Antique Tiffany Lamp Values: Authentic Tiffany Lamp Values Vary Greatly

Most people who collect antiques or read antique publications are aware that an authentic Tiffany lamp is not something one can easily buy for a few hundred dollars unless a person gets extremely lucky, or unless something is wrong with the lamp or shade, such as condition, prior restorations or something else.

Unlike other areas of antiques and collectibles, where there might be two or three or four styles or "grades" (as in "average," better, best and rare examples), genuine Tiffany lamps can be seen in literally hundreds of styles, sizes, materials, shapes and colors, all of which determine their fair market value. Keep in mind that buying at an auction or privately can be much less expensive than if you buy from a large, fancy gallery which has high overhead and other costs.

Someone wanting to start collecting authentic Tiffany Studios lamps can actually buy something like an all glass small "candle stick" lamp as pictured below. The pair of lovely authentic Tiffany Studios all glass 14 inch high lamps sold at Christie's Auction House in New York in 2011 for just a little over $8000. for the pair! While that is not as inexpensive as many antiques, the cost is well within what many collectors will pay for a nice antique piece of furniture, tall case clock, large antique oriental rug, oil painting, antique French doll and many other things. Below are the two lamps as photographed for the Christie's sale:

The next step up the value ladder as far as Tiffany Studios lamp value would be the desk lamp with a cased glass "Favrile" shade. They can range from 6 inches in diameter to about 10 inches, for the desk style lamps.The two commonly found styles are plain base and "counterbalance" base, which adds to the value and cost at a private sale or auction. These are very commonly found and the glass shades are found in colors of green, gold/amber and blue.

This photo above shows a "counter balance" desk lamp with a green glass "Favrile" shade. The shades are iridescent when not lighted and change color when lighted. These commonly sell now in the more common gold and green colored 6-10 inch shade sizes for between $6000-$9,500. at auction.

Above is a common example of a dome shaped "Favrile" shade in a dimple "harp" base. The price range for these in green and gold shades (unlighted color) is usually in the $3,200-$5,000 range at auction these days. If the shade color is in the more rare and very desirable blue color, the value can easily double.

Next in value come the geometric design shades with plain (nothing fancy) glass. They come in hanging shades and those with a table or floor base. Those with bases will cost more, assuming the shades are similar in value. I will only show the table examples with bases in this blog. They usually are in green or gold/amber colored glass colors. The common shade sizes are 16-20 inches. Assuming the base is not very rare and uncommonly valuable, the geometric lamps can be bought between about $8000-$25,000 at auctions, depending on the shade diameter, how rich the colors are and the base style.  See one example below.

The plain green geometric 18 inch shade on a canister or urn shaped base above will usually sell in the $14,000-$19,000 price range at auction.

One step above we see the floral shaded lamps. The prices start to jump up here, because the pattern, the richness or the glass colors, glass type, and the base style, will make for a wide swing in prices, even when comparing several lamps with the same pattern in the shade. Excluding the rarest patterns and very expensive bases, lamps like tulip, daffodil, peony, dogwood and poppy will sell in the $40,000-$100,000+ price range, depending on shade size, glass colors and style of the base. It's quite a wide price range, but as I stated above, simply a change in glass color can double the value (or more) of a lamp, compared to another lamp with the same pattern.

Above is a nice red "Poppy" table lamp with a 20 inch shade, which has a more expensive "twisted vine" base. It sold for $135,750 in 2013. Without the fancy base the price would probably have been closer to $100,000. The "Poppy" pattern is very popular among collectors.

And while there are many lamps in the $50,000-$75,000 price range in dragonfly, floral and other patterns, I'll skip to the very high end of the lamps, and show a rare patterned lamp which sold recently.

The very rare Tiffany Studios "Snowball" pattern table lamp above brought a very healthy $459,750 at auction at Christie's New York auction house in June 2013. Prices like this are rare, and as illustrated above, there are many very lovely authentic Tiffany Studios lamps available to collectors for $50,000 and under. As with collecting or buying anything else, quality and rarity will cost more. An individual who wants a Tiffany Studios lamp in their antique collection can still have as seen above, a nice example for between $6,000-$40,000.

More to come...

Dennis

Email Me

Visit My Website

LinkedIn

Google+  

Facebook

Phone: Toll Free (888) 663-0606  10 am - 10 pm EST Daily