Wallpaper

from David Donaldson of Orlando

When I was working at the CMoG in the 1970’s, I ran across a fair amount of wallpaper “bits and pieces” from the late 19th early 20th centuries. As I recall, these were used a acid etch motifs for the Calcite lighting globes. No names were assigned to the pieces of wallpaper, but maybe someone might try and match these to some names of known globe designs.

Just some old thoughts on the naming rights saga.

Fantasies

from Frederick Carder: Portrait of a Glassmaker by Paul V. Gardner

p.26-27

In the 1920s, many etched designs were listed as “sculptured.” Some of these, especially when made in alabaster, had raw umber coloring rubbed into the backgrounds to accent the surface pattern and give an illusion of carving. Others listed as “sculptured” seem to be so designated as a sales ploy. Buyers have consistently paid higher prices for wares with elegant names, and the “sculptured” pieces were uniformly more expensive than the wares simply listed as “etched.” Carder was a master merchandiser and used many a sales pitch. He often remarked that when a color or shape was not selling as he thought it should, he doubled the price, and ‘it sold like a shot.”