Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Rande Bly of Birmingham, Alabama follows up on Celadon Green

There is more I wanted to share on Celadon Green and will attempt to explain why it is so important. First off, Celadon Green is not listed in the color chart on page 60 of Gardner. As far as I know this color was not spoken of by Erickson, Gardner, Mr. Dimitroff, Marshall Ketchum, nor Mr. Rockwell in any books. I also believe no alternate color name for for this color is listed either. It is however shown in factory records in the line drawings. I found it was referred to as Celadon Glass. So was it a glass type or a color name. Rumors were out that it could be a color shade belonging to the Jade family probably assumed from the natural gem stone of Celadon Jade. Something was not right. Last summer I brought to Marshall’s attention that on page 291 of Gardner that many of the Celadon pieces were bubbly glass and Carder did not make bubbly Jade. On that same page shape 7212 was listed as Wisteria Glass. I told Marshall I felt Celadon Glass was a transparent colored crystal color and not a glass type. We had nothing to go on. David Chadwick-Brown was being cc’d all e-mail correspondence and was assisting all along the way with photographs, theories, and being a great “sounding board” to bounce my theories off of. Well… there we were again out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to go on. I started getting visions of the color shade when I stared at shape 7206 with the bubbles. I tried to describe this shade of color with David. Here is where the trouble started. The color I was describing fit what Marshall had deduced to be Nile Green and had pictured in his book. At that time I began to leak in my articles we would be having breakthroughs with the color Celadon Green and I would soon write an article about it. This was about a year and a half ago and soon didn’t turn out to be soon at all. It is not easy to put the train in reverse and give it a new path.

Please understand how difficult it is for everybody involved to back up and accept new information or theory after years of using the previously accepted norm. I promise everyone I take no pleasure in participating in it and feel very uncomfortable doing so. I do my best to be polite and present it slowly in a way it doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings or offend them. I still had hope though because it had already been successful when we had to put the train in reverse clarifying the issue of Persian Blue being pictured and identified as Celeste Blue and a Smoke Crystal candlestick being pictured and listed as Rosa in the books we use.

Well, what was next? I did what I usually do. Start sending crazy e-mails to Marshall, I love the way Marshall deals with me. If I don’t hear back from him and he tries to pretend like he is on vacation I know I am pressing his limits. If he writes me back I know he is beginning to listen with one ear. I told him I thought I had Celadon Green figured out and he corresponding back. I saw my chance and made my move. Did I send him proof? I had no proof. No, far from it. I started sending him pictures of Celadon Jade, Celadon Porcelain, Celadon glass beads, and Celadon jewelery with instructions to squint one eye and and in his minds eye picture the color in a Steuben transparent colored crystal. No response…..

By now I was a little frustrated but had not lost all hope. I went back to my Country life magazine adds and took a photo of the color add of what I was calling Celadon Green. The add listed no color name for the Celadon lemonade set and vase shown in my last article. I sent Marshall the picture and he recognized the color right away as his Nile Green. I got the immediate response he would have the his goblet tested when he had a chance. Dr. Greg Merkle closed the subject with his scientific testing and the color tested as Celadon. Sorry about the delay on the article of Celadon Green but it is not uncommon for research to take one to three years. Over the last four years I have written an article on about 90% of the colors in transparent colored crystal and have of course saved the greens for last as they are the most difficult. I believe the accuracy of my articles on color still hold a batting record of a thousand. I consider Cardinal Red to be held separate and still be on the table for discussion and research.

My feelings were so hurt by the strife and dissension that arose out of my theory on Cardinal Red in articles I wrote in December 2010 that I haven’t written an article on color this whole year. I know all I had was little more than a picture of a cardinal red fish, a Cardinal bird, a signed red plate, and a vase with a paper label. I also apologize to anyone I may have offended. The discovery of proof for Celadon Green has given me new hope because it proved to be true when I had little more than a hand full of celadon glass beads, some porcelain vases and an original color add with no color name. Thank you again Marshall for following through with a tough situation.

At this time I would like to suggest in our hunt for or proof on Window Glass Green we might have a close look at the piece I will picture today. Just as we see Persian Blue accompanied with Bristol Yellow and Blue Gray accompanied with Amber we may see Window Glass Green most often accompanied with Celeste Blue. I am convinced this piece is Window Glass Green and I will see what we can collectively do in the next year to prove it. I consider it to be akin to Celadon Green only one shade lighter. The color is so delicate it can sometimes be confused with clear crystal in photos. Photo credits to David Chadwick-Brown.

I will try to proceed with the greens and behind the scene be working with Green #5, Antique Green, and an uranium “apple green” one shade lighter than Pomona. Now we will also have to resume the hunt for Nile Green.

I am so sad I will not be attending the symposium this year but hope everybody has a great time. Maybe I can be there next year.

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2011 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 15-17, 2011.