Thursday , December 16, 2010

Responses to the questioning of what is a Steuben Medieval pattern vase versus a Sinclair.

Dick Stark of Bethesda, Maryland says.

This one (the black) looks right…the other (red) had a stubby look…. Steuben makes their own fakes i guess ! no stopper or lid

Rande Bly of Birmingham, Alabama states.

Jo Ann Godawa I was not able to attend but hope it is ok to participate. I am sorry your vase was identified as Sinclair. I was marveling the other day how close knit the glass making circle was. The sisters of famous gaffers were marrying other famous gaffers. They would work at one glass house for 6 months and then go to another. Steuben and Sinclair had many things that were very similar. It was just the way it was. They did however draw the line somewhere. For Sinclair to take an exact copy of Carder’s Medieval ACB and put it on his Black would have NOT been tolerated. Never!

I do however remember a Sinclair product I have seen something that may have been a lamp in black that had a griffin or eagle on it but it certainly was not the Carder Medieval ACB pattern. A study of the actual internal color of Steuben’s black may be of some help. It is potassium permanganate in color. With any Black with applied white top rim it should be studied where the white meets the black. In the Sinclair pieces you will barely be able to feel that junction with your finger. Great care was taken with the Sinclair pieces to make that junction area as smooth as possible. Steuben pieces just have your typical applied top rim. It was Sinclairs’s brother that talked Sinclair into making black for a gift he wanted to give. He encouraged Sinclair with the thought they could have black by adding much more cobalt to their existing cobalt blue. This resulted in a black that was verry verry hard to cut. This also created a black where the interior color was more cobalt in color than Steuben. Carder was pleased with his mix of Mirror Black which was extremely shiny at the final surface and easier to cut.

If Sinclair would have stole Carder’s Medieval pattern Carder would have been on his bicycle on his way over to kick some A. We probably would have heard about that fist fight. Sinclair’s Griffin pattern although similar was not at all the same or for that matter not even that close. From what I know Sinclair’s Griffin has both wings extended Carders has one wing up and one wing down. There is also similarities to its basic overall Fleur de Lis pattern of background decoration.

If you are saying your vase also had the one wing down I am sorry I was not there to help with the identification.

Frankly Carders pieces were cut better even though Sinclair beat Carder on the white rim application.

Perhaps this photo of Sinclair’s Griffin pattern will help. It is good to use caution but let’s not go to the extreme we are missing really good pieces as may have happened with your vase. I would hope no carelessness will come into play while viewing the Red ACB Skinner vase now that we have more information. I will soon cover the color name of the red.

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