We’ve been following the decorated green scent bottle acquired by Joan Walter. It started out with a preliminary appearance of being a Carder Steuben decorated green, although the silver stopper seemed more likely a pre-1900 stopper which preceded Carder’s co-founding Steuben . This and other questions arose and while it appeared to be similar, it apparently was not Carder’s work.

Speculation on other identifications came forth. One, by one, they were debunked, and then finally Lon Knickerbocker pointed out he had seen a number of this type work for sale in his travel in the northeast. Finally, with a desperation call for the maker Elissa Goldstein came forth and identified it as the work of current glass maker Carl Radke. Joan wrote Carl Radke and we shared his strange response strongly suggesting he made it, but taking no responsibility for the utilization of an historic stopper on a current bottle that others were passing off as an antique scent bottle. Joan Walter now responds to Dick Stark’s analysis of Carl Radke’s response shared in an e-mail sent out this weekend.

I particularly appreciated Dick Stark’s comment. Attached is a photo of a “typical” R. Blackinton laydown scent bottle. Jean Sloan in her book on Perfume and Scent Bottle Collecting says “Typical of smaller American perfume or scent bottles are four examples shown in Fig. 9-4. Three were made by the prolific R. Blackinton Company of North Attleboro, Massachusetts. This company turned out what seems to be a large volume of scent bottles in the late 1800s. Blackinton produced expertly cut glass, usually quite ornate, and topped the bottles with superbly designed and decorated silver mountings marked on the neck with the Blackinton hallmark.”
I love Dick’s analogy because, even if one were bringing in the hood ornament and asking that the car be reproduced, one would be looking for a crystal glass replacement — not the kind of glass that my bottle’s made of. And, of course, all this is information that I learned after-the-fact. I just bought it because I loved the glass. Then I started searching when I realized how old the sterling lid and mount was. Joan