadily falling. Weather it is the high cost of goods or the lack of higher paying jobs or for that matter just a general disinterest is really moot; they are just not there.
Hopefully we will be able to join you in Sept, Karen & Cy Beeman

The news of the sale or closure of Steuben Glass by its owner, Corning, Inc., has stirred a wide round of thoughts from participants to this mailing list this past week. They’ve been fascinating reads and reflect wide ranging opinions. Did someone ever suggest that those who appreciate the best of art in glass are opinionated?
Well, I’m leaving tomorrow for Bethesda, MD to give a Carder talk Monday at the Mansion at
Strathmore. I’ll be gone a week, so this e-mail newsletter will be out of commission while I’m gone and this may well bring this chapter of discussion to a wind down.
However, this gives me a chance at a last word. Actually, it’s not that. Rather by serendipity, to this e-mail discussion, I received Thursday a boxed set of books I bought on e-Bay, thanks to the recommendation of Scott Hansen. Scott, from Briarcliff Manor, NY is co-chairman of this next year’s Symposium. As you can see from the comments of the past week the speaker part of the program designed to discuss what we collectors are all about should continue this fascinating discussion. Should be interesting.
Now on to the boxed set of books. I didn’t realize they existed until Scott brought them to my attention. It is a grouping of history books to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Corning, Inc. In the book “The Generations of Corning, The Life and Times of a Global Corporation by Davis Dyer and Daniel Gross” I found some interesting reading on Steuben and the transition of Mr. Carder to the clear, pure crystal. Let me relay some of what I found interesting.
p.153-157. “With the onset of the Great Depression, Steuben’s condition moved from serious to critical. To clear out a backlog of inventory and raise cash, the division held a special sale at the Baron Steuben Hotel. The sale netted modest proceeds but not nearly enough to cure Steuben’s fundamental problems. A review of the division’s operations in April 1931 depicted a mess: ‘Inefficient layout and plant conditions slightly less than deplorable…Morale very low…Sales assistance should receive most careful attention…Present cost system does not function as it should…Consideration should be given as to how the product can be best distributed and merchandised…Lack of co-operation on part of Steuben Division toward Corning Plant is very evident…No consistency in pricing different pieces in a line of similar shapes.'”
“In 1932, the division (Steuben) somehow managed to lose $145,748 on sales of $137,599–its
seventh consecutive annual loss.” From this, 26 year old Arthur Houghton took over and installed clear crystal. “Steuben became the vehicle that enabled him (Arthur Houghton) to combine family obligations to the Glass Works and the city of Corning with his abiding passion for the arts and the cosmopolitan culture of New York City.”
“An early, controversial action taken by the group was to eliminate most of the remaining inventory of old Steuben pieces, which consisted primarily of Carder’s colored glass designs. After the hotel sale and other efforts to dispose of old glass, the factory still warehoused many pieces. None of these items was perceived to be especially valuable (they had been picked over on numerous occasions) and many were chipped or flawed. Arthur Houghton ordered the imperfect pieces smashed to bits. He led the destruction himself, sweeping pieces of glass off shelves and tables.
It was a dramatic, theatrical gesture, deliberately intended to proclaim that the future would be different from the past. The episode certainly left an indelible impression on Steuben employees.
It also left Carder an embittered man. Although he remained on Corning’s payroll for many more years (he finally retired in 1959 at the age of 98, two years before he died) and designed occasional pieces of art glass, he never forgave Arthur Houghton and took only a cursory interest in the progress of Steuben.
“The new leadership at Steuben reconciled lofty goals for artistic achievement with more modest and attainable goals for financial performance.” “‘We (Arthur Houghton) could…show the world that Corning, if it wished, could…utilize glass as a medium of the arts and make the finest glass of that sort that is presently being made and perhaps has ever been made.'”
“As Houghton and (Jack) Gates put it, crystal was ‘a very challenging medium…With color, you can cover up a lot of mistakes. But by sticking closely to crystal and…by driving ourselves to explore further we’ve made breakthroughs of one sort and another….I know we’ve made far more progress than (we would have) if we’d made colored glass.'” I thought this provided an interesting perspective and perhaps a more balanced report on the infamous smashing of glass by the “new regime” as reported in many texts.

One last opinion that is still in my queue from Jill Kent:
As a personal property appraiser, I do not think that the value of the art glass will be negatively affected. Think of the great glass companies of the early 20th century. Their work is not less desirable because they no longer exist.

In closing, let me attached an application for joining the Club. For those on the list who aren’t members, we encourage you to join the Carder Steuben Club at this key historical time.
www.cardersteubenclub.com

Comments continue to come in response to Steuben’s announcement that it will
be sold or closed. Gordon Hancock of Patchogue, NY says in response that the
name Tiffany is still current because of the 5th Avenue jewelry store:
The Tiffany Company that made Tiffany Favrile Glass was never a part of the Tiffany & Co. that exists today.
There has been a lot of comment that the modern Steuben should adopt color. Other comments about changing production and the such. Beth Shaut of the Carder Steuben Glass Shop in Corning brings some perspective on the costs and ability to make some of these changes.
I have an opinion on the re-introduction of color. Because Steuben has become
renowned for its pristine pureness, the cost to put out colors would be
astronomical for the company for they would have to put in a furnace for each
color. I was told they tried color in the past and had problems controlling
bubbles in the mix and that the only way to take care of that was a totally
contained unit. Cost of building these units are above what the company would
want to spend. I have also talked to some people who came here to do repairs on
the current furnaces and they say the cost of materials alone for repairs
because OSHA restrictions is tremendous.