Business continues to be good, especially French glass and Tiffany Studios lamps. Following are a few of my recent sales. These items are paid for and gone.

I just sold a set of Daum miniature vases in the original box from the retailer in France Delvaux, Rue Royale, Paris. All of the miniatures were superb examples, with two of them real rarities; the Rain and the Blackbird examples. It’s the coolest set I’ve ever owned or seen.

Tiffany Studios lamps have been easy to sell and difficult to replace. Unfortunately I only have a few left for sale. I just sold the example above; an 18″ diameter Tyler Scroll lamp. It was a very fine example, with rich color in the geometric band, a great patina and in superb condition.

Daum Rain scenes are rare and highly desirable. The tumbler above was converted into a night light at the factory simply by adding a cap with an electric socket. It looks lovely both lit and unlit.

Jaremos Art Glass Specialists, Flower Mound, TX, held a Winter Art Glass Sale on February 10, 2021. Following are a few of the more interesting results.

Daum Rain scenes are highly sought after, especially lamps. So I thought the realized price was reasonable for such a quality lamp. Selling as lot #245, it brought $18,000, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $6,000 – $9,000. I think it’s a $25,000 lamp, so why didn’t I buy it? The simple answer is the hole in the top. The hole may or may not have been original, but it’s been my experience that lamps with a hole in the top are much more difficult to sell than those without. End of story.

Lot #273 was a rare, fine, 13″, enameled and acid-etched Gallé winter vase with a bird. It sold for $11,400, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $8,000 – $12,000. In my opinion, it was a good price for a collector, but not a dealer.

I was very pleased to buy lot #282, a gorgeous, massive, 16″ tall, red floral vase. I paid $8,400, including buyer’s premium. It’s a $15,000 – $20,000 vase. The photographs weren’t very flattering because they were too dark. Following is a detailed photo showing how special it really is. The flowers have an extra layer of color, in this case a white layer below the red. It makes the flowers opaque, deepens the color and increases the contrast with the background. Very few Gallé vases have this extra layer. It’s killer.

For the complete results of the sale, click <a href=”https://www.cottoneauctions.com/prices-realized/auction/fine-art-antiques-5?view=grid&PricesRealizedForm%5Border_field%5D=%60t%60.%60lot_number%60&PricesRealizedForm%5Border_direction%5D=ASC&PricesRealizedForm%5Bnum_per_page%5D=200“>here</a>.

We haven’t exhibited at any antique shows since late February, 2020, when we were in Asheville, NC, for the National Arts and Crafts Conference at the Grove Park Inn. At the time we were beginning to hear about the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, but it was far away and their problem. Certainly not ours! We were the happy idiots.

Then in March, when I heard that the virus was in the United States, I told our family that we would not visit them, nor permit them into our home. At first we were met with incredulity, as I was a week or two ahead of the general warnings. It didn’t take long for our family, and the country at large, to realize the gravity of the situation.

I informed various show promoters that we wouldn’t exhibit at their shows for the foreseeable future. They still had hopes they could pull off their shows. After all, they had commitments, contracts and a lot at stake. It took the promoters longer to realize there would be no shows during the pandemic, despite their valiant efforts. Eventually they were forced to cancel their shows, one after another.

Now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I’m tentatively planning. Miami is out. At first the show was postponed from January to March and ultimately canceled. The National Arts and Crafts Conference at the Grove Park Inn this month was turned into a virtual show this year. So the next possibility on our schedule would be the Chicago Merchandise Mart Show in May. But that just seems too soon to me. Even if both my wife and I have had our shots, most of those people around us wouldn’t have had theirs, so we will not exhibit in Chicago this May.

That leaves us with our next possibility, the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show, at the end of August. As of now, I don’t even see dates for the show listed on their website, so I hope it actually happens. My assumption is by then, a majority of Americans will have been vaccinated, and life will have begun to return to normal. So our plan, of course subject to change, is to exhibit there as our first show in a year and a half. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the virus can be subdued, but the new variants put that plan in jeopardy. Stay posted!

In the meantime, business has been good, so I continue to stay optimistic.

Fontaine’s Auction, Pittsfield, MA, held a Fine & Decorative Arts auction on January 23, 2021. Included in the sale were several Tiffany Studios lamps. Following are a few of the results.

The top lot of the Tiffany lamps was shared by both #100 and #118. #100 was a beautiful 17″ diameter Dragonfly, with a blue and green ripple glass background and a rare, bulbous Pepper base. It sold near its high estimate of $80,000, realizing $87,725, including buyer’s premium. I tried to buy this lamp, but it was too much for a dealer, but not for a collector.

Lot #118 brought the same price as #100, but this time the price was closer to its low estimate of $70,000. In person, the lamp displayed poorly with too much brown in the background and little pizzazz in the flowers. Personally I had no interest.

Lot #50, a Tiffany 20″ diameter Dogwood table lamp was another beauty. This one was more impressive in person than the photo. The background was all fracture glass, with more blue than the photo. It needed some restoration to the leadwork in the geometric upper rows, but that was minor. It sold for $66,550, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $50,000 – $75,000. Unfortunately I was the underbidder.

Lot #125 was a decent, but not exceptional, example of a 15″ diameter Tiffany Spider table lamp. It sold near its high estimate of $40,000, realizing $45,980, including buyer’s premium.