Tiffany Studios Floor Lamp, ca. 1915
GUEST: This lamp was my paternal grandfather's. He was an Irish immigrant, and he worked in New York City at, I think, Tiffany Studios. I inherited this lamp in 2017. Now it's my treasure.
APPRAISER: And do you remember it as a little girl?
GUEST: Oh, my gosh, yes, yeah. So here's the funny thing about this lamp. My dad can be a little naughty sometimes. So when my mom would go out, he would, my sister and I, "Let's play tag!" So we would play tag around our homes, and this lamp almost fell over... (laughing): it must have been almost a dozen times, but it's so heavy.
APPRAISER: The Tiffany lamps are made with a really good center of gravity, so it takes a lot to-to knock them over.
APPRAISER: When did he work at Tiffany Studios?
GUEST: So that I'm not absolutely sure. Probably the early 1900s.
APPRAISER: The reason I ask is because based on the way this is signed, particularly on the shade, it says "Tiffany Studios, NY." instead of writing out "New York." And usually that type of signature would appear on a shade that was made from 1910 on. I would put a circa date on this between, at the earliest, 1910, and actually it could have ma-- been made as late as 1920. It's very classical in design, and particularly when you look at the foot, it looks like a stylized Greek key design. At one point, I thought maybe it was even like an Egyptian influence.
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: Which, in the 1920s, the Egyptian craze touched everything from art to dancing to theater. Ordinarily, this kind of shade would come with another type of glass, which was called Favrile, Fabrique glass. And that was glass that resembled drapery. What makes this different is they chose not to use that particular type of glass and-and instead used a standard leaded glass. Which leads me to believe that it could have been more on the later side. It's possible that they might have run out of the Favrile glass.
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: And they said, "Well, let's make it this way." And-and it came out beautifully, it's-it's really a beautiful lamp-- this is the first time I've seen this particular base.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: So it's-it's unusual.
GUEST: Mm.
APPRAISER: It is a harp base, but also you can turn the shade like this to aim the light. So if you're sitting in a chair reading, you can get the light.
GUEST: I... never knew that. Wow.
APPRAISER: They thought of everything at Tiffany Studios. The Tiffany lamps that were being sold were, they were always luxury items and they were expensive. The average worker couldn't really afford them. And they would be listed in catalogs. They came in different finishes. So you could get a brown. A brown-green finish on it. But if you opted to go for a gold finish, then there was an additional 25% on top of the cost of the lamp. It's bronze, but it's gold-plated.
GUEST: Bronze.
APPRAISER: They only use the finest materials at Tiffany Studios.
GUEST: Oh, wow. Oh, that's wonderful.
APPRAISER: This has an acid-etched finish. That's why you see this mottling on the surface. And the shade could easily have been sold separately. In a retail venue, this would sell for between $10,000 and $15,000.
GUEST: That's exciting! (giggles) That's so cool!
$10,000 - $15,000 Retail
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Understanding Our Appraisals
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
