CADMIUM RUBY

Here is a picture of my Cadmium Ruby 6200 Melon Ribbed Centerpiece Bowl 15 inches.

This is the same color as the Red 2909 with Clear ring handles listed at the Club site as Selenium Red/ Cardinal Red. It is a cousin to Cardinal Red. It is easily distinguishable from Selenium Red. first off by it’s Cherry Candy color. It will be translucent near the center at the melon ribbed area surrounding the pontil. It is less intense than Cardinal Red, lighter in shade, and much more transparent. It is real easy to see this is NOT Selenium Red.

Rande Bly. Birmingham, AL

COUNTERPOINT

The factory records do not list Cardinal Red as being made in any Steuben shape. There simply is no mention of it at all. In addition, the color is not included in Gardner’s list of colors. There are about three formulas in Carder’s notebooks that are labeled Cardinal Red so it must have existed in some form. The existance of a formula in a Carder notebook does not mean that it was ever a production color. There are all sorts of reasons that he might have experimented with a color but decided not to produce it.The 2909 vase is an interesting color red. There is also a 2956 stick on the website in the same color. While this color is not the traditional Selenium Red that Steuben made the color is probably based on Selenium. It certainly is not based on gold and Carder has said that he didn’t make a copper red though there are several formulas in his notebooks for copper red. I suspect that this color may be Cardinal Red. An XRF analysis might bring some interesting results.

Marshall Ketchum, Genoa, New York

2013 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 19-21, 2013. The festivities will begin with Frederick Carder’s 150th birthday celebration on the evening of September 18, 2013.

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