Alan Schneider was the owner of an antiques shop called The Antique Traders on California Street in San Francisco for 50 years. I last visited many years ago. I tried to buy from him, but his prices were always too high for me. I also tried to sell to him, but apparently my prices were too high for him. So we did almost no business together that I can remember.

Alan passed away on July 15, 2020 at the age of 76. His estate was sold at John Moran Auctioneers in Monrovia, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles. Most of the items were medium quality, with very few standouts. I thought that Alan would have kept a few exceptional pieces for his personal collection, but if they existed, they weren’t in the sale.

Following are a few of the highlights.

In my opinion, lot #23, a Tiffany 20″ diameter Arrowroot table lamp was the best lamp in the sale, with very unusual reddish color in the background. I tried to buy it, but unfortunately I was the underbidder. It sold for $40,625, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $30,000 – $40,000. That’s a fine price for a collector to pay, but not a dealer. Too bad. I really wanted this one.

Part of the Schneider collection was a collection of Handel lamps. The best of the group was lot #118, a rare and beautiful bird lamp. It sold for $15,000, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $3,000 – $5,000. This is another lamp that I wanted to buy, but couldn’t because of the price.

Not everything in the sale was kosher. Lot #119 was a reproduction Gallé vase that was sold as authentic. It sold for $1,625, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $1,000 – $1,500. There also were quite a few other vases that were cut down and not mentioned in the condition reports. Looks like Moran can use a little outside professional help. (Hello! I’m available. I’m already the expert for many auction houses, but unfortunately I can’t name them here.)

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>.

Here are a few recent updates about antique shows.

The Baltimore Summer Antiques Show, which is usually held at the end of August, will this year become the Baltimore Fall Antiques Show, scheduled to take place some time in November. I’ll let you know when I find out the specifics. At the moment the Baltimore Convention Center is being used as a Covid field hospital where I assume they are administering vaccinations.

The Chicago Merchandise Mart show was canceled for 2021 and will return in the spring of 2022. Hopefully the world will have substantially returned to normal by then.

The promoters of the fall show in Winnetka, IL, sent out a dealer questionnaire. I replied that I would like to exhibit there in November. I guess we’ll have to wait for a decision from the promoters. So it’s a possibility.

I assume that by winter 2022, the Miami antique shows will be back in operation. Sure hope so. It’s a wonderful chance to do great business and escape the winter. I look forward to it every year, and missed it greatly this year.

Tune in for updated information.

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.

Rago Arts and Auction, Lambertville, NJ, held an Early 20th Century Design sale on January 21, 2021, including art pottery, furniture, lamps, glass and ceramics. Following are a few of the results.

George Ohr was well represented in the sale with 38 lots. The top lot of these vases was #105, a beautiful, blue, highly ruffled, 6½” tall example. It approximately doubled its high estimate of $35,000, realizing $81,250, including buyer’s premium. 19 of the 38 lots sold for $10,000 or more.

I really liked lot #204, a floral decorated Grueby vase. Unfortunately, it had been overfired at the factory, causing the glaze to slip down about 1/2″. What a shame. I would have bid strongly for this vase if it hadn’t had problems. Regardless, it sold for $11,875, including buyer’s premium, against a $6,000 – $9,000 estimate.

Lot #243, a 17″ Dragonfly on a rare Favrile glass base, sold best among the dozen or so Tiffany lamps in the sale. It realized $96,000, including buyer’s premium — near its high estimate of $80,000.

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>.

Business has been pretty good the last few months, contrary to what I had originally thought when the Covid pandemic began. All of the in-person action from antique shows has moved online. Hopefully in-person business will start to resume as the vaccinations get rolling.

Most of my best recent sales have been French glass. Following are a few of the best.

Penguins are one of Daum Nancy’s rarest decorations. The example above is a beauty. The shape is not perfectly round, but a slightly oblong variation.

The two best makers of French pâte-de-verre glass were Argy-Rousseau and A. Walter. Argy-Rousseau produced mostly vases, while Walter produced more 3-dimensional objects, including many variations with lizards. The inkwell above is a rare, gorgeous example.

Daum Nancy made many vases with wild orchids and spider webs, as it’s beautiful subject matter. Sometimes the form is what make one example more special than another. The example above is killer. It also has a bee in the decoration that adds to its rarity and desirability. The Art Nouveau metalwork around the foot is a nice touch that you don’t often see.

Cranes are great subject matter for Daum Nancy. The example above is special for a few reasons. First, the subject matter is rare. Second, it’s on a shaded orange background, whereas the typical example is on a green or frosted background. Third, it’s exceptionally crisp. Fourth, it’s got beautiful gilded accents on the flowers, the rim and the handle. Last, it’s not a vase, but a pitcher with an applied handle. Just wonderful!

Business has been really good except for the usual slowdown in December. I suppose what I sell is a bit too expensive for Christmas gifts. But it’s January of a new and hopefully better year, so let’s get the party started.

Here are a few of the new items I have for sale.

Gallé produced many models of blownout vases after WWI, some more interesting than others. The Water Lily model is one of the best – the flower is so showy and beautiful. It comes in a variety of colors. This example has exquisite white flowers with green and brown leaves on a sky blue background. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Tiffany lamps have been flying off the shelves. I just got this gorgeous 16″ diameter Crocus lamp with very special mottled glass. It’s dash-numbered 9, indicating it was part of a limited run of lamps, usually 10 or fewer, where the glass was carefully chosen. It’s a superb lamp with a ribbed library base and a fabulous original patina.

I just got this amazing Austrian coupe of Diana the Huntress holding her dogs on a leash. It’s agate with a chiseled vermeil frame and circular guilloche base with enameled patterns of oak leaves and acorns. The two handles are paved with peridots, each surmounted by a dog whose body is covered with small rubies. The rim of the cup is decorated with water pearls and a leaf, circa 1900. Amazingly it has its original fitted box. It’s petite, but special.

Samuel Provost is an Associate Professor in Archeology and Art History of Late Antiquity at the University of Lorraine in Nancy, France. He has done exhaustive research on the dating of Gallé glassware based on the various signatures, as per the chart below. This research updates some of the assumptions from the previous work of others.