Thursday, January 12, 2012

David Chadwick-Brown of San Diego sent me a personal note that I thought was worth sharing:

Picked up a mat-su-no-ke compote when in Seattle over the holidays. I always check in with Kathy Bailey (or more accurately, her husband, Paul, since she is always on the road taping Roadshow programs at that time of year) She happened to call in to him while I was in the shop, and so had a chance to chat. She informed me that she is closing the store in a month, and will work exclusively on estates and the Roadshow. She always has had 20 to 30 pieces of Steuben in the shop, including some lamps. When I started collecting in 1976, there were about ten stores in which there were always pieces of Carder glass for sale. This is the last of that dying breed. (Seattle used to be a hotbed of Steuben collecting, since there were four or five collectors in the area with extensive collections and expansive pocketbooks. I can remember going into one store where there were four Florentia pieces, and within a month they were all gone to local collectors. That was also the time when Dick Bright lived in Seattle, and was kind enough to let me, a novice and unknown to him, come into his home and learn/view.)

David

Lisa Ackerman, an antique dealer in Orange, California, tells us she is thrilled to add Dean Six’s book on “glass cities”. Lisa is a student of antiques. While not a Steuben dealer or collector, she has attended a number of Symposiums. Just to learn.

Thank you for the news on the Dean Six book, Alan. My bookcase won’t be happy with me, but too bad. Also thank you for the plug for the Cut Glass convention! It should be a great time! Of course I also know of a GREAT little antiquing town an hour and a half north of SD,too! As you know personally, we don’t get a lot of Steuben in Orange, but there is lots of other great stuff for the collector. Great dining options too.

🙂 Lisa

We’ve had several e-mails on questions about a whole in a Steuben ornament. Last e-mail said it couldn’t be photographed because the ornament is in crystal clear glass. Charles Sweigart of Reinholds, Pennsylvania comments:

Terry,

Even a bad picture is better than none at all. Give it a try so others can help.

Then Marshall Ketchum shares his glass blowing experience with us:

If this ornament is hollow and some are solid then Steuben may have been forced to provide a hole in the hollow ones. If you don’t provide a hole for the air pressure to equilibrate as the temperature changes the piece may break. For those who have made Christmas ornaments at Rodi Rovner’s Hands on Glass Studio may remember when she make the hanger she forces a hole just below it.

Then John Styler of Prospect Heights, Illinois continues his responses to the ornament discussion:

The ornaments I saw are just small circular pieces of glass with various designs in the center mostly animals. I have since learned they were made by Steuben for Eddie Bauer. They have a hole at the top and a red ribbon. Because they were a special design there is no reference to anything like them in Mary Jean Madigan’s revised edition, Steuben Glass, An American Tradition in Crystal, certainly a book any collector of the Modern should own.

Picture attached.

I have spoken to a dealer who has the Steuben ornaments and yes of two of the same design one has what appears to be a gap where the hooked glass is attached, I’ll bet he raises the price on that one.

www.cardersteubenclub.org

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2012 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 20-22, 2012.