The market in all things by Tiffany Studios continues to be strong. Following is a review of three Tiffany Studios items I’ve recently sold.

Recently I was able to buy a few Tiffany Studios table lamps at auction due to hard work and good luck. Tiffany lamps are difficult to photograph well, so sometimes a lamp that doesn’t look good in photos may look better in person. (I’ve also seen the opposite where photos make a lamp look better than it really is.) I drove all day to visit an auction because in person I can authenticate a lamp and examine it closely for repairs, patina, color, condition, etc. Most of the time a condition report from the “experts” at the auction are insufficient for me. Two lamps at this auction looked better in person, so I set my sights on them and got lucky. I was able to buy them at reasonable prices and make a profit. After they pass through my hands, I give a permanent guarantee of condition and authenticity that you do not get when you buy at auction. That alone should make you want to buy from a reputable dealer.

I just sold this lovely 20″ diameter Belted Dogwood table lamp. Sotheby’s recently sold a similar lamp, with much worse color in the shade, for $52,920. Mine had beautiful pink blossoms and was a bargain in comparison.

The Tiffany Studios 16″ diameter Tulip table lamp pictured above looked like a dog in the photos from the auction house. What a difference in person! The white tulips were beautiful and different from each other, including some mottled ones. They contrasted splendidly against a background with lots of fracture (confetti) glass. You couldn’t tell from the photos, but the lamp was a beauty!

I loved the killer Tiffany Favrile green decorated vase pictured above. It had so much going for it, including strong green coloration and a gold iridescent zipper pattern on a raised, 3-dimensional beehive pattern. It was gorgeous and will now look great in the collector’s cabinet. We shipped it a couple of weeks ago.

Let me know what interests you, even if you don’t see it on my website. I’ve got lots of items that I haven’t listed yet and I know how to locate what you desire.

I listed some of the new items on my website and will list more every week. Click Philip Chasen Antiques to take a look. I will make every effort to actively list new items as often as time permits. I always strive to offer the finest objects for sale on my website and at every show. There are many items for sale, sold items with prices and free lessons about glass and lamps. And remember to keep reading my blog.

The pandemic has done a job on antique shows. All shows were canceled starting in March, 2020. They’re starting to come back very slowly with our first show in a year and a half scheduled for Winnetka, IL, November 5-7, 2021.

The Baltimore Antique, Art & Jewelry Show, originally scheduled for August, 2020 was rescheduled to August, 2021 and then to November, 2021. Now the 2021 show has been canceled and rescheduled to October 20-23, 2022. That means the Baltimore Summer Antiques show is no longer a summer show, but rather a fall show. That will be interesting, and I think an improvement.

Sotheby’s offered 30 Tiffany Studios objects, including 14 lamps, 12 Tiffany Favrile vases and 4 miscellaneous objects in their Important Design: from Noguchi to Lalanne sale on May 25, 2021. Following are a few of the more interesting results.

The top result of the lamps was achieved by lot #14, a rare Fruit lamp on an equally rare Turtleback base. It sold near its high estimate of $500,000, realizing $564,500, including buyer’s premium. This base also comes in a variation with mosaic tiles in the grooves. If it had had mosaic tiles, it certainly would have achieved a higher price, possibly hundreds of thousands more.

The top lot of the Tiffany Favrile glass went to #9, a rare, huge, 18¾”, Peacock Feather vase. It sold well above its high estimate of $18,000, realizing $30,240, including buyer’s premium. Had it sold for a lower price, I still wouldn’t have been the buyer, as I have difficulty selling tall, slender vases.

Sotheby’s offered one Tiffany window in the sale, lot #13, a beautiful River of Life example, 48¾” x 28¾”. It sold for $226,800, against an estimate of $150,000 – $200,000, in keeping with the recent strong results for windows.

For the complete results of the sale, click here.

Christie’s New York held a Tiffany sale on May 26, 2021, including windows, lamps and accessories, with gross sales of $3,903,975. The windows led the charge with outstanding results. Following are three of them.

Lot #114 was a magnificent, signed, 27″ x 48″ scenic window from 1915, when Tiffany Studios was at the height of its prowess. Estimated to sell for $600,000 – $800,000, it realized $1,470,000, including buyer’s premium. I spoke to the underbidder who was kicking himself that he hadn’t bid more. Another window, lot #126, also greatly exceeded its estimate of $30,000 – $50,000, realizing $281,250, including buyer’s premium. They were the top two lots of the sale.

The top lamp of the sale was lot #104, a lovely 20″ diameter Pond Lily model on a Twisted Vine base. It exceeded its high estimate of $150,000, realizing $200,000, including buyer’s premium.

The fourth best lot in the sale, #122, was a chandelier. It sold for almost double its high estimate of $80,000, realizing $150,000, including buyer’s premium. What the buyer may not have been aware of was the missing parts (shown above on the right).

There is no single, correct Daum Nancy signature. In fact, there are many different original ones. Let’s break it down. Daum was the family name of the Daum Frères (Brothers). Nancy was the name of the city where the Daum factory was located. It has nothing to do with the lady’s name Nancy. Daum always included the two bar Cross of Lorraine as part of its signature. It is the emblem of Lorraine, the eastern region of France, near the German border.

The type of signature mostly depended on the techniques that were used in making a vase. For instance if black enamel were being used on a vase that was both acid-etched and enameled, the chances were good that the signature would be found underneath, in black enamel (or whatever color the artist was using). It makes sense. The artist was working on a vase and already had a paint brush in hand with black enamel on it. After the decoration was completed and the vase signed, it went back into the kiln. The firing fixed the decoration and the signature permanently.

The example above is a black enameled Daum Nancy signature. This particular example also has the initial A of the artist. Unfortunately I don’t know of the existence of a list of decorators to be able to identify the artist. No two enameled signatures would be alike because it depended on the handwriting of the artist. Each artist has his or her own distinctive signature.

Acid-etching is the most common technique used to produce French cameo glass. It’s what makes cameo glass cameo, which is an acknowledgment of the raised nature of the decoration. A cameo signature is the way most acid-etched vases were signed.

Sometimes vases were accented with gold decoration. It was hand-painted, then followed by firing and burnishing. Again, the artist already had a gold brush in his hand, so why not use it to sign the vase? It became permanent after firing. (See the example below.)

Wheel-carving, sometimes called intaglio-carving is a technique where fine details are hand-engraved with a spinning wheel. Only the best artists were talented enough to do it. Signatures were frequently hand-engraved when a vase had been wheel-carved. Another example of using what you have.

So what we’ve learned is that the type of signature was frequently determined by expediency. Whatever brush or tool was already in hand was used to signed the work, at least most of the time. There are many other Daum Nancy signatures, but the majority of them fall into one of the categories above.

Heritage Auctions, Dallas, TX, held a Tiffany, Lalique & Art Glass sale on April 29, 2021. Following is a review of several of the items.

There were only three Tiffany Studios lamps in the sale, all selling well. Lot #79038, a Nasturtium Lattice floor lamp sold best, realizing $150,000, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $80,000 – $120,000. In my opinion, this is not the way the lamp was originally sold by Tiffany. The shade was a chandelier that was adapted into a floor lamp.

There were quite a few Tiffany Favrile vases in the sale, many of them from the estate of Arthur Reichstadt of Dallas, TX. Lot #79027, a Jack-in-the-Pulpit model, was the highest priced. It sold for $15,000, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $2,000 – $3,000; a result that I have a lot of trouble understanding. The prices for Jack-in-the-Pulpit vases have been soft for quite a few years and this model is not the standard model, which in my opinion is much more desirable.

Rookwood Pottery has been in the gutter for decades. Personally I love it and don’t understand why, but prices have been steadily going down, so as a dealer I just can’t trade in it. But one decent vase, lot #79068, a large, 1903 standard glaze example with flowers, by Kataro Shirayamadani (in my opinion Rookwood’s best artist), did very well. It sold for $22,500, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $700 – $900. Again this is a result that makes no sense to me. There are way better examples of Shirayamadani’s works that sell for less. The strangest things happen at auctions. Congratulations to the consignor.

If you read last week’s blog, you know that Rago Auctions set the world record price of $3,745,000 for a Tiffany lamp at auction. Today’s blog is about the rest of the auction, with total sales of $5,651,233, 89% sold by lot and 429% sold by value.

The second best performing lot of the sale was another Tiffany lamp, lot #274; a gorgeous 17″ diameter tuck-under Poppy, with beautiful, rich color. Personally I loved it, but it sold for much more than I was willing to pay. The result was an impressive $93,750, against an estimate of $35,000 – $45,000.

The third best performing lot in the sale, #124, was a surprise to me; a large pair of Grueby Faience scenic tiles decorated by Addison LeBoutillier sold for a very strong $81,250, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $20,000–30,000.

One of the bigger surprises of the sale was lot #142, a Wisteria tile by Adelaide Robineau. It sold for a whopping $75,000, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $7,500 – $10,000; almost 10 times the estimate. It was quite a day for ceramic tiles!

As the expert for Rago Auctions, I was sent photos of a very rare and unusual Tiffany Studios lamp for evaluation. I receive lots of photos from auction galleries for evaluation, but nothing like this. I was really wowed. It was so rare I wasn’t familiar with the model, but there it was illustrated in more than one book. It was originally exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900 and the following year at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. I suggested to Mike Fredericks, head of the lamp and glass division, that I thought it was worth $400,000 – $600,000, but that I thought the estimate should be much lower, perhaps $100,000 – $200,000, as low estimates are like catnip to cats.

The lamp was consigned by the family of a diplomat from the Truman Administration who had acquired it in the 1940s. Tiffany Studios lamps were totally out of fashion at the time, so my guess is it didn’t cost much. The family was willing to accept advice from Mike, who told them that a low estimate would be very helpful. They agreed to an estimate of $50,000 – $75,000, which meant that the reserve could not exceed $50,000. So technically the lamp could have sold for $50,000 if only one person were willing to pay the price.

Examination of the lines in the shade proved that it was actually the same lamp as in the photos in the books. The condition of the lamp was exceptional, as the lamp had been in storage for decades. There were a few problem with the shade including three small star cracks and one chip on the fitter rim. For an ordinary lamp, that probably would have seriously impacted the price, but not for an extraordinary lamp.

I messaged David Rago that I predicted a selling price in the range of $350,000+, but that I wished it would sell for $1,000,000, not really believing it, as only a dozen Tiffany lamps have ever sold for $1,000,000+ at auction. David said he was sure it would exceed $200,000. Eleven bidders were on the telephone, which included representatives from four museums. Many bidders held their cards close to their vests and were scattered among the live audience and on several live bidding platforms.

The bidding started below $100,000. I bid up to $170,000 for a client. I told him in advance that we had very little chance of being the successful bidders. As the bidding progressed higher, bidders dropped out left and right. It came down to two determined bidders on the telephones. They pushed the final price to $3,745,000, including buyer’s premium — a world record price for a Tiffany lamp at auction. The previous record was $3,372,500, set at Christie’s New York on December 13, 2018 for a very rare Pond Lily table lamp.

Mike Fredericks had the following to say after the sale. “Upon seeing the lamp, particularly the distinct pattern of the waves in the globe, I was certain that we had the exact lamp from the 1900 Expo, and that this was an extraordinary find. The uncertainty was how would a historical, possible one-of-a-kind, yet non-leaded Tiffany lamp be received by the collecting community. As we can now see, it was received quite well, as a masterpiece as this should have been.

The family was very open to my suggestion that a conservative estimate would encourage bidder participation, and the results are better than anticipated. This was a magnificent piece of Tiffany history, and a magnificent windfall for a very excited family of consignors. Great results for our team at Rago Wright, as well, and I couldn’t be more pleased.”

Congratulations to the whole Rago/Wright crew for a fabulous job and a world record price! And congratulations to the family for a possibly life-changing result!

Tune in next week for a review of the rest of the sale.

Brunk Auction, Asheville, NC, held an Art Glass sale on April 23, 2021. Many of the items were from the Estate of Jay R. Doros, Springfield, New Jersey; a prominent collector.

I set everything up (at least I thought so) to bid online at the auction, but Murphy’s Law was in effect. I tried to bid on lot 1 but the computer wouldn’t let me. This is the lot I wanted more than anything else in the sale, as it was a fabulous and rare red Tiffany Favrile Tel el Amarna vase with great color and a black decorated collar. By the time I straightened out the mess, the lot was long gone for a very low price. I couldn’t have been more upset. It sold for $5,228, including buyer’s premium, against a very low estimate of $500 – $700. It was accompanied by an original receipt from Sotheby’s; June 8, 1988, lot 465, $8800. I could have sold it in the range of $15,000 – $20,000, so you can understand my chagrin.

Another really good Tiffany Favrile lot was #5, a cameo vase. The red flowers had been molten applied and then the entire vase was hand-carved by a glass artist after cooling. I wanted to buy this one too, but it went for $10,880, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $800 – $1,200. The lot was accompanied by an original purchase receipt from Prozzo Auction, Portland, Maine, where it was purchased in August, 2006 for $11,300. Hmm.

The market for non-Tiffany art glass has been weak for the last decade or so, but a rare Durand Lava vase still did well. It sold for $5,843, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $300 – $500. That’s pretty good considering it had problem issues of a “tiny internal rim crack, faint hairline at interior of base, some scratches”. Ordinarily problems like that would sink any lesser item. It had originally been purchased at Fanfare Antiques, Lahoska, Pennsylvania, in August, 1973 for $5,500. So it held its value better than most non-Tiffany glass.

I thought it would be interesting to take a historic look at the Tiffany Studios lamp market. I forgot which lamps were the winners, so my research was interesting to me (and hopefully you too). Following is a brief review.

December, 2018 was an auspicious month in the annals of Tiffany Studios history, as the top two prices ever for Tiffany Studios lamps sold at public auction were achieved. December 13, 2018 was the date Christie’s New York set the record for the highest price. A very rare Pond Lily table lamp, selling as lot #9, with an estimate of $1,800,000 – $2,500,000, realized an impressive $3,372,500, including buyer’s premium. 

The day before, December 12, 2018, Sotheby’s New York broke the record for the highest price ever with a rare, colorful Trumpet Creeper lamp. Estimated at $800,000 – $1,200,000, it sold for $2,295,000, including buyer’s premium. The record would last only one day when it would be surpassed by the Pond Lily lamp, pictured above, at Christie’s New York.

We have to go all the way back to December 6, 2005 to find the third place lamp, a magnificent Magnolia floor lamp. It sold at Christie’s New York as lot #319, with an estimate of $900,000 – $1,200,000 and realized $2,032,000, including buyer’s premium.

Surprisingly only 12 Tiffany Studios lamps have ever cracked the $1,000,000 mark and approximately 32 more have crossed the $500,000 mark. Unsurprisingly many of these 44 exclusive lamps have been Wisteria examples.