I know I’m harping on the same point, but LOW estimates bring interest and interest brings action and action brings results.

Cases in point. A Tiffany 18″ Peony table lamp on a rare Peacock base sold for $118,500, against an estimate of $70-90,000. To be completely fair, estimates are not the only concern for bidders. Everyone wants something that is estate fresh and this lamp descended in a Massachusetts family.

Case 2. A Tiffany Art Deco clock in blue, estimated at $600-800, sold for $4,148, several times its high estimate.

The rest of the Tiffany items in the sale mostly sold well, with common items bringing less and more interesting items more, as would be expected. A very nice 20″ Daffodil table lamp sold for $50,363, against an estimate of $50-60,000. A very common and not very desirable Tiffany Studios Zodiac paper rack did not sell against an estimate of $5-600, one of the very few Tiffany items not to sell.

If you’re going to sell anything at auction, make sure the estimate and reserve are low enough to attract interest. And that’s exactly the point at Julia’s Glass and Lamp auction last week. Many of the Tiffany leaded lamps in the sale, including a Daffodil/Jonquil, a Peony, a Tulip, and others, did not sell because the estimates were too high and as a result, there was little interest in those items. Items with more conservative estimates did well, such as a gorgeous padded and wheel-carved poppy vase, estimated at $25-35,000 and selling for $32,500 + premium, for a total of $37,375.

As a whole, the glass and desk set items performed well. A gold vase with intaglio-carved leaf and vine decoration, in the original Tiffany Studios box it was purchased in, sold for $4,485, against an estimate of $2,500-3,500. A solid red Tiffany vase, estimated at $5-7000, sold for $7,475. A beautiful big flower form vase, estimated at $4-6,000, doubled its high estimate and sold for $12,075, again proving that the items with the most conservative estimates did the best.

In desk set items, as should be expected, the rare and unusual items did best. A rare Pine Needle clock, estimated at $7,500-$10,000, sold within the estimate for $8,625. A Ninth Century frame, estimated at $4-6,000, sold within the estimate for $5,750, and a Spanish desk lamp, estimated at $8-10,000, sold for $8,625, slightly below the estimate, before buyer’s premium.

Apparently the Tiffany market is alive and well. If the consignors were willing to take the risk and estimate their items low enough, much more would have sold, probably at prices exceeding the estimates. That requires gambling on the part of the consignors and apparently too few consignors are willing to gamble. Quite understandable, but not the best business decision.

It was interesting sitting at Julia’s Glass & Lamp auction last Friday and Saturday.  The mood changed often, depending on the category for sale.  First English Cameo glass sold very well, then French Cameo glass didn’t sell as well.  The next day started with art glass shades (which were OK) and moved into Quezal glass (also OK), then Steuben glass (fairly strong).  Then onto Pairpoint puffies (not so OK).

The action started with a very rare lamp, a Pairpoint puffy owl lamp, only the 7th known to exist.  The lamp was estimated at $15-20,000, as the condition was not good.  The shade had some large border chips and a 3″ crack, usually the kiss of death.  However, due to the extreme rarity, there was plenty of action, mostly on the telephones.  The fierce bidding ended at $37,000 + buyer’s premium, for a total of $42,550 — an exceptional price for a cracked lamp.  This compares to $86,250 for another Pairpoint owl lamp, also sold at Julia’s, in December 2006.

After the owl lamp, the rest of the Pairpoint lamps didn’t fare as well.  I didn’t count each sale, but I’ll bet that over 50% of the puffies did not sell.  The exact information is available on the Julia’s website.

Handel lamps followed and did a little bit better, but again, there was softness in this market.

The next group of lamps were non-Tiffany leaded lamps.  Again this category can be called weak at this auction.  The only exception was a beautiful Duffner & Kimberly Louis XV table lamp.  Estimated at $45-55,000, the lamp sold for $41,000 + premium, for a total of $47,150.  Slightly below the estimate, but still a substantial price for a non-Tiffany lamp.

Tomorrow, in my last review of the Julia auction, I’ll cover the Tiffany Studios items.

After English Cameo glass sold well at Julia’s Glass & Lamp auction last Friday, I expected the same fireworks for the French Cameo glass, but it wasn’t to be.  I suspect that the estimates were too aggressive and the reserves too high to get the best results.  Daum performed better than Gallé.  A fairly large percentage of the items sold for less than the low estimate and some sold within the estimate but almost nothing exceeded the high estimate.  While sitting at the auction, it’s difficult to tell which items aren’t selling but checking the results on Julia’s website shows that there was a decent percentage that were bought in.

One of the most beautiful vases in the French Cameo glass section was a vase with a free-form shape like a pitcher and decorated with wild orchids and a bee.  It doesn’t get much better than this.  It was estimated at $15/20,000 and sold for $13,000 + premium, for a total of $14,950.  A strong price, but not what they were hoping for.  My speculation is that if the vase had been estimated more conservatively at $10/15,000, it would have generated more interest and possibly sold for even more.  Low estimates generate excitement and excitement generates strong competition and strong prices.    I’ve been at the auction game for many years and I know it inside and out.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen items that had obscenely low estimates sell for fantastic prices.  Everyone thinks they’re in the game and participates.

There was good interest in the Le Verre Francais section of the sale, but again, no fireworks.  Many items sold, but usually within the estimate or just below.  A pair of rare Palmiers Bleus vases sold for $5,462.50 and $6,325.00, respectively, at the low end of expectations.

Tomorrow a review of the non-Tiffany lamps at the auction.

Dudley Browne, the expert in charge of the Glass & Lamp division at James D. Julia, Inc., drives thousands and thousands of miles each year to gather the items that are consigned to the sale.  This year he was lucky to get some great English Cameo glass.  It appeared to be one private collection because of the high quality of the offerings, but accordingly to Dudley, the English glass came in in dribs and drabs from various consignors.  The quality was high and the estimates reasonable, so there was real action and strong prices resulted.    That was a big surprise to me because English Cameo Glass has been relatively weak for the last 30 years.  It seemed only the highest quality pieces, such as those by George or Thomas Woodall, brought very strong prices.

I really know my glass but wasn’t familiar with the first lot of English Cameo Glass, a vase by Jules Barbe.  Apparently the bidders were, as the vase was estimated at $8-12,000 and sold for $21,500 + 15% premium.  The action was mainly from the telephones, but several in-house bidders participated.  Several English Cameo lamps followed, with most exceeding the high estimate and one beauty with an amethyst background (so rare that I’ve never seen it before) selling for almost twice the high estimate at $15,000 + premium.

That was followed by a large grouping of vases, a basket and perfumes.   Most sold within or above their estimates, with one exceptional Webb vase, white on blue with a dragonfly, almost doubling its high estimate, realizing $11,250 + premium.

Tomorrow I’ll cover the French Cameo glass at the same auction.

Thanks to my son, Billy, for encouraging me to start a blog.    I hope to make it interesting with some behind-the-scenes information, not generally available.

James D. Julia, Inc. held their bi-annual Glass and Lamps auction this past Friday and Saturday in Fairfield, Maine.   They had the largest in-house crowd they’ve had in years for this type of auction.  It was a 7 hour drive to get there.  I’m not a kid any more, so that part was not fun, but New England is a beautiful part of the country, so that’s certainly a plus.  The weather in the northeast has been pretty rotten this spring with lots of clouds and rain and this weekend was no exception.

Auctions have changed a lot in the 30+ years that I’ve attended.  They used to be more diverse and frankly, entertaining.  Communication was much more difficult then, so people came from far and wide to view the objects in person and have an evening’s entertainment.  Saturday night was a big night for auctions because of the entertainment value.  Today with the Internet, email, and all manner of electronic communication, it’s not necessary to go in person.  You can get sufficient information, all electronically, to make intelligent decisions to bid at an auction.  So it was surprising and nice to see a good crowd.  Some people came from quite a distance, with one couple from Seattle and two gentlemen from Israel.  Julia’s really encourages buyers to come in person, so they offer free food and drink (not alcohol) and $100 toward meals and hotels if the buyer spends more than $5000.  I don’t know of other auction houses that go to such lengths.  They’re smart to do it.

Dudley Browne is the expert in charge of the Lamps and Glass division.  He was hoping the sale would realize $1.5 million before seller’s premium, but the sale realized a bit over $1.7 million, so he and Jim Julia were pleased.  Dudley advised me that today, Monday, was a busy day with offers coming in for many of the items that didn’t sell.  Ultimately that will raise the total sales for the auction.

More tomorrow on the specifics of the auction.