Ruba Rombic at Moderne©

To understand the current market place dynamics for Ruba Rombic you must understand one of the pivotal events that influenced the dynamics. In the early days (e.g., the 1960's and 1970's) of collecting Ruba Rombic a strange set of circumstances was in play. First of all there was very little information available about this glass. Secondly, the information that was available was being provided by Hazel Marie Weatherman in the form of books targeted at collectors of Depression Glass (Depression Glass is glass from the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's that was primarily table ware and massed produced). Hence the primary collectors of Ruba Rombic in the 1960's and 1970's were Depression Glass collectors (and Depression Glass dealers). Hazel Marie Weatherman published yearly price guides for items in her Depression Glass books and the prices in her 1979 Book 2 Price Trends to Colored Glass of the Depression Era for Ruba Rombic are very interesting from a historical perspective:

1979 Prices for Ruba Rombic

Item	Price
Whiskey set	$50.00 - $60.00
Plate, large	$10.00 - $15.00
Vase, large	$20.00 - $30.00
Jug	$30.00 - $45.00
Powder box	$12.00 - $18.00

Prices for Ruba Rombic were very cheap in the early days. Whiskey decanters would typically sell for about $300- and I bought many shot glasses for $5- each. You have to remember that Ruba Rombic was art glass that was being treated as depression glass and hence the true value of this glass was not being realized. That all changed when a leading Depression Glass dealer decided to sell his large collection of Ruba Rombic.

Kevin Kiley's (a leading depression glass dealer) collection of Ruba Rombic (300+ pieces) was offered for sale by Bob Aibel, a leading Art Deco dealer, at an exhibition and sale called Ruba Rombic at Moderne. This exhibition and sale was a watershed event in the market dynamics of Ruba Rombic. Bob Aibel is the owner of Moderne Gallery in Philadelphia. The exhibition and sale was preceded by a professional public relations campaign by Resnick Communications. That campaign resulted in substantial publicity in the antique trade press (including an article by Rita Solis-Cohen). In addition to the PR campaign Bob Aibel send out over 3,000 invitations to this exhibition and sale to his Art Deco mailing list. A preview night was held on September 11, 1992 with champagne, hors d'oeuvres and desserts. The asking prices for the Ruba Rombic offered were well above prices previously realized for this glass; however, at this sale the glass was being pitched at the Art Deco cognoscenti. A sampling of the asking prices at the sale included:

September 1992 Prices for Ruba Rombic

ITEM	ASKING PRICE
Complete Smoky Topaz whiskey set (decanter, 6 shots and tray). Two complete sets were offered.	$5,400
7" Jungle Green or Smoky Topaz bread and butter plate (cheapest piece in the sale)	$100
Oblong bowl, Jungle Green or Smoky Topaz	$2,000
Oblong bowl, Lilac	$2,700
12" celery dish, Jungle Green	$1,100
6.5" vases	$1,800 to $2,500
9.5" vases	$4,000 to $4,500

Several items were sold on that preview night including:

Complete Smoky Topaz whiskey set to the Corning Museum of Glass.
6.5" vase in Silver (offered at $2,250).
Wall scones, white opal, original hardware, 1 badly damaged (offered at $2,000).
Perfume, Lilac (offered at $1,600).

The asking prices for the Ruba Rombic items at the Ruba Rombic at Moderne exhibition and sale were several times higher that what Ruba Rombic items had been selling for before this sale. What Bob Aibel had done was to move Ruba Rombic out of the Depression Glass market into the Art Deco market and price items for the Art Deco market. That changed the market dynamics forever.

Part of the publicity campaign included an estimated from Bob Aibel that only 1,200 pieces of Ruba Rombic had survived to the current day (lately he has raised that number to 1,500). Caution needs to be exercised with that estimate. There is no way to know for sure how many pieces have survived. It is certain that there is much less Ruba Rombic than Lalique glass (just go to any high end antique show and count the pieces you find in both categories). It does not matter if there are 1,200, 1,500, 2,000 or 3,000 pieces in the world this is very rare glass. By comparison there has to be 10 times as many Lalique pieces.
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