HOLIDAY TIME–OFF FOR A CARIBBEAN CRUISE. THE GAZETTE WILL RETURN ABOUT DECEMBER 4 OR 5

Michael Krumme Has A Few Follow Up Questions on Tyrian Description

Hi Alan,

Q. I appreciated Friday’s piece on Tyrian. After reading the words from Ericson, “Each and every item was signed TYRIAN, with a number,” I went to the Signatures page of the Carder Steuben Club website to look for this signature, but I didn’t see any examples. First, is the statement correct, and second, can any of our members post a photo of such a signature?

I presume that this marking was engraved by hand in the same way the Aurene marking was.

Michael Krumme

A. Michael I can answer one of these questions. Not all Tyrian pieces are numbered and some shapes don’t appear in the shape index.

The Rockwell Museum’s Reifschlager Gallery Pre-2000
Florentia Display

Photos, courtesy of The Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY

This particular glass type is in our opinion the most romantic, intriguing and fetching creation of all the Carder innovations for Steuben.

In a certain sense the paperweight flower creations as expressed in Aurene and similar wares can be considered a Florentia type, since they are a type of millefiore and are contained in the glass, and often times within the object. However, strictly speaking, Florentia and its use would imply the creation of a flower within the glass.

There can be absolutely no doubt that Carder’s Florentia is an Intarsia-type creation, and preceded it by a very short period in time.

The flower was inserted in a mass of crystal, and another mass of crystal which was heavily saturated with silver mica flecks was blown onto the partial form as it lay in the mold.. Is is i this process that we can account for the visible air traps and no other way.

from A Guide to Colored Steuben Glass 1903 – 1933 Book Two by Eric E. Ericson, pp. 55-59

Some Examples of Florentia