Monday, April 18, 2011

First off a question from Gordon Hancock of Patchague, New York on Gwen Stebbins Tiffany item she submitted asking for its purpose.

Is it marked on the bottom 1959?

Gordon Hancock Tiffany Pastel Specialist

This past weekend the best antique show in Los Angeles took place. Michael Krumme of LA gives a review and assessment from a Carder Steuben perspective.

Hi All,

I had intended to attend the annual Los Angeles Antiques show earlier than at 3:00 p.m. on the last day of the show, but… better late than never. Here is my VERY unscientific report, based on my impressions of what I saw.

All told, few of the sellers had any Carder Steuben glass. The majority of it was in one booth, dealers from the New York area who specialize in art glass and lamps. They had probably only 10 pieces (not counting art glass shades), and none of the Carder items were real standouts. Their art glass shades were all displayed on the same shelf, but the labels identifying their respective makers were not visible, so while some of them were likely Steuben, I can’t say how many of them were. Three matching shades appeared to have the intarsia collar effect, but again, I can’t swear that those were Steuben. Also, I found it interesting that the Carder Steuben items in that booth were outnumbered at LEAST 5 to 1 by Tiffany art glass items.

IN another booth, a jade green “rectangular cylinder” shaped vase with swirl optic was labeled “attributed to Steuben” and priced at $1,200. I took the seller’s card, and I thought I’d be a good Samaritan and scan and email her a catalog page and reference — or a link to the CSC shape library.

The clear standout for Carder Steuben at the show was the booth offering a pair of vases with Dragon etch, Rosaline over… uh oh… is it Calcite or Alabaster? The white was not very transparent, so I’m going to say Calcite. After an admittedly non-exhaustive search of half a dozen of my Steuben reference books, plus the online shape index, I was not able to find the shape, so I will decribe them as between 7 and 8 inches high, with a cylindrical neck on a bulbous body with a short base below that (but not really a “foot” per se.) The bulbous portion angled downward to a flat outer surface, then angled back in. (If anyone can send a page reference or a link to the online shape index with any likely suspects, I will look and confirm or refute the shape suggested.) Since I have a nodding acquaintance with the seller, he opened the case and let me handle one. I was really taken aback by the WEIGHT of the vase — very heavy for its size. The price quoted was $6,500 the pair.

Overall, while the show had many lovely items, glass and otherwise, offered by dealers from San Francisco, New York, London, and other cities, it seemed to me that there were fewer booths than there were last year — but I could be remembering incorrectly.

I am looking forward to attending the Los Angeles Modernism show the second weekend of May. This year it will not be held the weekend immediately after the LA Antiques show, as it has been in years past. It will be interesting to see how many of the dealers do both shows — some always do both. I anticipate that the Modernism show will be larger than the show this weekend, but I expect that dealers at the show will offer less in the way of art glass from this era.

Reporting from an unseasonably warm Los Angeles,

Michael

www.cardersteubenclub.org

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