In Answer to the Gold Ruby Grotesque

Alan,

David Sherwood’s grotesque may be a shorter version of #7282, which Gardner lists as 11 1/4 inches, but the 1932 catalogue specifies as 11 inches. I have a 9 inch version, clear to amber/topaz (never have had a clear distinction between the two…!), and David’s may be the next smaller version.

I also have a grotesque that is five inches, with slightly wider, more bulbous base, that shades clear to rust/orange color. (It was purchased on the strength of a picture in the catalogue of one of the premier auction houses several years ago. It was identified as clear to topaz Steuben, and while upon receipt of item it was clear it was not a Steuben color with which I was familiar, I have kept it anyway. I can’t even recall if I sent a photo to the webmaster, since both shape and color made attribution questionable.)

For Marshall Ketchum’s maintenance of the website, Alan Shovers’s production of the Gazette, and all the great information from other loyal readers and collectors, many thanks!

David Chadwick-Brown, San Diego

__________________________________

Monday’s Gazette #2009

In Answer to the Gold Ruby Grotesque

Alan,

David Sherwood’s grotesque may be a shorter version of #7282, which Gardner lists as 11 1/4 inches, but the 1932 catalogue specifies as 11 inches. I have a 9 inch version, clear to amber/topaz (never have had a clear distinction between the two…!), and David’s may be the next smaller version.

I also have a grotesque that is five inches, with slightly wider, more bulbous base, that shades clear to rust/orange color. (It was purchased on the strength of a picture in the catalogue of one of the premier auction houses several years ago. It was identified as clear to topaz Steuben, and while upon receipt of item it was clear it was not a Steuben color with which I was familiar, I have kept it anyway. I can’t even recall if I sent a photo to the webmaster, since both shape and color made attribution questionable.)

For Marshall Ketchum’s maintenance of the website, Alan Shovers’s production of the Gazette, and all the great information from other loyal readers and collectors, many thanks!

David Chadwick-Brown, San Diego

__________________________________

Monday’s Gazette #2009

Alan,

Thought I might add an image to the Grotesque conversation started by David Chadwick-Brown. This a a great little piece 6.5″ high and the gold ruby color is shaded but very slight. I have not been able to find it in the line drawings but it is signed Steuben by the acid stamp method. I have several other pieces in the collection but they are shaded. Love to get feedback from the rest of the club.
Regards,
David W. Sherwood
Coral Springs, Florida

Hi David Chadwick-Brown

I know how this subject of the “missing Grotesques” has been on your mind for a long time. I feel ya. Where is my Persian Blue 7535 I have always wanted. Can you imagine how we would fuss and fight over a Cerise Ruby one? If I saw a Mandarin Yellow one I would probably just fall over dead.
I think they all just fell through the cracks. The public’s demand for a colorless crystal had a strangle hold on Carder’s colors. He got a few basic colors out there in the Grotesques. Even went out of his way to mix a few of them with clear crystal. He showed the Russian Amber and Sea Green ones at the exhibition held by the Fine Art Society in London, England in 1935, two years after his 1933 cut off date. Two transparent colored crystal dinosaurs in a Houghton-era world. He simply just ran out of time before he made an Intarsia one special just for you. Never say never with Carder and never give up the dream David.
Rande Bly

_________________________________

From Thursday’s Gazette #2008

Greetings, Alan –
I’ve always been interested in the variety of grotesque pieces, and wondered why only certain colors were used. Has anyone ever seen a clear-to-rosa, or clear-to-Bristol Yellow, though given Mr. Carder’s aversion to yellow, maybe I already have the answer to the latter. Furthermore, why were only some colors – wisteria and sea green – the only ones that did not transition to clear, and why didn’t they shade to clear in those colors? (I do have a Pomona grotesque that is of uniform shade of green, top to bottom, and have always been on the lookout for other transparent colors that are un-shaded.)

Then, there is the absence of certain colors in the jades and iridescents. Ivrene grotesques abound, but are there any VDS ones out there? And while two line pillar vases can come in black, ivory, dark and medium blue (the only ones that come to mind at the
moment), only some of those colors appear in their near-cousin shapes, the grotesques. And are there grotesques, or even two line pillar, jade vases/bowls in yellow, rosaline, light blue, turquoise, Persian, plum, etc.? I have been told that there is a rouge flambe grotesque in a collection, but assume it is one of a kind.

Does anyone know if there are such exotics out there?

Regards
,
David Chadwick-Brown, San Diego

P.S., I forgot the non-shaded Russian amber #7535, which is sitting on my dining room cabinet, and the wonderful green jade on alabaster, which I wish were reposing on my cabinet! It is shown in Dimitroff, p. 179. Also, upon checking the website, there is an all-Celeste Blue #7091.