20th-Century Tiffany "Curtain Border" Hanging Shade

Appraised on: June 30, 2007

Appraised in: Orlando, Florida

Appraised by: David McCarron

Category: Glass

Episode Info: Orlando, Hour 1 (#1204)

Originally Aired: January 28, 2008

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: ()

GUEST: My mother bought this at a friend's garage sale in 1968. We were doing a little remodeling on the old farmhouse; she wanted a new dining room light. So we've had it since '68. I inherited it, and we had it at our house in Michigan before coming to Florida. And we've been trying to get one of our kids to take it to their house. They just all moved into homes, so maybe after today, one of them will take it.

APPRAISER: Have you had it appraised at all or...?

GUEST: Not really. We had a good friend, colleague that, when my mom died, took a look at it and she said, "I believe this is a Tiffany." She said, "Be careful with it." She said it could be worth a couple thousand dollars. That was a few years ago. We just don't know.

APPRAISER: Well, it is stamped here with a factory stamp. Tiffany Studios, New York. However, there are a fairly good-sized number of very high quality reproduction shades. So, my colleagues and I at the glass table went over this very carefully. Of course, Tiffany was known for the quality of the glass, the quality of the leading, and the quality of the whole package. And we would be very comfortable saying it's a Tiffany shade.

GUEST: Oh, okay, it is.

APPRAISER: This shade was made in the early part of the 20th century, and the pattern for this is curtain border-- it's known as one of the geometrics. Now, apparently, your wife had cleaned some of the...

GUEST: We had that mortal mistake, but again, before you know what you have.

APPRAISER: You know, that's a good thing for everybody to learn from when they're watching Roadshow. That was one of the things that threw us for a little bit. Because this bronze cap seemed a little new because of the cleaning. Well, you stopped before getting too bad on it. That doesn't affect the value too much. There are some minor cracks and lines throughout the shade that, again, they don't affect the value too much. Could you tell me how much your mother paid for it?

GUEST: It was 1968, it was $75.00.

APPRAISER: $75.00, okay. I think a good auction estimate for this would be ten to 15 thousand.

GUEST: Wow. Wow.