Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

After an auction, I had gone back to pick up some other items that I picked, and I had become friendly with the auctioneer's daughter, and she said somebody reneged on a purchase of a Tiffany lamp. Long story short, my spouse basically said, "Get the lamp."

APPRAISER

When was that?

GUEST

2017. I paid $11,000, including auctioneer's premium.

APPRAISER

And what do you know about it?

GUEST

I know it's a Tiffany lamp. It was originally an oil lamp. It's been electrified. It has the hallmarks. And that's all I know.

APPRAISER

What we have is a Tiffany Studios lamp. And one of the things that I was hoping to find when you brought this today was that the shade and the base had come together. And this is a perfect fit. It fits perfectly into the arms of the base. What I was looking forward to seeing was the interior of the shade and how the ring was constructed. And if you see, it's, it's flattened. Later, when this particular shade was made to fit on an electric lamp, the ring on the interior would be protruding, so that it would fit on the wheel of the electrified lamp. So that made me very happy, because the minute I saw it, I said, "Oh, yeah, right as rain." What was really perplexing about this lamp, which I couldn't believe, was, the condition of it is spectacular. And I can't find any evidence of any kind of repair. And this is the first shade I really think in, like, 40 years that I have seen that really doesn't have a crack in it. Um, there are...

GUEST

That's a relief. (laughs)

APPRAISER

It has a signature that indicates that um this was made probably around 1906. Now, as you said, this was originally an oil lamp, and it has been converted to electricity, but it's done correctly. I have friends in the business who would look at this patina and they'd call this "righteous patina."

GUEST

(laughs)

APPRAISER

Because it's just gorgeous, it's rich, and it's been untampered with. Recently, there's been a spike in the interest in this type of lamp. This is what we call a geometric lamp. So, in today's market, I'd say for a retail price, anywhere between $15,000 or $20,000.

GUEST

Oh, wow, that's awesome. That's good, that's very nice to hear.