Christie’s New York held a Design sale on June 4, 2019 with total sales of $14,038,250. 77 of the 96 lots offered for sale sold, for an impressive average of $182,315. Included in the sale were several lamps by Tiffany Studios, the topic of today’s post.
The selection of Tiffany lamps was small and decent quality, but not exceptional. The top lot of the group was #12, a 20″ diameter Pond Lily table lamp on a Twisted Vine base. It sold below its low estimate of $100,000, realizing $106,250, including buyer’s premium.
The second highest price for a Tiffany lamp went to lot #15, a 17″ diameter Dragonfly table lamp on a rare matching Dragonfly base with mosaic tiles. It too sold below its low estimate of $100,000, realizing $100,000, including buyer’s premium. Even though the base was rare, the shade didn’t have much pizzazz.
After viewing the catalog, I really wanted to buy lot #17. The 10 green shades were quite rare and beautiful. My goal was to buy the lamp and put the shades on a patina 10-light lily base, which would have looked much better. However, after inspecting the lamp in person, I decided not to bid at all. The shades looked great in the photo, but they didn’t match very well in person and had some original flaws in workmanship I found objectionable. So without my participation, the lamp sold for $43,750, including buyer’s premium, against a pre-sale estimate of $15,000 – $20,000. My participation really didn’t matter because I wouldn’t have paid that price.
For the complete results of the sale, click here.
