Some interesting results at Bonham’s Los Angeles The Elegant Home sale of March 7, 2016

My goal is to publish new posts twice a week — Mondays and Thursdays. However, if you don’t see a new post on Thursday, it’s because I was too busy, so please look for a new one the following Monday.

Bonham’s Los Angeles held a diverse sale, The Elegant Home, on March 7, 2016, with some interesting results. Following are a few.

Spelter Art Nouveau inkwell of Sarah Bernhardt, Bonham's lot #249

Spelter Art Nouveau inkwell of Sarah Bernhardt, Bonham’s lot #249

Lot #249 was an amusing early 20th century French, Art Nouveau, spelter, figural inkwell of Sarah Bernhardt with devil’s wings. Helped by her wings, she flew to a final price of $20,000, the highest price of the sale, against a pre-sale estimate of $2,000 – $4,000. I could understand this result if it were bronze, but white metal? I’m sure it was a nice surprise for the consignor.

Lee Lash painting of New York, Bonham's lot #201

Lee Lash painting of New York, Bonham’s lot #201

I liked lot #201, an oil on canvas illustration of New York in the ’30s, by Lee Lash. Although it wasn’t Norman Rockwell quality, it had a nice look. The public agreed, pushing the price past its high estimate of $6,000, to realize $8,125, including buyer’s premium.

Pairpoint puffy Azalea table lamp, Bonham's lot #50

Pairpoint puffy Azalea table lamp, Bonham’s lot #50

Several reverse-painted and puffy lamps were sold from the collection of Jane Fonda. The top lot of this group was a very pretty Pairpoint Azalea puffy table lamp, lot #50. It easily exceeded its high estimate of $6,000, realizing $10,250, including buyer’s premium.

For the complete results of the sale, click here.


Click on this image to buy tickets

Click on this image to buy tickets

Our next show is approaching quickly. We’ll be in Glencoe, IL, for the Garden, Antique & Design Show, at the Chicago Botanic Garden, starting April 15th. It’s a beautiful show, with both antiques and gardening, that you’ll absolutely enjoy. We only have two remaining shows in the greater Chicago area, so come and say hi!

If you’re selling, please let me know. If you have what I’m looking for, I’m paying the highest prices. My decisions are quick and my payments just as quick. Just snap a photo and email it to me.

I always strive to offer the finest objects for sale on my website and at every show. I will continue to list more as often as possible. Please click here to take a look.There are many items for sale, sold items with prices and free lessons about glass and lamps. And remember to keep reading my blog.

Lamps sell well at Bonham’s Los Angeles 20th Century Decorative Arts sale, April 16, 2014

My goal is to publish new posts twice a week — Mondays and Thursdays. However, if you don’t see a new post on Thursday, it’s because I was too busy, so please look for a new one the following Monday.

Bonham’s Los Angeles held a diverse 20th Century Decorative Arts sale on April 16, 2014. Included in the sale were a number of lots by Tiffany Studios and The Pairpoint Co. that performed very well.

A Tiffany Studios Moorish chandelier, Bonham's lot #2237

A Tiffany Studios Moorish chandelier, Bonham’s lot #2237

One of the top lots of the sale was #2237, a Tiffany Studios Moorish chandelier. It soared past its pre-sale estimate of $12,000 – $18,000 to sell for $46,250, including buyer’s premium.

A set of Tiffany Favrile tulip shades, Bonham's lot #2246

A set of Tiffany Favrile tulip shades, Bonham’s lot #2246

A matching set of Tiffany Favrile gold tulip shades doubled its high estimate of $4,000 to realize $10,000, including buyer’s premium. What was even more surprising was that only six of the nine shades were in perfect condition. I’m guessing that the buyer of the Moorish chandelier might have been the buyer of these shades, as they’re the same as the chandelier’s.

Rare Pairpoint Geranium puffy table lamp, Bonham's lot #2238

Rare Pairpoint Geranium puffy table lamp, Bonham’s lot #2238

A rare Pairpoint puffy Geranium table lamp in an equally rare potted base sold well above its high estimate of $5,000, to sell for $11,250.

I tried to buy some of the sale’s better items, but prices were too strong, so I bought nothing. For the complete results of the sale, click here.

This rare R. Lalique blue Piriac vase is a recent purchase

This rare R. Lalique blue Piriac vase is a recent purchase

Click here to view my new website and look around. We always strive to offer the finest objects for sale on our website and at every show. There are many items for sale, sold items with prices and free lessons about glass and lamps

Two more VERY interesting items from Christie’s Interiors sale, December 11, 2013

My goal is to publish new posts twice a week — Mondays and Thursdays. However, if you don’t see a new post on Thursday, it’s because I was too busy, so please look for a new one the following Monday.

Christie’s held their Interiors sale last week, December 11-12, 2013. I last wrote about a couple of interesting French lots in the sale. Today’s post will be about two very curious American lots from the same sale. They’re both interesting, but for very different reasons. Let me explain.

Christie's lot #254 is on the left.  A complete vase is on the right.

Christie’s lot #254 is on the left. A complete vase is on the right.

Lot #254 was a rare and very desirable Tiffany Favrile vase, but not exactly this example. You see it was only half a Tiffany vase. Someone, sometime, in its history decided to re-carve the vase into an amusing shape. It’s hard to believe this was done at the factory, so the best explanation is that someone took a seriously damaged vase and became very creative. The workmanship involved in cutting the vase was expert. Christie’s didn’t even think it was an authentic Tiffany Favrile vase, so they called it “AN AMERICAN CLEAR AND COLORED CAMEO GLASS VASE, SIGNED IN ETCH ‘L.C. TIFFANY-FAVRILE’, EARLY 20TH CENTURY”. In fact, if it were complete, it was a killer example. The color was much better than usual and the grape clusters were bigger. Even with the creative carving, it realized $3,125, including the buyer’s premium, against a pre-sale estimate of $1,500 – $2,000.

Pairpoint Hummingbird & Roses puffy table lamp, Christie's lot #463

Pairpoint Hummingbird & Roses puffy table lamp, Christie’s lot #463

Lot #463, a Pairpoint Hummingbird & Roses puffy table lamp, wasn’t quite as amusing, but still interesting. Why was the lamp photographed with the shade on the table? Take a look at the spider arms. They’re upside-down, so the shade couldn’t possibly rest on the arms. That tickles me. This was another lot that I had hoped to sneak up on. The shade was the larger of two versions, 16″ in diameter, with no chips and a very desirable green background. BUT, I didn’t bid one penny for it. Upon inspection, the interior paint was peeling off the roses — a very rare occurrence. How disappointing! The lamp failed to sell, even with a very fair estimate of $4,000 – $6,000 and a likely reserve of half the low estimate, or $2,000. The paint peeling was subtle, so it probably wouldn’t have been detected in a condition report. This is one bullet I dodged by viewing the item in person.

For the complete results of the sale, click here.

We’ll be busy buying for the next several weeks in anticipation of the important Florida shows, starting with the Miami National Antiques Show on January 24, 2014. We’ll end our winter schedule with the wonderful Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Conference, February 21 – 23, 2014. We last exhibited there a few years ago and couldn’t exhibit again because of scheduling conflicts. This year there were no conflicts, so we’re happy to return. It will immediately follow the important Palm Beach Antiques Show.

Wonderful Tiffany Favrile vase with wheel-carved leaves, just in

Wonderful Tiffany Favrile vase with wheel-carved leaves, just in

Click here to view my new website and look around. We always strive to offer the finest objects for sale on our website and at every show. There are many items for sale, sold items with prices and free lessons about glass and lamps

French cameo glass lessons — Galle blownout vases

The following post took quite some time to write, so I’m leaving it on for an additional couple of days. You won’t want to miss my next post on Wednesday, when I’ll report about an incredible auction result for a rare Tiffany Studios object.

Monumental Galle calla lily blownout vase

The basic technique used in the manufacture of French cameo glass was acid-etching. After the vases were built up with layers of colored glass, they were then cut back with hydrofluoric acid. The design was protected with a waxy substance called a resist. The process was repeated as often as necessary to create the desired level of detail. The result was a raised design that could be seen and felt with your fingers.

The French makers were not content to make the same type of vases again and again, so they experimented with various techniques to achieve different results. It is thought that the technique of mold-blowing by the firm of Emile Gallé was not added to their repertoire until after WWI. By that time, Emile Gallé had already died.

Using this technique, the artists first had to carve an original model, from which a mold was made. Molten glass was poured into the mold to create a blank. From there, the techniques were the same – build up the layers of colored glass and then use acid to cut them back. The result was very effective, creating flowers or fruit or animals, that stuck out from the body of the vase and became three-dimensional.

Galle apple blownout vase

In the United States, the Pairpoint Corp. of New Bedford, Massachusetts, patented the technique for “puffy” lamps in 1907. Pairpoint puffy lamps are basically the same as Galle blownout vases, except that the lamps were hand-painted and then fired, rather than acid-etched. It’s curious. Perhaps there was some trans-ocean cross-pollination between the two companies? Perhaps someone at the Galle factory first saw a Pairpoint puffy lamp and decided the technique could be applied to Galle glass? Or the other way around, although the dating makes this less likely?

Pairpoint puffy Apple Tree lamp

Blownout vases can be of identical form, but not identical. They will differ in color, depending on the choice of colored glass used to cover the blank. They may also differ slightly in design, depending on the etching.

Two Galle clematis blownout vases in different colors

Galle produced approximately fifty different models of blownout vases, from small to huge. The clematis blownout vases pictured above are examples of small blownout vases, approximately 6″ tall. The calla lily vase is huge and the largest of the blownout vases, approximately 14″ tall and bulbous (from memory and surely not accurate).

Blownout vases (sometimes called mold-blown or souffle) are highly desirable and collectible. They have always commanded a premium price over similar, non mold-blown examples. Prices in today’s market range from a low of about $5,000 to over $100,000 for rare models, such as a white elephant blownout. An average price would be about $15,000.

Very rare Gallé white elephant blownout vase

Other companies, such as Daum, employed the technique of mold-blowing, but Gallé embraced the technique and produced the largest number of different blownout vases.

I’ve seen various collectors put together collections that included a number of blownout vases, but to my knowledge, no one has ever tried to put together a collection with every known example of Galle blownouts. I think that would be a great, fun challenge, but one has to have the means and the desire to achieve it.

I just came back from a successful buying trip. Over the next week, I will be adding to my website recently acquired Daum, Galle and R. Lalique vases. Please take a look. Click on this link chasenantiques.com.

Please send me your comments or questions about art glass, lamps, Louis Icart, shows, auctions, etc. If it’s interesting, I’ll answer you in a future blog.

Results for the Pasadena Antiques Show, August 6-8, 2010

The Pasadena show is all packed up on Sunday evening, August 8, 2010

What a difference a show makes. Two weeks later, in basically the same city, Los Angeles (Redondo Beach vs. Pasadena), the tenor of the show completely changed. Attendance wasn’t significantly improved from Redondo Beach, but the show looked and felt different. There was lots of interest in different categories of items and selling was more broad-based. I can call this show a good one, not a lucky one (read my previous blogs for a more complete explanation.) Gross sales were lower, but selling more items to more people felt better.

Pairpoint rose puffy table lamp

Interest was good in French glass including R. Lalique, Pairpoint and Tiffany lamps, and pottery, including Newcomb College. Many collectors were asking intelligent questions about a whole host of collecting categories. It felt like a normal show in normal times.

Now I’m more upbeat about the upcoming shows in Chicago and Baltimore. I believe business is a bit tougher in California than it is in the rest of the United States, but I’ll be able to give a more definitive answer in a few weeks. I especially want to thank my loyal clients, who buy from me repeatedly.

I recently added over 10 Galle vases to my website, 7 Tiffany lamps, 1 Grueby vase, 1 Newcomb vase, Daum Nancy glass and a fabulous Burgun & Schverer internally decorated vase. This coming week, I’ll be adding many new items. Please take a look. Click on this link chasenantiques.com.

Please send me your comments or questions about art glass, lamps, Louis Icart, shows, auctions, etc. If it’s interesting, I’ll answer you in a future blog.

Celebrity encounters in the antiques business, part VII

Goldie Hawn

Goldie Hawn

One day while sitting in my shop at the Manhattan Arts & Antiques Center in the late 1980s, I received a call from another dealer asking me if I had any Pairpoint puffy table lamps for sale.  He said he had a client interested and asked if I would give them to him on consignment.  I had a beautiful Pairpoint Apple Tree puffy, which I gave to him.  I didn’t hear from him for a couple of weeks and I was curious as to what had happened.  I bumped into him at a preview for an auction in Manhattan and asked him about the disposition of the lamp.  He had forgotten to tell me, but replied “Oh, yes, Goldie took it”, as if everyone were on a first name basis with her.  I said “Goldie, as in Goldie Hawn?”  And he replied, “Yes”.

Pairpoint puffy Apple Tree table lamp

Pairpoint puffy Apple Tree table lamp

Some time later, Goldie Hawn and her long-time partner, Kurt Russell, appeared in a magazine that showcased their beautiful home.  There behind the sofa was the lamp.  So, Goldie, if you’re reading this, I hope you’re still enjoying it.  Write to me.

Please send me your suggestions or questions about art glass, lamps, Louis Icart, shows, auctions, etc. If it’s interesting, I’ll answer your question in a future blog entry.

Call or write and let me know what you would like to buy, sell, or trade. philchasen@gmail or 516-922-2090. And please visit my website. chasenantiques.com