Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

It's a lamp that's been in the family, on my mother's side of the family, for many, many years. I really don't know where it came from, and I'd like to find out something about it.

APPRAISER

All right, well, let's take a look at it a little bit closer. You can see that all these little fruits and berries and leaves are all made of glass, and all different colors. And the whole thing is arranged in a vase. And look at this, if the top doesn't lift right off... So we can look at the top of it. We've got some great color in this, and the color is the clue to who made it.

GUEST

Oh, okay.

APPRAISER

Because the Czechoslovakian glass companies, there were factories in virtually every town in Bohemia and what we call Czechoslovakia. And their claim to fame, more than anything, is the color that they used in glass.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

So you can see we've got reds and ambers and several shades of green. And they arranged it in such a manner that each one of these is free blown and partly molded, and then attached to a little framework that's made of metal, and then beaded to give it a little extra added dimension in case it shows through when the piece is lighted. And then the glass itself is made to look like a basket. No marking on the bottom. A little indentation for the wire to come out through. So the Czechoslovakian glass that was made during this period, and I'd say we're talking about probably 1920s, this glass has become very, very collectible and popular in the last few years so that now, I think $1,000 is not really too much to expect for a piece like this.

GUEST

Oh, my goodness.