The Color of Smoke Crystal
by Rande Bly

I thought I would like to discuss the Steuben Color Smoke Crystal. I thought this would be helpful because how to identify it or a color accurate photo has not been covered in any of the books yet. Gardner was the first to make us aware this color was in existence. He had a picture of it on page 69 of a 6118 bowl with bubbles. Unfortunately the photo was in black and white. It still was useful because it at least shows the delicateness of this color. This color was made in the late 1920’s-33. These dates fits with the delicate nature of this shade and has the same depth of shade of Sea Green or Wisteria. In thin areas of the glass and in direct sunlight the glass can take on a clear appearance when viewed through the glass. Gardner pictured this color again in color plate XXIX B in the double wafer goblet and tadpole prunt decorated bowl. He has placed this color in the Topaz/Amber grouping and perhaps rightfully so. Because the photo does not show the actual color of this glassware I spent the first 25 years looking for this color in Smokey Topaz a light Grey Black Charcoal color resembling the gemstone Smokey Topaz. Needless to say it never showed up because Steuben’s Smoke Crystal is not of that color like the other glass
makers.

First off I would like to say it was an extremely hard color to photograph showing quite a variety of results none of which were accurate to its actual color. After about 100 photos I was able to use 6. In direct sunlight it had the tendency to photograph Grey much like Gardner’s photos. More often than not it photographed with pink tones that are not there. In actuality it does seem to carry characteristics of Carder’s color Rosa. I think it looked more like it had a tinge of Flesh colored Crayola than the Salmon color found in Rosa. It also looks like a light Topaz being more neutral in tone lacking in the hews of Gold or Amber. As you can see it is clearly a hard color to describe. One color shade it displayed was a definite tone of root beer in its thicker areas. In trying to capture its true color in film after many adjustments of exposure and brightness I noticed that it was greatly affected by the percentages of florescent and incandescent light.

The over display of pink tones was coming from too high of a percentage of incandescent lighting with not enough intensity of florescent. After another half hour of placing my lighting at different distances I was able to capture what I consider to be a reasonable comparison to its actual color. How Carder was able to manufacture colors that were dichroic without uranium is still a bit of a mystery to me. I will be covering this in my next article on Russian Amber. Smoke Crystal contains no uranium and I would agree it will be mistaken as light Rosa.

David Chadwick Brown of San Diego tells an interesting story that when he bought his piece from Bob Rockwell, Bob told him it was a very rare color and he sold it to David as Smokey Topaz. Again It is my opinion that this description is rightfully so. These first hand jewels of providence we share within our circle will be lost if they are not scribed into permanent record.

I am sorry to say I understand fully that we have a divided camp on the subject of the difference between Topaz and Amber. One of them will contain the green shade of first pressed olive oil and one will not. I intend to write a lengthy article with my views and comparison to gem stones on which one is which and why. To bring understanding to references in this article I want you to know that I am in agreement with Mr. Rockwell and others in the club and have always taken the old school understanding that Topaz will not contain any of the green tones of first pressed olive oil and Amber will. So when I speak of Topaz I will be referring to the shade of color carrying no green tones.

I have secured a piece of the very rare color Russian Amber and will very soon write an article on how to recognize it. I feel it will also add some clarity to the Amber/ Topaz mix up. I believe we were all so busy trying to separate all the blues, greens, and reds that we forgot the Topaz/Amber group and lumped it all together referring to it as ” you know that Goldish Brownish Yellowish light Greenish tone group”. I am wondering if there is probably more mistakes within this color group in the books that have been written than all the other color groups combined. That is a lot of mistakes for only three to five basic colors! I have seen the same shade of color called Topaz in one photo and Amber in the next all in the same book. Perhaps this was brought about by today’s unpopularity for items made in the shades of colors found in the Topaz/Amber group and we have just saved clarification for last in this grouping. I have definitely found this unpopularity to be true and similar with the green group and in VDS pieces and they have gone away undervalued. Needless to say I find every color made by Carder to be delightful.

OK back to Smoke Crystal. Where and how do you find it preexisting in your collections? Just look in your Smokey Light Rosa department. If you can’t find it there look in your Light Topaz department. How do you find it on e-bay and the sort by photograph? Look for the light pink photographs. It is nearly impossible to keep the pink out of the photos. If it is photographed in too much direct natural light it will be charcoal colored. The third shade to look for in photo is flesh colored Rosa.

This leads me to the photos I will include. Yes my best 6 out of 100.
You might also ask……how rare of a color is it and the forbidden question……how much is it worth? This color I would say compares in a rarity almost identical to Moonlight and not as rare as Orchid or Russian Amber. A piece in a common yet desirable shape that would run from $200 in Celeste Blue to $400 in Selenium Red would retail for about $750 in Smoke Crystal. The piece I will show is the 6030 vase which because of the vertical optic twist displays the many different natures of this color beautifully. By the time you all read this one of you out there will be enjoying viewing the 6030 Smoke Crystal Vase at their own home. Congratulations.

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Smoke Crystal…. just another lolly pop from Carder’s Rainbow. I welcome any questions, comments, photos, or jewels of information on this rare Steuben color.

Rande Bly
Birmingham, Alabama
May 28, 2010