Tag Archives: Tiffany Favrile

Tiffany candle lamps lesson

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Electric, kerosene and candle versions of Tiffany Studios candle lamps

Electric, kerosene and candle versions of Tiffany Studios candle lamps

You would think that all Tiffany candle lamps use candles, but not all do. There are actually three versions — electric, kerosene and candle. All candle lamps have three basic components, the base, the insert and the shade. They may differ in the height of the base, the decoration on the insert and the decoration on the shade. The typical shade is undecorated iridescent gold with beautiful stretch glass.

Candle insert with pulled feather decoration

Candle insert with pulled feather decoration

The candle version has an insert with a spring loaded candle. As the candle burns, the spring pushes it up. The example pictured has pulled feather decoration on the glass insert. This is more common than the solid gold iridescent insert.

Gold iridescent insert with electric socket and pull chain

Gold iridescent insert with electric socket and pull chain

The electric version has an electric socket for a light bulb. The wire passes down from the socket, through a hole in the bottom of the insert where it enters the base and emerges from a hole in the base. The hole in the base is original from Tiffany Studios on all electric candle lamps. The example pictured has the rarer undecorated gold iridescent glass insert.

Pulled feather insert with kerosene burner and pulled feather decorated chimney

Pulled feather insert with kerosene burner and pulled feather decorated chimney

The kerosene version has a wick and a burner. The kerosene is stored in the insert, then absorbed by the wick and burned. This version has a fourth part, the chimney. It’s the rarest of the three versions and the most desirable, especially by collectors of miniature oil lamps.

No post on Monday, Labor Day. Tuesday’s post will be about the results of the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show.

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

Setting up at the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show

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We do get around in this business — Chicago last week, Southern California before that and Denver a few weeks ago. Now we’re in Baltimore for the biggest and best show of the summer. But since I think like the teacher I was, for me it’s not the last show of the summer, but the first show of the new season.

My booth is almost ready for the public

My booth is almost ready for the public

Setup is much more interesting when a show is large and filled with top quality dealers. Dealers spend much of the time shopping from each other. You can tell how good business is by the pace of activity. Business was good during setup, but not cutthroat, which happens when business is strong. On a personal level, I was successful in buying some very nice items, including a fantastic 14″ diameter Acorn floor lamp and some fine Galle vases. The lamp has removable accessories including a magazine rack, ashtray, and drink tray. 12″ diameter is the usual diameter for double-harp floor bases, so this one must have been special order.

The main aisle of the show, just before carpeting

The main aisle of the show, just before carpeting

The show looks fantastic, with incredible quality and diversity. If you’re coming, and I surely suggest you do, give yourself plenty of time to see everything. Fine hotels, right in the Inner Harbor, are available for $67-105/night on hotwire.com. The show opens at noon on Thursday and goes through Sunday, 6 PM. There are some special exhibitors who exhibit at very few shows, including M.S. Rau from New Orleans. The trip to this show will be worth it!

I’ll post results for the show on my Tuesday blog. Monday is Labor Day, so I won’t be writing an entry.

Derek Jeter at the plate at Camden Yards

Derek Jeter at the plate at Camden Yards

So what does a tired dealer do after setting up? He goes with his beautiful wife to see the Yankees destroy the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, right next door. How about same day seats, bought on StubHub.com, directly behind home plate, row 5, at 1/15 the price of the same tickets at Yankee Stadium? It’s a tough business, but somebody has to do it.

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

Thank you, Chicago

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The Chicago Summer Antiques Show venue

The Chicago Summer Antiques Show venue

I really had no idea what to expect from this show. The promoter, Rosemary Krieger, decided that the summer antiques show needed a radical change. Attendance at O’Hare the past few years has been steadily declining. So she moved the show to a new venue in downtown Chicago to a building in the Sono section. She’s used this building before for her Modernism show, so she was familiar with it and the neighborhood.

A view of the Sono neighborhood, looking south at downtown Chicago

A view of the Sono neighborhood, looking south at downtown Chicago

Personally, the show went well for me, with Tiffany Studios items, including glass, lamps and desk items garnering the most interest. However, every single sale was to an existing client of mine and that was disappointing. Part of doing a show, especially in a new venue, is to meet new clients. I do wish to thank my loyal clients for their business.

Sunday afternoon at 4:00 PM

Sunday afternoon at 4:00 PM

In speaking personally to a handful of dealers at the show I heard the following comments. One dealer complained that it was one of the worst shows he had ever done. Another dealer did moderately well and told me that he thought the show had very good potential. A third dealer told me he did fairly well and a fourth dealer complained about the light attendance at the show, especially on Sunday. She thought the show promoter had done a poor job of advertising. In her view, the promoter should have advertised aggressively, as this was the first time in a new location. She also complained that there weren’t enough signs in the neighborhood pointing to the location of the show.

Show promoters have a tough job. They have to satisfy both the dealers and the public, so it’s a balancing act for them. What the promoters have to realize is that the dealers are their clients, not the public. Promoters need to make life easier for their dealers. That means that the hours of the show should be consistent with giving the buying public enough hours to shop the show but not making the hours so long that it becomes a burden on the dealers. Shows don’t need to open early on Sunday because no one comes early on Sunday. Shows don’t have to be open late on Saturday because the public leaves early to go to dinner or the theater. Irene Stella has it right with the Pier shows in New York City. They’re open to the public only on Saturday and Sunday. Everyone makes it their business to get there during show hours. Part of the reason that dealers do well is because there’s action and electricity at her shows because things happen fast. Make up your mind soon or that item you’re admiring will be gone. It’s good for everybody — fewer days, shorter hours and the same amount of business.

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

The road to knowledge is filled with potholes, part II

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An authentic Tiffany Acorn lamp, similar to the reproduction I purchased

An authentic Tiffany Acorn lamp, similar to the reproduction I purchased

In the 1970s, I thought I had made friends with an auctioneer named Jerry Schuster. He had an auction house in New Windsor, NY, about an hour north of NYC. I visited him one day while driving past. He had what he said was a Tiffany Acorn lamp. In the years since my first signed lamp purchase, I was becoming an expert in Handel reverse-painted lamps. There were no Handel reverse-painted reproductions on the market, so getting a good education wasn’t that difficult. I had never purchased any leaded lamps because there were reproductions around and I couldn’t tell the difference. Jerry didn’t have the best reputation, so I asked him if he would guarantee the authenticity of the lamp. I remember what he said almost verbatim. “I don’t guarantee anything, but I guarantee this lamp to you.” So I paid him a fortune for the lamp, about $3,000.

I took the lamp home and made some calls to collectors and dealers, including Alice Osofsky, an old-time dealer. She came to my house with a friend, and after examining the lamp, told me the lamp was a reproduction. My heart sank, so I called other dealers and they all agreed – the lamp was a fake.

No problem! I’ll call Jerry and he’ll give me my money back because he guaranteed it to me. “Jerry, the lamp is a reproduction, so I’m returning it.” “What are you talking about, Phil? If you have an expert to say it’s a reproduction, I have another one to say it’s not.” Again, this is almost verbatim. So this was one costly lesson. I sold it to another dealer, telling him the truth that I was told it was a reproduction. I took a big loss on the lamp, but it was gone and at least I recovered some of my money.

Fast forward a few years to 1979. I was sitting in my car on Canal Street in Manhattan, listening to the news, when the announcer told of the arrest of an auctioneer from Westchester County, named Jerry Schuster. I started whooping and hollering and jumping up and down in my car. Sorry, folks, but I’m not a saint. I was as happy as a clam. In 1980, a Federal District Court in Manhattan found Schuster guilty of knowingly selling paintings with forged signatures of famous artists and reproducing Tiffany-style lamps with unauthorized Tiffany imprints. Jerry was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, plus four years probation and a $10,000 fine. Nice guy that he was, he was re-arrested and in 1990, he was convicted of conspiracy, bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud in connection with an insurance scam involving a damaged painting. He was sentenced to three years in prison and prohibited from working in the art, antiques or auction field for three years after his release. You’d think he would have learned his lesson, but again in 2000, his art gallery agreed to refund an estimated $111,000 to 18 defrauded customers, and pay $45,000 to the Attorney General’s office for their legal costs. (Thanks to the International Foundation for Art Research for the exact information above.)

And now I have my own blog and I can tell Jerry and the rest of the world, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy!

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

The road to knowledge is filled with potholes, part I

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Marc Bell asked “How did you avoid the pitfalls in the antique lighting business?”  Well, Marc,  I didn’t. I hit my share of potholes along the learning road.

(Do you have an antiques questions?  I’ll try to answer them in future posts.  philchasen@gmail.com)

A Tiffany 3-light lily lamp with Quezal shades, similar to my first purchase

A Tiffany 3-light lily lamp with Quezal shades, similar to my first purchase

I remember the first time I bought a signed lamp.  The year was probably 1973.  We were at an auction and the auctioneer was explaining that the next item for sale was a Tiffany 3-light lily lamp with Quezal shades.  We were the successful bidders and paid $600 for it.  My wife and I were really nervous about this huge purchase.  I told my mother and she told me I was nuts.  Thanks, Mom.  She just couldn’t conceive of a lamp costing that much money.

Now I had my first antique lamp and I was eager to try and sell it.  I took good photos and advertised the lamp in Hobbies magazine.  Hobbies was an important monthly publication for both collectors and dealers.  (All of you old-timers should remember the good old days when it was possible to sell items by advertising in magazines.  For you younger collectors, there really was an antiques world prior to the Internet.)

I waited for over a month until the magazine was published.  I got a few calls and one was long-distance from a collector in Iowa.  (How many of you remember when everyone would stop whatever they were doing because someone was calling LONG DISTANCE?  It was exciting!)  He told me the lamp was a marriage – the lamp base was from one company and the shades from another.  Apparently a marriage in a lamp was a bad thing.  I didn’t know that!  I had assumed that the word Quezal was a Tiffany word, like Favrile.  Pssssssssss.  The air just zoomed out of my bubble!  But it didn’t end badly.  This caller was willing to buy the lamp as is.  I learned a big lesson that didn’t cost me a penny, in fact I earned a small profit.  I was lucky because most lessons in the antiques business are much more costly.

And that, folks, was the ignominious beginning to my education as a lamp dealer.

Tomorrow you can read lesson #2, which took place a few years later.  It’s much juicier than this one, guaranteed!

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

Beware of Tiffany Studios fakes, especially on eBay

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Tiffany fake #1

Tiffany fake #1

Tiffany fake #3

Tiffany fake #3

Tiffany fake #2

Tiffany fake #2

Thanks to Hank Hancock for the idea for this blog and the photos.

The problem with fake Tiffany Favrile glass items is not widespread, but you certainly want to avoid becoming one of the people who gets stuck with one. The following examples have all been for sale on eBay recently. It’s hard to say whether the sellers are nefarious and know they are selling reproductions or just ignorant, but my experience tells me a fair percentage of them know the truth.

Tiffany fake #4

Tiffany fake #4

Tiffany fake #6

Tiffany fake #6

Tiffany fake #5

Tiffany fake #5

So how can you tell? Sorry, but there’s no easy answer. Familiarity with the shapes, colors and decorations of authentic Tiffany Favrile glass is the best way to tell. To the trained eye, these items stick out like sore thumbs. It’s not necessary to look at fake signatures if you already know the item is fake just by looking at it. But there’s the rub. It takes quite a bit of time and effort to train one’s eye.

So what do you do? You have to buy from reputable dealers, collectors and auction houses that will absolutely guarantee the authenticity of the items they sell. Anyone can make a mistake, but only an honest person will make good on correcting a mistake, should one occur. This advice may be self-serving, but nonetheless, it’s absolutely true. Remember the old adage “If you don’t know your art, know your dealer”.

Fake Tiffany counterclockwise signature

Fake Tiffany counterclockwise signature

Also look at Tiffany signatures. 99% of the time, an authentic signature is counter-clockwise. Many fake signatures are clockwise. The forger for this vase knew to make it counterclockwise, but it’s still an awful fake. After looking at enough signatures, it gets increasingly easy to recognize a genuine one.

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

Tiffany Studios numbering explained

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A typical Tiffany Studios numbered signature

A typical Tiffany Studios numbered signature

Tiffany Studios numbered their vases. Each number is a unique registry number that corresponds to that vase only. The earliest vases from 1892-3 had numbers and no letters.  In 1894, the  prefix A was introduced with the first vase being A1. Each subsequent vase received the next consecutive number until A9999 was reached and then the next letter, B, was used. When the entire alphabet was completed, the prefix letter was changed to a suffix letter, so the next number after Z9999 would be 1A, followed by 2A, etc. After 9999A, the next number would be 1B, until the entire alphabet would be used up.

Tiffany vases can be dated according to a chart in the Robert Koch book, Louis C. Tiffany’s Glass Bronzes Lamps, on page 56. Prefix A corresponds to 1894, suffix A to 1906, etc.

A typical Tiffany Studios unnumbered signature

A typical Tiffany Studios unnumbered signature

Items without numbers were generally utilitarian items like bowls or glasses that came in sets. These were part of general production and usually unnumbered. The signatures might be “L.C.T.” or “L.C.T. Favrile” or “L.C.Tiffany Favrile” or some other variation.

A typical Tiffany Studios signature with a shape number

A typical Tiffany Studios signature with a shape number

Later items, especially pastel ones, have numbers that do not include a letter. These are shape numbers, not registry numbers. For example, 1881 is a trumpet vase and is repeated on all trumpet vases of the same size and shape. (Credit Gordon (Hank) Hancock for this information. Hank is writing a book on Tiffany pastel glass that will be very useful.)

A typical Tiffany Studios late production compound number signature

A typical Tiffany Studios late production compound number signature

Compound signatures include the shape number first and then the serial number. This system was developed late into Tiffany production, so it will not be found on earlier vases. The example pictured shows that the vase is shape 1525, with serial number 9008M. To the best of my knowledge, this has never been explained before in writing.

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