Thursday, December 23, 2010

Yesterday James Jory shared a picture and background on a clear coated piece of red glass. The piece is below. Cy Beeman of Media, Pennsylvania sends along his opinion

Cased in clear with that shape reeks of Czech; as I have/had a few like this one. It appears to have a fire rim top so it must have a ground pontil – thus a higher end piece of glass. Another source of info is Deb Truitt. Cy Beeman

We’ve had an interesting dialogue on identifying Carder glass and the search for Cardinal Red. So, the question is when do you know a piece of glass is Carder’s. Sometimes there are no absolute answers. Experience has a lot to do with it. What does experience include? Well, one part is construction. Cy Beeman’s response is based on construction.

Another factor is the correctness of color or color combinations. Much of the coloring created by Mr. Carder is unique to him; but, then not all. The search for Cardinal Red is an effort to see if this is a unique or identifiable color.

Then there is the issue of a mark. In my experience the mark means little. In fact, when I see a piece with an acid etched fleur-de-lis or paper label or other markings I always start out being suspicious. Why do I say that? Well, I’ve heard repeated stories of how historically dealers had acid stamps many pieces of glass indiscriminately. I’ve been told that collectors have had first hand experience of dealers telling them they do it. I’ve been shown at shows where as dealer has shown me an obviously Tiffany piece with a Steuben Mark. Likewise paper labels removed from a piece of glass and reglued on another piece. The stories are legion. All of this false marking is easy to do; easier than most believe.

Finally is shape. James Jory attributes his piece as shape #2004. You can go the Gardner book to see this shape. Now, I would suggest to cardersteubenclub.org website. Then go to shape number gallery. Type in the search by shape number 2004 that James Jory referred to. You’ll then be at page http://cardersteubenclub.org/shapes/item-view.cfm?RecordID=19403 Take a look and compare the shape number to the piece below and reach your own judgment whether you think this is the shape. Now the problem is, if you think there are variances, well there are frequently variances. After all, this is hand blown glass. Sometimes there are differences for this reason and sometimes there are variances that aren’t recorded in the line drawings. And, of course, other makers may create a similar shape.

So, what does all of this tell you? The answer is that it isn’t always easy or an exact science. Experience helps a lot and while usually the answers are easy to divine, it’s not always the case. Alan

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Wednesday, December, 22, 2010

James Jory of Alburquerque, NM sends this along about his red vase.

Hello Alan-

Imagine my surprise when I opened your email containing information about a new red carder glass.

I have had the vase in this attached photo for over 25 years! I purchased it with the understanding that it was a piece of Steuben as it has a Steuben shape (2004) and an etched fleur-de-lis signature. Shortly thereafter I discovered that the signature was spurious just like the one shown in fig 10.56 on page 229 of Dimitroff’s book. I took the vase to the Corning museum for an opinion and they sent me over to the Rockwell museum where Bobby Rockwell dismissed it as a piece of Steuben and placed it in that catchall catigory, “Bohemian glass.” As my glass interest focused more on art nouveau, I sold off those pieces that didn’t fit that category. However, this is such a beautiful piece that I have kept it all these years. It is being used as a decorative piece on the dining room table.

Could it be Steuben? It has another feature that is seen on other Steuben pieces cased in clear glass, namely Cluthra and Cintra. It can be seen on the those pieces having a cushon foot where the clear glass is thicker and forms a ring of the clear glass that encircles the foot. I found a Cluthra example in the center piece pictured in plate #10.52 on page 228 of Dimitroff’s book.

As an aside, on an early trek to the Corning museum I saw there a display of about ten or so pieces labeled Steuben rouge flambé. One of them was cased in clear glass. I remember this because I was looking for that very thing to verify my piece. Again, this was about 25 years ago. I wonder if they still have it.

Sincerely yours,

Jim Jory

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