Steuben Glass by Mary Jean Madigan (1982, Hardcover)

There are two editions of this book--the first was 1982 and the most recent 2003 while the newest addition has the most up to date information they both have different pictures and are unique resources for the Steuben Glass collector. Ms. Madigan, a graduate of Cornell University and an editor, I believe of Antiques Magazine and other publications, does a very thorough review of the history of Steuben and its designers and collections. Each book (weighing about 8lbs each!) has astounding photography of the art glass and in the reference section each book gives detailed dimensions and style information to help the novice or expert identify steuben pieces.

As a glass collector I find these books a relevant and valuable resource. Both editions can be purchased on ebay and also at amazon.com in new or used editions. The 2003 book has a retail price of 85.00 but can sometimes be found in good used condition.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT
There is a saying of "let the buyer beware"--while the majority of ebay sellers are fair and honest, there are always a few who are not--also there are many sellers of Steuben glass who simply do not know what they have or what it should look like. Steuben glass is manufactured to perfection--their high standards for design and production are what make these items collectible. Steuben does not produce seconds and the items are dimensionally correct to within 1/16th of an inch--this is important to know when buying glass on ebay--when you can not pick up the item and inspect it closely--if you know the correct dimensions--from the Madigan books--and you take the dimensions provided by sellers--then you can make an informed judgement about whether the piece is authentic or whether is has been altered, the books also give an idea of original prices and dates of production. Once I am able to identify a piece of glass and its date of production I am able to refer to my collection of older steuben catalogs (also often available on ebay) to find out more information about the piece, even better pictures and assess if what I am looking at on ebay conforms to the original design. For example--I was recently looking at a Steuben "Dragon" for sale on ebay--this looked like a good deal at $200.00 but there was a small chip on the tail according to the seller.--I looked closely at his pictures and it looked pretty good and not like a major flaw--then I looked it up in the Madigan book, found when it was released and looked it up in one of my older Steuben catalogs--there I saw a very different picture of what this item looked like--the $200 ebay dragon was missing an almost 2" section of tail, a bit more than a chip.--So I decided not to bid on this particular item...someone else might be very happy with this dragon--but knowing what it should look like helped me make an informed decision--I also found that this item was selling for over $1000 in 1994 so the seller's price was probably still fair even for this damaged item.