Comments on: Marketman’s Quick Tip #2 – Crystal Care

By: Biy

Biy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:30:36 +0000

As a kid i serve myself ice cold coke on paper thin crystal glass. Wow the best tasting coke…oh i miss the glass …

By: sister

sister — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:48:06 +0000

Hi, Jody,
One must buy tabletop for one’s personal enjoyment and not as an investment. Ebay sets the price and several auction houses specializing in items under a thousand in value have gone out of business. The next generation doesn’t really care what they drink out of or eat with. I can’t imagine an HBS grad suggesting buying Waterdord. He must be unemployed these days.
Best,
Sister

By: Jody

Jody — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:58:34 +0000

Yep Sister, the market for collectibles has gone topsy turvy over the last few years and certainly prices for cut crystal have dropped through the floor. I attend auctions at most of the New York houses on any given year and it is a very different scene from years ago. I personally believe that the internet and the ability to access all the major databases (Artfact, Americanaexchange, Liveauctioneers, The-Saleroom, ect) before an auction, and indeed during an auction, have propelled prices south in many fields.The iPad and the iPhone are the bane of every auctioneer’s existance. LOL

We live in very unsettled times. Waterford Glass were unable to pay Irish workers the going industrial rate in Ireland and shifted production to Eastern Europe with disastrous results. A young fella from my Church with a newly minted MBA from Harvard advised me to buy the stock about ten years ago. I was absolutely astonished to hear such advice. In my opinion, dozens of these venerable old names are going to go out of business within the next few years.

By: Sixteen8

Sixteen8 — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:50:37 +0000

@PITS, MANILA, i think the aroma of the banana leaves contributes to the taste of food and make it taste better.

By: Gej

Gej — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:21:56 +0000

Jeremiah Tower ended up in Manila? What’s the story behind that? I find stories of Chez Panisse chefs quite interesting.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:36:50 +0000

Footloose, hahaha, and we have a serigraph of Warhol’s iconic Absolut Vodka Ad, from 1985, that he signed and gave to jeremiah Tower, the Chez Panisse Chef, who ended up in Manila, and who, in a garage sale, sold us the Warhol after no one else realized what it was and what it might be worth. It’s great, but I would sell it in a heartbeat to pay for half a year’s college tuition of the Teen, if I had to. :)

By: Footloose

Footloose — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:02:46 +0000

Impressive provenance, sister, the very fellow after whom the convention center was named. As for the rest of your stuff, I guess, Pigman’s sister would carry that certain distinguishing feature to this blog’s fans. On the opposite end of the scale though, it’s amazing what fascinating aura proper provenance can lend to objects in buoying up their value as witness the mad auction bids for the otherwise worthless tchotchkes collected by Andy Warhol.

By: sister

sister — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:48:49 +0000

My last tip for washing crystal is to set it aside for next morning when you are rested rather than doing it in the middle of the night. You might want to give red wine glasses a quick rinse before setting aside. There is some pleasure in handling fine crystal, china and silver so I don’t mind doing it myself, even if I have help for the dinner. If it breaks I have no one to blame but myself.
A lot of antique china and crystal are in perfect shape because they were never used and spent decades in a cabinet. I like to use whatever I have since they have been purchased primarily for my personal enjoyment. I don’t tell my guests they are drinking out of Steuben or Baccarat, eating with antique silver or scraping the birds off the Herend. I just grit my teeth and hope for the best.

Footloose, I did visit the Steuben showroom on Christmas Eve for old times sake and now I’m sorry I didn’t bite the bullet and buy a beautiful cheese bell, one of a kind, that they had displayed by the front door. They were giving away Steuben books as mementos. Over the years I’ve collected their tear drop wineglasses which occasionally show up at auction. The ones I have are from the estate of Sen. and Mrs. Jacob Javits, long time fixtures on the NY political and social scene in the middle of the last century.

By: Footloose

Footloose — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:31:32 +0000

It feels like a long wearing away of oneself with the gradual loss of things that provided so much enjoyment over many years. First Gourmet magazine, then the shocking final sale sign at the Steuben showroom. I commented once hereabouts what a quiet and snug respite this magical display of crystal artworks this shop held in store for those fleeing the cold and the noisy crowd of holiday window watchers along Fifth Avenue was. At least with Scribner, the Beaux Arts storefront remains.

By: Rowi

Rowi — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:22:56 +0000

Hi Sister,
Yes, handwashing crystal and fine cutlery is always a pain in the … esp if you have a huge dinner party not to mention the everyday dinners, not unless you’ve got help. There should be a dishwasher just for these things :)) Your handwashing instructions for crystal are so clear and exact, you must have done this tedious task a number of times, if only to make it right and keep the precious crystal. While living in Manila, I remember instructing our help on the fine art of handwashing crystal glasses and vases, but we still ended up with some chipped glass, alas!

Many thanks for the Vanves flea market tip, I’ll put this in my Paris to-do-list for the Easter trip. I hope to find a small collectible or two or a partner milk jug to my NY bought sugar bowl. Cheers!