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Crystal Clear

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Rube
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« Reply #260 on: October 14, 2017, 07:32:21 am »

Joey,

Are these the two extremes, core drilled and superbly well hollowed?

Cheers,
Rube.


* FullSizeRender core drilled.jpg (89.14 KB, 480x640 - viewed 49 times.)

* FullSizeRender superbly well hollowed.jpg (98.62 KB, 480x640 - viewed 48 times.)
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« Reply #261 on: October 14, 2017, 07:46:16 am »

Dear Joey,

Thank you! I think these days it's rather rare to see Bob Stevens' bottles for sale. I feel happy and blessed to have one in my collection! Smiley

Shabbat Shalom,
Samson
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« Reply #262 on: October 14, 2017, 07:49:19 am »

Dear Rube,

Thanks! Smiley The latest hair crystal bottle you shared with a unique spoon, I've seen one that's either the same or highly similar in an auction at the beginning of the year. Love it!

Best,
Samson
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« Reply #263 on: October 14, 2017, 08:16:40 am »

Samson,

Yep! Late last year, one that I bought at auction.

Cheers,

Rube.
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« Reply #264 on: October 14, 2017, 08:35:21 am »

Dear Rube,

     BINGO!  Cheesy
Best,
Shabbat Shalom,
Joey


Joey,

Are these the two extremes, core drilled and superbly well hollowed?

Cheers,
Rube.
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« Reply #265 on: October 14, 2017, 09:13:39 am »

Samson,

Yep! Late last year, one that I bought at auction.

Cheers,

Rube.

Dear Rube,"

Wow! Shocked Coincidentally that's where I bought my first smoky quartz bottle, and if I'm right, it shares the same provenance with this hair crystal bottle of yours! But I think I may have bidded against you on this one because I liked it too... Roll Eyes

People say great minds think alike; I say great collectors share the same tastes... Grin Cheesy

So you got yourself an amazing bottle! Congratulations! Grin Smiley

Best,
Samson

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« Reply #266 on: October 14, 2017, 10:51:02 am »

Dear Rube and/or Samson,

      Was the provenance that of the Bob & Jessamine Snively Collection,
of Seattle, WA.?

     Because that spoon is one of those handmade by Bob Snively. Bob & Jessamine of blessed memory, were very close friends of mine.
 
     Best,
Joey
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« Reply #267 on: October 14, 2017, 11:05:50 am »

Samson,
That's amazing! I didn't recognize the provenance, if I recall it was Ozorio? Anyhow, I've really enjoyed seeing all the beautiful bottles you've been posting, so, I feel fortunate that this one you'd have considered for your collection! I bought a moss agate bottle of his too.
Joey,
There is a thread on the Forum about Mr. Snively's spoons, they're incredible! But, I'm not sure this barley twist was one of his or not? If so, I'm honored!
Cheers,
Rube
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« Reply #268 on: October 14, 2017, 05:10:10 pm »

Thanks Samson and Rube sharing those two wonderful bottles!

Congratulations! Those two are really lovely, I also love the spoon in Rube's bottle, I remembered I saw a photo with Bob Stevens were making the spoon himself with the ivory chopsticks.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Steven
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« Reply #269 on: October 15, 2017, 12:41:14 am »

Dear Steven,

    You are correct - the late Bob Stevens of blessed memory did make a few ornate spoons out of old ivory chopsticks - although I remember that his Japanese lover was the more 'hands-on' one with that end of the hobby.
As I remember it, Bob was the designer, and the other man the actual carver and polisher.  But Bob Stevens didn't 'produce' more than 3 or 4, or possibly 5.

   The late Bob Snively of blessed memory produced at least 30 or possibly 50 - he tried to make an ornately carved spoon, with a barley-corn shaft, or a 'braided' shaft, or a hand holding a 'large' spoon, or an 'incense shovel' shaped spoon, etc., for each of his clear quartz bottles. And he and the late Jessamine, of blessed memory, left a collection of over 1,800 bottles!

    And he made quite a number for friends, as well. I was promised one for an upright octagonal clear quartz I'd bought in Brussels in July 1975 from Silvia Rosenberg, a local collector, as well as for #30 in my 1987 catalogue. Sadly, Bob passed away before I received either spoon.  I had found Bob Snively a 'job lot' of 50 or 60 old ivory chopsticks in a junk shop in San Francisco's Chinatown, and brought them to him in Issaquah WA, where he and Jessamine then lived.

    There was a great chocolatier there, as well, the late Julius Boehm of blessed memory, an Austrian [though his mother was Swiss] who'd escaped because he was anti-Nazi in 1940, and had moved via Switzerland and then Spain, to the USA, arriving in Seattle WA in 1941. 

  Best,
Joey
   

   
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« Reply #270 on: October 15, 2017, 12:38:43 pm »

Dear Joey,

Thanks for your info as always. Cheesy

I am wondering if Bob signed the spoon he made. Wink Grin Grin

Cheers!

Steven

Dear Steven,

    You are correct - the late Bob Stevens of blessed memory did make a few ornate spoons out of old ivory chopsticks - although I remember that his Japanese lover was the more 'hands-on' one with that end of the hobby.
As I remember it, Bob was the designer, and the other man the actual carver and polisher.  But Bob Stevens didn't 'produce' more than 3 or 4, or possibly 5.

    
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« Reply #271 on: October 15, 2017, 05:53:53 pm »

Dear Steven,

     I honestly don't know, but doubt that Bob Stevens signed the spoons.
I know for a fact that Bob Snively didn't.
Best,
Joey
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« Reply #272 on: October 16, 2017, 12:36:32 am »

Tom,

Here is the rutilated quartz bottle, measuring 49mm w/o coral stopper.  I think it is carved in the shape of a fruit?

Cheers,

Rube.


Hi Rube,

Sorry I have taken so long to respond. (A lot of posts have appeared on this thread since!)

That is what I call a "busy" rutlilated bottle! Interesting shape. Like Joey, I cannot quite make out what fruit it is representing.

Best,
Tom
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« Reply #273 on: October 16, 2017, 12:42:23 am »


Apparently, Tom's thread has become a platform for members to showcase bottles matching the theme from their collections. So I've decided to share mine here instead of opening a new thread! Wink

This smoky quartz bottle came as a birthday present for myself. It's my second smoky quartz bottle. One with a good provenance: Sotheby's New York, Collection of Bob C. Stevens, 25 June 1982.

Height: 67mm


Dear Samson,

A wonderful 'shibui' bottle, and with a great provenance. Congratulations! 
I cannot think of a better birthday present...!   Wink

Best,
Tom
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« Reply #274 on: October 16, 2017, 12:50:29 am »


There is a thread on the Forum about Mr. Snively's spoons, they're incredible! But, I'm not sure this barley twist was one of his or not? If so, I'm honored!


Hi Rube,

I have long admired Bob Snively's spoons (hence my thread), but I have never had the privilege of owning one.

Can you post a photo of the spoon out of the bottle? We may be able to say for sure if it is one of his.

Thanks,
Tom
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« Reply #275 on: October 16, 2017, 04:41:33 pm »

Tom,

Here it is, unfortunately been damaged, but it's intact.
Cheers,

Rube.


* FullSizeRender sppon 1.jpg (110.2 KB, 480x640 - viewed 38 times.)
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« Reply #276 on: October 16, 2017, 06:36:04 pm »

Lovely spoon! Grin
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« Reply #277 on: October 16, 2017, 09:55:13 pm »

Thanks Rube,

A real beauty...!!!

I would place my bets on this being a Bob Snively spoon. Maybe Joey can say for sure, based on the ownership history of  the bottle.

Tom
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« Reply #278 on: October 17, 2017, 02:54:39 am »

Hi Rube,

Lovely spoon and bottle.

I've tried finding old ivory chopsticks to fashion in to spoons but haven't had any luck as yet so I have to make do with cooking up bones and working on them but with all the bans on ivory sales may be it's a good thing.

Regards, Adrian.
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« Reply #279 on: October 17, 2017, 04:01:39 am »

Dear All,
 
    Yes, that looks like a Bob Snively spoon to me. Having said that, there were 3 possible sources I know of, for ornately carved ivory spoons, and it could conceivably have come from any of the three:

1.  Y.F. Yang was having them made by an ivory  carver and his son, who'd 'escaped' from the PRC to [then British] Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution. He was putting them in clear Quartz bottles, to 'tart' them up, and make them more saleable. At one time, beautiful plain quartz bottles, like beautiful plain white Nephrite Jade bottles, were extremely common, and very cheap. 

    Once, when I bought a number of fine overlays from him in his Ocean Terminal shop, Y.F. gave me a fine plain Quartz [#30 in my 1987 catalogue] as a gift! It is a wonderful bottle, and today I might pay a few thousand US$ to buy it; but at the time (ca.1979-1990), they could barely give them away.

   I think Y.F. commissioned 30 or 40 spoons, though possibly as many as 50.

2. Bob Stevens, though he designed rather than carved. But his Japanese partner of 18 years would carve them. They never made more than 10 spoons, unless I'm mistaken.

3. Bob Snively. He started because he and Jessamine, z"l, bought a plain Quartz bottle from Y.F. with an ornate spoon, and it got broken. They contacted Y.F. for a replacement, but he had run out and was trying to find someone to make more. Bob sent Y.F. a message, that he'd found some old ivory chopsticks and would attempt to make one. A few weeks later, Bob sent Y.F. his second spoon (he replaced the broken spoon with his first one), and Y.F. was very impressed.

    Bob made somewhere between 30 and 50. This spiral 'barleycorn' style was one design; another was a hand holding an incense shovel, with or without a  moving bracelet around the wrist; a third was a knobby bough, the 'leaf' on the end the cup of the spoon.

    And in silver I've made about 50 spoons and in gold, I've made about 20 spoons from cold forging 2.4mm [3/32 of an inch] thick soft (unforged drawn) wire, using sterling silver wire or 18 K gold wire. I hammered at one end to form the bowl of the spoon, and lightly tapped the straight shaft, to get it to 'harden'. I scratched JBS on the bowl of many of them.  They are not that ornate, but are 'noble' metals.

    Oh, and last but certainly not least, I bought an Emerald Green Jadeite rectangular flattened flask on raised footrim from the NYC Martin Schoen collection in June 1988, one of 2 magnificent Emerald Green Jadeite SBs from that famous collection. It has a gem quality rose pink Tourmaline stopper with a spoon carved from Jadeite matching the bottle!
Best,
Joey
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