Dear Alan,

Thank you so much for all of your Unexpected Color: A Journey Through Glass exhibition postings in the Gazelle Gazette. I am excited about Carder Steuben Club members visiting the exhibition and appreciate you spreading the word.

I thought that our press department had sent out an update, but would you be able to announce that the exhibition opening date has been moved to May 1st? Just two more weeks but it will be worth the wait.

Thanks again and if there is interest, I would be happy to put you or your members in touch with our group tours coordinator, Ray Arvelo.

Thanks again,

Amy

Amy Simon Hopwood

Associate Curator of Decorative Arts

The Newark Museum

Another Newark Exhibition Item–Six Prong Vase

Ivory six-prong vase, c.1930, Steuben Division, Corning Glass Works, Corning, New York

The Thomas N. Armstrong III Collection, Gift of the Thomas N. Armstrong Family, 2018 TR72.2017.52

How Bob Rockwell Saw It

Alan – reading the piece about managing your collection, and last Wednesday’s comment about investment, brought me back to what Bob Rockwell would often tell beginning collectors. “Never buy something as an investment, buy it because you cannot live without it,” he would say. He would also remind collectors that their tastes and passions will change over time, so not to be unwilling to use pieces in your collection to sell or trade to upgrade your collection.

He often said if he saw a piece that he didn’t think he could afford, but had to have it, that he would get a headache. So he’d take an aspirin, go outside and walk around the block for some fresh air and then revisit the piece in question. Then he would know whether to acquire it or not.

If he felt he could still not afford it, he would call a collector friend who he knew would want it, and encourage them to buy it. He said, “At least then I would know who had it.” And because of this loyalty to his friends (he never had collector competitors) over time many wonderful paintings and Carder pieces came to the Museum, for example the magnificent Clara Peck and Frank & Mary Elizabeth Reifschlager collections.

Glad to see the blossoming of Steuben information flowing from the Gazette! Cheers, Jenny Monroe