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By: Richard Cazzo
Website: http://www.lamps-n-lighting.com
Tiffany floor lamp: If there's a "Holy Grail"
of Tiffany lamps, auctioneer Timothy W. Conroy
thinks he's found it. What's more, if your pockets
are deep enough, you can buy it on May 29.
That's when Conroy, president of T.W. Conroy
& Associates Inc., will conduct an auction
that includes a rare Tiffany floor lamp that he
estimates will sell for more than $100,000. The
auction begins at 10 a.m., with the Tiffany floor
lamp selling at 11:30 a.m. The lamp can be seen
prior to the auction at 8 a.m. May 29 or at noon
May 28 at Conroy's gallery, 36 Oswego St., Baldwinsville.
There are several reasons why the Tiffany floor
lamp is unique, says Conroy, who's a member of
the American Society of Appraisers. First, it's
a floor lamp, standing 5 feet, 7 inches tall,
and Tiffany floor lamps are rare. Also unusual,
Conroy says, is the lamp's base, which has an
intricate mosaic motif.
The shade, which measures 23 inches in diameter,
features green stained glass in a fish-scale pattern
that's edged with vertical pieces of blue and
green glass. Both the base and the shade bear
the signature of "Tiffany Studios, New York."
Louis Comfort Tiffany lived from 1848 to 1933
and is best known as the designer of decorative
glass objects, including windows, lamps and vases,
fashioned in an Art Nouveau style. Tiffany is
also credited with inventing a process for making
opalescent glass, which reflects light in a unique
way.
Conroy has been searching for months to find
another lamp to compare this one to, but without
luck. That may be because, according to one Tiffany
floor lamp expert who examined the piece, the
lamp could have been a prototype and perhaps "the
first and only one" produced, Conroy says.
When Conroy saw the Tiffany floor lamp for the
first time, he says he could barely contain his
excitement. "My heart was probably beating
visibly in my chest. . . . This is like the Holy
Grail for me."
And maybe for others. The Tiffany floor lamp,
which appears in a color ad on the back cover
of the May issue of the trade publication
The Antiquer, has attracted the attention of
serious Tiffany collectors around the world, Conroy
says. Potential bidders from Colorado, Florida,
New York City and the West Coast have secured
telephone lines to bid on it. Another potential
bidder from France has inquired as well.
Conroy says the Tiffany floor lamp belonged to
a successful Central New Yorker who owned a business
that would have been well known around 1900. Conroy
declined to identify the businessman to protect
the security and privacy of his descendants.
"This man had a penchant for Tiffany floor
lamps and other high-end pieces," Conroy
says. "He only bought the very best."
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