At the Annual Symposium this past September we were fortunate to have Jim Asselstine, Director of the Dorflinger Glass Museum in Pennsylvania, share an excellent presentation on the history of the Dorflinger Glass Companies.  Jim’s presentation started with founder Christian Dorflinger who was born in France and completed an apprenticeship at Cristalleries de Saint-Louis.  He then walked through a timeline of glass creations and forms, through to the closure of the White Mills, PA factory in 1921.  Dorflinger glass was well known for their high-quality brilliant cut glass but they also produced several different forms of art glass.  These included an acid cut and gilded colored glass known as Honesdale, Reproductions Venetian, Kalana, and Opal Glass.  Of particular relevance to Steuben collectors, some of these Dorflinger glass types and shapes are very similar to Carder Steuben pieces. 

Prior to this year’s symposium, the CSGA’s Scott Hansen and Scott Coots conversed over the Gazette’s teaser of Jim’s presentation photo of a blue ring-handled centerpiece bowl — a piece that is strikingly similar to Steuben shape 2942.  Scott H. noted that we have a dozen or so examples of this shape in the Shape Gallery in a number of Steuben glass types.  He also noted other examples of similarities between Dorlinger glass and Steuben, including a 10.5 inch candlestick that is the same as Steuben shape 3317 and a covered bon bon remarkably similar to Steuben Shape 3155.  Jim responded to our questions prior to the Symposium:  “I may actually expand this section of my talk a bit since it is an area of interest to the group.  Kurt Reed, my curator, has Christian Dorflinger’s original hand-colored trade catalog showing examples of the Reproductions Venetian and Opal Glass pieces, and that catalog was recently reprinted by the American Cut Glass Association.  The similarities to Steuben pieces are remarkable.  It seems that both companies were doing very similar work at about the same time.  This will be a fun part of the talk.  I will also bring a copy of the Dorflinger catalog reprint for everyone to see.  Hopefully, this will spark some interesting discussion.  Scott, thanks so much for your email.” Jim’s catalog reprint predated the Carder pieces which we all found very interesting. 

We were also lucky to have a pair of Dorflinger candlesticks donated to our Saturday night auction by Bob Burnstein, a fitting tribute to our deepened understanding of Dorflinger glass.

Thank you to all who have renewed your Carder Steuben Glass Association membership already.  We plan to mail out 2024 renewal envelopes within the next couple of weeks.  We would love to save on mailing costs (and save a tree) by having as many members as possible renew their membership electronically before this time.  It’s fast and easy!  Just click here to visit the Membership section of the CSGA website.  You can submit the membership form electronically and pay the annual dues through Paypal or by mailing a check.  We greatly appreciate your support!