Hello Alan,

Everyone who collects glass at some point pondered the question about whether one would ever consider the purchase of a broken or less than perfect piece of glass? For many years, my mindset was to steer clear of any purchase other than “mint” or close to mint. This point of view changed when I saw this piece coming up for auction this Summer.

I studied as best I could in the pictures from the on line auction on my iPad in an attempt to really get as good a look as possible at the cracks in each leg of the one horse and the obvious “old repairs.” I know people in the glass trade whom I felt sure could separate the old repair and then laminate with 21st century technology. I placed the only bid and won the piece. The shipping broke the legs off again at the same place. Even though there is always more than meets the naked eye when pieces are separated, I feel that the job that was performed on their repair, had them turning out quite nicely and I am honored to have won the piece at the auction and have it brought back to the state it’s in on the bottom photo. I covet it’s temporary ownership and hope that any future people who own it , even though they know it was repaired will just love it because it exists!! I certainly do. It’s titled “Neptune’s Stallions,” signed F Carder 1939 on the base. It’s documented in Tom Dimitroff’s book as being gifted by Carder to the American Ceramics Society. When it travelled to Corning with me to this years Symposium, it might have been the first time back to the valley in 80 years.

Mark Chamovitz