Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

This lamp belonged with a coffee table, was purchased by my parents when we lived outside of Philadelphia. And they knew of George Nakashima's work, and we went and actually visited his studios in New Hope. And they actually helped to pick out what they were looking for, for both this lamp and a coffee table. They ordered from him. They helped to pick out the wood and everything else. And this is back in 1974, I believe. He then produced it for us.

APPRAISER

So this was over the course of several visits.

GUEST

This was over the course of a few visits, yes.

APPRAISER

And you brought with you not only the floor lamp, but you also brought a Nakashima catalog and original drawings in George's hand signed by George.

GUEST

Correct.

APPRAISER

There were people who copied his work, there were people who worked there who did work of their own on the side that approximated Nakashima's work. So particularly in the case of George Nakashima, it's really quite critical. And you have the original paperwork. You also have the original bill of sale. George Nakashima settled in New Hope. During World War II, he had been in an internment camp. The architect Antonin Raymond sponsored him to come to New Hope, where he made furniture in the... what we call the Modernist Organic style. He pioneered that. His style was defined by raw pieces of wood. He felt that this piece of wood could never be anything but what it is. This tree existed for this base to be the base of this lamp. And so he really sought to find the soul of the tree, the inner part of that wood, the spirit of it that became manifest in the furniture designs that he became rather famous for. And his daughter, Mira Nakashima, continues in that tradition still in New Hope through today. So a couple of unusual things about this lamp. This is called the Kent Hall lamp. What George Nakashima would do is he would name a design for a certain commission or client. So the Kornblut cabinet was named after Dr. Kornblut, and every Kornblut cabinet that was made after that would be known as the Kornblut cabinet, even if it was no longer for Dr. Kornblut. Originally, this design was made for Kent Hall at Columbia University in 1962. He did three commissions for Kent Hall. And this is one of the more famous forms that came out of it. It's the only... one of the only floor lamps- in fact there's two different versions shown in this catalog page. But quite rare, he did not do a tremendous amount of lighting. What is also unusual about this, and very important that you have this piece of information here, you don't normally see it with this wooden base.

GUEST

Originally, when they designed this and were building it, I think they felt that maybe it was a little too unstable because the bottom is small, and therefore he felt like he needed-this is what I've been told at least-that they needed to add the base for stability. So that if it was put on carpet or was put on uneven surfaces that the lamp would not tip over.

APPRAISER

And the invoice I saw said, "no charge."

GUEST

Correct.

APPRAISER

For the base edition. So this is the only one I've ever seen with this base edition. And it was important to establish that it happened by George's hand and not by someone else. So, also, different materials were used to make this lamp. The base is English walnut, which is the most typical wood that Nakashima used. And this wood, to your understanding?

GUEST

I believe it's cherry.

APPRAISER

It does look like that, but I'm not certain, and you felt this was ash.

GUEST

Ash or something like that.

APPRAISER

Ash or birch. But tell me about the paper that was used for the shade.

GUEST

And the paper we believe is rice paper. It's a very thick rice paper.

APPRAISER

I noticed when looking over the lamp there's a tear in the shade that seems to have been repaired.

GUEST

It occurred because this lamp is in normal use in the household with my parents.

APPRAISER

Grandchild or pet?

GUEST

Grandchild. (laughing) So, you know, my mother then went back and tried to repair it on her own.

APPRAISER

The rip didn't tear out. It seems like a very even seam. So my recommendation in this case would be to leave it be. I think your mom did a fine job on it. Your family paid how much for this?

GUEST

I believe the original receipt says $530 or something like that.

APPRAISER

That was for the lamp and the table.

GUSEST

I believe that's correct.

APPRAISER

So this alone was about $250. So let's take a look at this turned on. Beautiful. Realistic value on this at auction is somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000.

GUEST

Wow, okay. Excellent, thank you.