Comparison of these Paden City Maya candlesticks shows quite a variation in height.
This usually takes place because one base has a higher dome than the other. This type of base is usually 'hand worked' after the piece is removed from the mold. The height discrepancy in the example above is all due to the difference in the bases.
This type of foot (which appears on many different candlesticks from many different companies) often leads to height discrepancies. Because it does not come out of the mold flat, it has to be flattened by hand while still in a semi-molten state, using a paddle in one hand while the piece is rapidly rotated by the other. The more experienced the glass worker is, the more likely it is that he will be able to achieve a uniform final height, but discrepancies of 1/4" to 1/2" or even 3/4" are not unusual. Some companies (Cambridge comes to mind) even deliberately modified the way the bases were formed over the years, with the result that their candlestick heights can be even more widely varied. This is the bane of collectors who buy single candlesticks and then try to find perfectly matching mates for them.
In the unlikely event that one stem/socket is larger than the other, it would almost have to be that two molds were used or the mold was reworked at some point.
