Cambridge Crystal Nude Items

by David & Joy McFadden, Frank & Vicki Wollenhaupt
Glass Review - March 1978

The crystal nude stem can be found with a rainbow of colored bowls. Some of the more easily found colors are Amethyst, Amber, dark Green and Mandarin Gold. Carmen and Royal Blue are on the "must own" list of most nude collectors. This is probably due to the beauty of these two Nude Comport colors. As your nude stem collection expands, you will discover that the pastel colors are more difficult to find. The pastel colors are very delicate transparent colors which include: pink, green, Moonlight blue, Mocha (very light amber), and Heatherbloom (pale lavender). Several other colors which are difficult to find and have not been seen in all sizes are: Smoke (black-gray transparent), Topaz (a canary yellow vaseline color) and Bluebell (a medium blue which is often called Ritz blue). The all crystal nude is a surprisingly elusive find, and few people think about it when they have the great variety of Cambridge colors to choose from.

The 3011/9 - 3 oz. cocktail seems to have been used by Cambridge in more color combinations than any other nude stem. In addition to the previously mentioned colors, Crown Tuscan was used for the stem and foot and the bowl was produced in several transparent colors including Mandarin Gold, Amethyst, Amber, Royal blue, dark Green and reportedly Carmen. Mandarin Gold seems to be more prevalent, while the other color combinations are extremely difficult to find. Cambridge used the Ebony and crystal combination in at least three variations on the 3011/9 cocktail. These variations include: 1. an ebony stem with a crystal bowl and foot, 2. an ebony stem and foot with a crystal bowl, and 3. a crystal stem with an ebony bowl and foot. (Writers have seen only one of No. 3.)

Cambridge combined two popular lines by using the nude stem figure and placing a seashell plate on top, thus making a comport. This combination can be found in two sizes: 5 inch and 7 inch comports. The only colors seen to date in the 5 inch comport are crystal and Crown Tuscan. The 7 inch comport can be found in Crystal, Crown Tuscan, Windsor blue (light opaque blue), Emerald (dark) Green, and Mandarin Gold (yellow gold transparent). It should be noted in the comports described above that the entire comport is one color. The Emerald and Mandarin Gold comports were made in the later years of production. These two colors, in addition to the Windsor blue, should be considered scarce.

Cambridge and Farber Brothers combined talents to make the nude stem in comports and candlesticks. Farber produced a metal nude stem copied from the Cambridge nude. Cambridge produced a glass insert which snapped into a metal holder atop the nude, thus making a cupped comport. The nude stem candlesticks are all metal and were copied from the Cambridge nude stem. These pieces are more plentiful than the all glass Cambridge nudes and price reflects this.

NOTE: We recently received a reproduction inquiry from a reader regarding the 3011/9 cocktail. Imperial Glass Company, who owns many of the original Cambridge molds, reissued this cocktail in the 1950's in two color combinations. The first being an amber stem with a crystal bowl and foot. This should cause no concern as this combination, to our knowledge, was not made by Cambridge. The second combination was an ebony stem with a crystal bowl and foot. This creates a problem because Cambridge did produce this combination. It can only be suggested that a known Imperial nude should be compared with a known Cambridge nude to ascertain what differences you can detect between the two items.