Tiffany Studios Chainmail Fixture, ca. 1905

Appraised on: July 9, 2011

Appraised in: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Appraised by: Arlie Sulka

Category: Glass

Episode Info: Minneapolis, Hour 1 (#1616)

Originally Aired: May 7, 2012

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (1:39)

GUEST: It's a light fixture that hangs in our sunroom at our house.

APPRAISER: Did this come with your house?

GUEST: Yeah, it was in the house when we bought it ten years ago.

APPRAISER: What you have here is a fixture that was made by Tiffany Studios.

GUEST: It was? Ah!

APPRAISER: What we have are little pieces of Tiffany glass that are in little metal frames, and they're held together by these links. Now, these links are very sturdy; they're not flimsy. And up here, they're attached to this cap, which is an original cap, with double wire. What's great about this is there isn't anything wrong with it. It's in 100% original condition. You have the original cap, and then this is original chain, which is something that people in... who collect Tiffany always want to have, all the way up to that ceiling cap that you see here, and then this little hook up there, all Tiffany, 100%.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: The dating is correct. This kind of patterning in the draped glass is called chainmail.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: Tiffany was very charmed by the Moorish designs, and a lot of his fixtures during this period were comprised of this kind of work. If this were in a retail gallery today, it would sell probably for between $20,000 and $25,000.

GUEST: Oh, my God. Wow. That's wonderful.