I am in need of an expert on Fry pieces. I have the Collectors’ Book but it does not give adequate information. I have tried the HC Fry Collectors Group and received no answer. Anyone out there know of someone who I can contact?

Joann Tortarolo, on behalf of the Redlands Historical Museum of Glass

COMPARATIVE TECHNIQUES,

The 7218 and the 1308 seen below are two totally different types and constitute two very different values.

If I understand it correctly and please correct me Wilson Craigie if I am wrong the 7218 is a cheaper method. First you apply a white paint or enamel to the piece of glass. The paint can be done by hand or stenciled or printed to the glass. Then it goes to a silverplating process. The silver content used in plating is .999 pure silver. It will electroplate the painted area with a coat of pure silver. This will be very thin. Perhaps just a few molecules thick. It will stick to the white paint and not to the glass. Not too impressive and Carder seldom did it. It is called applique or guilded or plated.

Sterling silver overlay used in the 1308 however is a very different painstaking process. It uses an actual sheet of Sterling silver .925 that can be cut to pattern. Pierced. Tooled with design and hand wrapped and formed around the glass. Very high class. Very difficult requiring a ton of hand done work. Night and day to value.

Rande Bly, Birmingham, Alabama

Green Jade Tumbler with Alabaster Handle and Silver Overlay

Shape #7218

6 1/2 inches high

Rande – You got it wrong. As you describe what you see on the 7218 piece…… That is a partially correct explanation of “Sterling Silver Overlay” or “Silver Deposit”. A pattern is painted onto glass with a gooey substance The entire object is submerged and the “electroplate” process begins and silver is attracted to the gooey stuff – not to the bare glass. After that process is complete, The silver is carved, scraped, engraved, cleaned probably in a manner similar to Acid Cut Back work – removing some of the “excess” to dress-up the pattern.

The 7218 piece is a very cheap subset of this process…… more like a stencil pressed pre made pattern. I have a couple of these types and can tell you, don’t rub the decoration with Hagerty’s silver polish…..

Using a sheet of silver, carving, wrapping, etc. is a different craft altogether – not Sterling Silver Overlay or Deposit.

Willson Craigie

Selenium Vase with Alvin Silver Sterling Siilver overlay decoration

Shape #1308

8 inches high

2013 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 19-21, 2013. The festivities will begin with Frederick Carder’s 150th birthday celebration on the evening of September 18, 2013.

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