Word of Mouth

Writing a book can be a sticky wicket. Many of the older books rely more on word of mouth, and conjecture then scholarly researched factual information. Since the days of Revi, Schuman and the like, much new information has surfaced, people have spent countless hours of travel to do more countless hours of research, and as a result glass history is constantly being updated and rewritten. One reason it’s such an exciting hobby in my opinion.

If we really want to critique the Shuman book for errors, there are many examples of glass that are not American at all, but Bohemian. For example, page 54’s Decorated Burmese vase and page 55’s Bluerina goblet. Then turn the page to page 59 and we have European Coralene vases. And of course the “Mary Gregory” glass on page 91, which thanks to author and research pair Robert & Deborah Truitt we now know is actually Bohemian glass, as Boston and Sandwich never made such a glass. There are other questionable examples, and of course there are many more that are properly attributed. With critiques abound, anyone contemplating writing a book about glass certainly has their job cut out for them.

Brian Severn

Sunnyvale, CA

Iridized Celeste Blue

Hi Alan,

Bobby Rockwell here. I read Carol’s response and I do have a piece on iridized celeste blue in a tumble-up. The reason that she undoubtly has not seen a piece is that it is absolutly horrible in color. I’m sure once that Carder saw that he must have shuddered.

Hope you have a graet symposium. It’s starting to cool down a bit here at the ranch in Colorado.

Best, Bobby

More on Celeste Blue

Would this be the iridescent Celeste Blue or Blue VDS?

In the transcripts page 19 of the recordings with Carder, Jerry Philpot asked Carder directly about his Blue Verre de Soie. We most often see it as decoration like a foot , stopper, or handle but Bob Muller has told me a long time ago he saw a piece that was all blue.

Rande Bly, Birmingham, AL