By Anne Gilbert
Enquirer contributor

As part of its 100th anniversary, Steuben Glass is reissuing many of its designs from the 1940s through 1980s. This gives a new collecting generation an opportunity to get acquainted with the elegant crystal.

Steuben is expensive, but there are many small, affordable pieces, such as hand coolers and figurines of animals, birds and sealife. Such figures are selling for $195-$250. (Historically, hand coolers were porcelain, marble and glass eggs made in the 18th and 19th centuries to cool the hands of ladies at dances.)

There were bargains to be found when many of these pieces came to auction in the 1990s. Today, prices are much higher. For example, in the 1976 catalog, the Steuben koala bear sculpture designed by Lloyd Atkins in 1971 was listed at $375. An auction price in the 1990s was $150. In the current Steuben Heritage Catalog, it is priced $1,400.

You may find tiny Steuben pieces such as the strawberries and field mice issued in 1976. A set of six 2-inch strawberries cost about $150 then. The 6-inch mice were $115 each. Since this was the bicentennial year, patriotic themes were popular. Maybe you'll come across a triangular-shaped stars and stripes paperweight, sold then for $160.

When Frederick Carder founded Steuben glassworks in 1903, it was the same era that Louis Comfort Tiffany was developing his concepts in American art glass. Carder, like Tiffany, came up with new techniques, forms and colors during the 30 years he headed Steuben.

In 1933, color was out. Replacing it were Scandinavian techniques that were combined with a newly developed optical glass composition. At Steuben, architects and designers were hired to work alongside the glassworkers.

Sculptor Sidney Waugh was among the first to use the new figural engraving techniques for Steuben, creating his crystal "Gazelle Bowl."

Not until the 1950s were full-lead crystal decorative pieces produced at Steuben. By the mid-'50s, free sculptural forms of crystal animal and bird figures were made. Designed by internationally famous artists in limited numbers, they became the first examples of commercial American art glass.

Beginning collectors should become familiar with the designs and designers through the many books on mid-century Steuben. An updated version of Steuben Glass: An American Tradition in Crystal (Henry N. Abrams; $85) by Mary Jean Madigan was published in April.

Q&A

My aunt gave me two metal lawn chairs 45 years ago, and they weren't new then. I want to sell them; whom should I contact?

From the photo (not published), the chairs appear to have been made in the 1930s. Check the Yellow Pages for dealers specializing in 20th-century furniture. The chairs could sell in a shop for $400 each.

Contact Anne Gilbert by mail: c/o Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202. Photos cannot be returned.