Fake Tiffany Green Vase

Appraised on: July 13, 1996

Appraised in: Seattle, Washington

Appraised by: Barbara Deisroth

Category: Pottery & Porcelain

Episode Info: Roadshow Favorites (#813)

Originally Aired: April 26, 2004

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (3:10)

APPRAISER: Can you tell me something about this vase and how you found it?

GUEST 1: Well, we know it's a signed Tiffany and my husband found it and he can tell you that little story.

APPRAISER: Tell me that story.

GUEST 2: Well, I went to the East Coast to see an arts and crafts show, which was a lot of Art Deco stuff, and then I took off and came across the country looking for stuff to buy and I found this in an antique store in Colorado and it was just marked "green art-glass vase" and I was attracted to it and the price was right so I bought it.

GUEST 1: The lady thought it was ugly.

APPRAISER: Oh, she did?

GUEST 1: Yeah, she didn’t like it –

GUEST 2: She didn't like green, I guess.

APPRAISER: And what do you think it is?

GUEST 2: Well, it's got a signature that says "Tiffany," so I assumed that it was made by Tiffany Studios.

APPRAISER: And you've done some research on this?

GUEST 2: Yeah, we have an art-glass book that I looked up and found out that he did sign it a number of different ways, and favrile is the type of glass and the dating system has to do with a number and a letter before or after. And I dated it-- according to that book, 1907.

APPRAISER: Great. Well, the first thing I do is just look at the vase, look and see what the shape is, the decoration, the color. I never, ever look at a signature-- ever. Um, anyone can add a signature to an object. When I first saw this, my initial reaction was that it is not by Tiffany.

GUEST 2: That's fine.

APPRAISER: That it is not old. That it was probably made in Italy. What leads me to believe that: the shape is not typical of a Tiffany shape. The glass is too thick. These little tiny flowers here are called "millefiores." This is not the way Tiffany would have done it. This green is too green. Again, the glass is too thick. And it does, in fact, have a Tiffany signature on it right here. It says "L.C. Tiffany Favrile," which, in my opinion, was added at a much later date, and this was made to deceive. These are made in Italy. We see quite many of them on the market, and I think the antique dealer who sold it as a piece of iridescent art glass was correct-- the signature is not Tiffany. It was added. Another thing that you might want to look at is the iridescence inside. This amber iridescence is not something you would find in exactly that color on a piece of Tiffany. How much did you pay for it?

GUEST 2: A little under $400.

APPRAISER: Well, that's probably what it's worth as a very beautiful piece of glass. Thank you for coming.

GUEST: You bet.