Steuben Signature Practice

from Glass Collector’s Digest, Volume XII*Number 6, April/May 1999 in an article entitled “Identifying Carder’s Steuben” by Maurice Crofford at p.31, the author says:

“Prior to 1932, Steuben employees had no specific instructions for when the trademark signature was applied to particular colors or shapes of Mr. Carder’s glass. An 80 or 90-piece Steuben dinner or luncheon set-especially those made in transparent colors-had only a few pieces of the set signed. These sets quite often included the stemware, sherbets with underplates, a console set, and individual salts for each place setting.
“In spite of the apparently haphazard method for applying the trademark signature, there are still guidelines useful to the experienced collector. On the colorless pieces, a diamond point was used to scratch the signature on the bottom. These signatures were placed between the pontil mark and the outer edge of the item.

“Another guideline is that Steuben pieces would be signed only if they were made at the Steuben factory under Carder’s supervision, using his line drawings and colors. Also, the bases and shades that Steuben made for lamp companies would not be signed by Carder, although the finished lamp might be signed by the company selling the product. Other unsigned Steuben pieces included blanks sold to silver companies (e.g. demitasse cups for silver holders of items for silver-overlay decoration) and crystal blanks supplied to cutting and engravings shops.”

Webmaster’s Selection

This is a 2909 vase in Oriental Poppy. It is 6″ high.