Favrile Glass Lamps by Tiffany Studios

Favrile Glass Lamps

Tiffany trademarked the name "Favrile" to generically describe his production. The term means handcrafted and is associated with the first and simplest shades made by Tiffany. Favrile glass included several types of "iridescent" glass which Tiffany also used in the making his beautiful stained-glass windows as well as leaded and blown shades. Today, the term Favrile is meant to describe forms such as shades and other types of  "hollow ware" glass (such as a floriform vase).

Here are some examples of lamps and shades using "Favrile" glass:

Above is a shade from a "lily" shaded lamp, using Favrile glass.

A pair of Favrile glass "candlestick" lamps by Tiffany Studios above.

Above is a common, very basic, gold colored Favrile glass shade desk or "piano" lamp. These were often part of a larger "desk set" of items Tiffany Studios made for use in offices and homes. This shade is adjustable and can be "swung" back and forth to direct the light. The small round "pins" above the shade screwed into the top to hold the shade firmly into the socket.

Above is a three shaded favrile glass lily desk or small table lamp. These lily lamps came in various sizes up to 18 shades in desk, table and floor models.

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Dennis

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A Brief Tiffany Studios History and "Tiffany & Company" - A Distinction

A Brief History on Tiffany Studios Lamps and the Difference between "Tiffany Studios" and "Tiffany and Company"

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848 - 1933) is often associated with Tiffany & Co., the firm founded by his father, Charles Lewis Tiffany. Although Charles had hoped his son would succeed him as head of the company, Louis' interests leaned more readily toward those of an artistic nature. I think it could be said that Charles Tiffany was a creative but conservative man and his son Louis was a creative and much more "liberal" in his business and personal life interests.

A Tiffany Studios authentic mark used on his lamps on the inner bottom metal rim edge.

Louis Tiffany began his art glass experiments sometime between 1872 and 1878. He purchased glass from 'glass houses'in Brooklyn, New York before he installed his own glass furnaces at Corona on Long Island.Tiffany adapted the Tiffany trademark in 1900. His factory employed more than three hundred workers: designers, artists, glass blowers, and numerous other artisans.


Tiffany's  first commercially produced leaded lamps date from around 1898-99, just in time to be presented at the 1900 "Exposition Universelle" in Paris. Prior to this, the firm's lamp commissions were almost entirely part of its work for church interiors, such as windows.

In addition to lamps and lamp shades, Tiffany Studios also produced vases, scent bottles, tiles, stained-glass windows, glass mosaics and desk furniture. The company remained in business until 1928. Tiffany Studios, renamed The Louis C. Tiffany Furnaces in the early 1920s, remained in business until 1937, even after its furnaces in Corona had been sold to an employee, Douglas Nash, in 1928.  After 1928 it was managed by Joseph Briggs to complete outstanding commissions - for the most part church windows - from a workshop in Manhattan. Tiffany died on January 17, 1933, and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

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Dennis

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Antique Tiffany Lamps - Some Clues to Authenticity

Hello!

I receive dozens of emails and several phone calls weekly from people who go to my Antique Tiffany Lamps web site or go to the Tiffany Studios lamps section on the Fine Art Investments  web site. Of those who fill out the simple “Lamp Evaluation Form” or one of the other short forms, probably 70% of them state that their lamp is unsigned, or they ask me how to tell if they have an “authentic” Tiffany Studios lamp or not. Maybe these unsure people lack the time to read the main sections of the web site or maybe I am not clear enough. The answer to that question is shown and described on the web site. I’ll elaborate more here, but I’ll also refer you to the following pages and links on the Fine Art Investments web site which are there  to help you and also to help me determine if what you have is an authentic Tiffany Studios lamp:

http://www.fineartinvestments.org/tiffanylamps.shtml

http://www.antiquetiffanylamps.com/

http://www.antiquetiffanylamps.com/examples.shtml

In addition to the pages and images on the pages above, and to repeat some things that I have written and that are basic facts about Tiffany lamps of the hanging, desk, table lamp or floor lamp styles (leaded shades) I will add these things that are in my experience reliable guidelines to follow when assessing what you have or do not have:

• The majority of all authentic Tiffany Studios leaded glass lamp shades (regardless of whether they are hanging shades, table lamps, desk lamps or floor lamps) are "stamp signed" into the bottom inner metal shade rim. It will say "TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK," sometimes with a number beside that to the right. It will be in small, all capital “block” font letters. True, some shades are not signed, but the majority of them most commonly found are signed. There are slight variations to how the rim signature looks - it can be on a small bronze "tag" soldered to the rim also, but it will always say, "TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK." Also it's good to remember that even if signed, unless you have owned the shade/lamp since before about 1963, it could be a very good forgery. Only an expert can tell for certain if it is authentic. I can tell if you send me very clear, well lighted digital photos of the lamp and the signature.  

• If is a "lily" light shaded desk, table or floor lamp or unleaded dome shaped, "cased glass" iridescent style shade, the signature will be etched into the top of the narrow neck of the shade rim, (where it goes up into the socket) with the initials "L.C.T." or "L.C.T. Favrile."  

• All of Tiffany's leaded lamp bases are made of a bronze "metalware" alloy.  A very few leaded shade lamps have a glass base, but these are rare. Also, a few were made from art pottery. The 'bronze' bases (in brown color or sometimes gold) will have a solid plate on the bottom of the base, (exception being a few bases with tripod or individual curved feet, in which case the same signature will usually be on the bottom of one of the feet, where it sits on a table or floor. It will likewise say “TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK,” also with a number stamped below that signature usually. If it says “Dale Tiffany” or has numbers only, or has any other manufacturer’s name, “Made in Mexico,” or things of that nature, the base certainly is not by Tiffany Studios. There are 1-2 other variations or "looks" to these base signatures. But it will always say "TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK" in all capital block letters.

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Dennis

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