Peter Bennett of Rochester, NY says:
I am only mildly interested in the seemingly endless discussion of Carder colors. But now that Mark Buffa has stated that I probably can’t understand the terribly complex chemistry and nuances of color lets end this pointless meandering diatribe about color. If Mark wants to run for dog catcher I’ll vote for him twice
Editorial Response–Peter, fortunately for collectors of Mr. Carder we have to maintain a large tent. We have collectors interested in color, interested in shapes, tableware, goblets, museum pieces, everyday pieces, techniques, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Victorian and the list goes on. Such an enormous variety of ways to appreciate the work of Mr. Carder. So, we try and cover it all. While certainly there is a limited number interested in color, the level of response to this just indicates that there is a strong interest. Therefore, we are compelled to keep going with this. On the other hand, for those not interested I guess there is the delete key. But, then that which interest you will resurrect itself and we’ll be off to the races on another area of interest. So, here in the meantime are some other interests in color.

Beth Jacques of Brooklyn says she understands what Mark Buffa is talking about on color.
Er Mark — I have h.s. chemistry and physics, and I get it.
Rgds,

Greg Merkel of Corning thinks we ought to take on a Club project with purchasing equipment for color evaluation.
I have wondered (many times) whether it might be possible to purchase (with Club funds, and perhaps additional donations specific to the purpose) an instrument (spectrometer or colorimeter?), preferably at least semi-portable, that could be used to “quantify” the color of a transparent glass object. The Club could then use this to build up a database of Steuben glasses of known, and unknown, identities. Mark, perhaps you know of some possibilities from your experience in this field, and I could inquire within Corning, and from other museums, whether such instrumentation exists for non-destructive measurements on whole objects. There may be other Club members with suggestions as well. I realize there would be a range of “color indices” for each given type of glass, but it might still be a useful endeavor. Any thoughts?

But then Mark Buffa says there are many problems measuring color.

The instruments used for measuring transparent materials are not the same as for opaque and are very far and few between if not rigged up by converting a standard colorimeter. The color position also shifts with thickness so this will also have to be a parameter in understanding the color. It might be best and simplest just to match as close as one can to a pantone color chip. These are easily downloaded from a computer with high resolution RBG capability using cyan, magenta, and chartreus inks. Using this system with thickness it would be able to plot color vs thickness positions. Not an easy task to do, but doable.
Mark