If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that the Tiffany lamp market is strong. Accordingly I cast a wide net looking to buy more. My search took me to the auction house of Aste Boetto in Genoa, Italy. They held an auction on September 29, 2020, which included a Tiffany 16″ diameter Tulip table lamp. The problem was that it was very difficult to establish authenticity on a lamp 4,000 miles away.
I did try. I asked for additional photographs and I established a FaceTime connection to ask a few additional questions. Try as I did, I couldn’t say for sure if it was authentic or not, so I didn’t bid. The auction house didn’t have confidence that it was authentic, so they put an estimate that reflected their skepticism, €1,500 – 1,700. It if were authentic, that was ridiculously low. It sold for €5,400, not including buyer’s premium, or approximately $8,000, including buyer’s premium. What a score that would have been if it were authentic! If I could have held it in my hands, there would have been no question.
What do you think?
