NEVER Sell the Piece

My first piece of Steuben is this #2908 vase. I found it at the monthly Long Beach Veteran’s Stadium flea market, probably in the late 1980s. At that time, I knew very little about art glass. “Tiffany,” “Lalique,” and “Steuben” glass were the kinds of things that I heard people talk about, but I only saw it in books, not in real life.

However, one Sunday morning I was walking around shopping, and spied it on a seller’s table. I looked it over carefully, but really had to think hard about whether I should actually buy it. That was primarily because ignorant 20-something year old me couldn’t imagine that a fine glass company like Steuben would leave a broken-off pontil unpolished, or engrave a signature sloppily into the iridescent surface on the underside of the foot of the piece. I finally decided to take a chance, paid the asking price, and went on my way.

I showed the vase to several friends whom I encountered that morning, saying “I found this vase that’s marked Steuben, but it’s probably a fake.” Each person I showed it to demurred, saying it looked right to them. Eventually, I acquired a copy of the Gardner book, and found the shape in the line drawings. Interestingly, as you can see from one of the pictures, the wrong shape number was engraved on the bottom — 2909, instead of the correct 2908. Has anyone else encountered such a mistake?

When I finally realized that I had an authentic piece of Carder-era Steuben, I had to laugh, because the seller from whom I purchased it had been asking $35 for an orange Bauer pottery water pitcher, but only $15 for the Steuben.

I will NEVER sell this piece!

Michael Krumme
Los Angeles