Sometimes the knowledge that one gleans over the years, and being in the right place at the right time pays off, with seven days of nail biting nervousness. This wonderful Steuben piece is titled “Girl and Bird.”

Some years ago at a Carder Symposium, I stopped in at Kitty Erlacher’s shop on Market Street to see the wonderful modern era Steuben pieces and what was always the most interesting pieces for me, the Max Erlacher engraved pieces.

As Kitty showed me various pieces, I distinctly remembered her holding this piece and caressing the engraving and her comments on how beautiful she felt this piece was. Her husband and Corning icon, master engraver, Max, engraved the limited edition piece in the mid 60’s. The girl and bird pieces were a limited edition run of 20. I just always remembered how Kitty loved the piece when she showed it to me.

Fast forward some years when I was checking my saved searches in Ebay. One of the categories I check is Orrefors, and much to my surprise was a girl and bird sculpture misidentified as Orrefors. The key part of the story is, that the bottom of the piece had a green sticky felt protective pad glued to the base, and it had not been removed probably for many years.

If the seller wasn’t going to check under the felt pad, then the only thing standing in the way of my hopefully obtaining this piece, was someone letting the seller know what it really was. Sorry, although I’ve done it for other sellers in the past, this time it wasn’t going to be me. So, for seven days I nervously watched the piece, figuring someone in Ebay land would certainly see it and inform the seller. No one did, so I got the sculpture and when it was received, I carefully took off the protective pad to reveal the Steuben signature along with the #7/20 numbering.

I own other Max Erlacher pieces and cherish each one, but for me, owning this piece knowing that Max engraved it appropriately 55 years ago when he was early in his career with Steuben is so very special.

Mark Chamovitz