Art Nouveau Swan Lamp, ca. 1890
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APPRAISER:
This lamp was made in the late 19th century, and it's an example of the Art Nouveau style. Where did you come across this lamp?
GUEST:
After my father died, my mom was kind of asking us which pieces we preferred. And I really have to be honest. I never thought much of this, but my husband just loved it. And so I told my mom that Bill really, really loved the lamp and she knew he'd appreciate it so she gave it to us.
APPRAISER:
Well, I believe that this lamp was made in France in the 19th century. The shade on this lamp has wonderful pink swans on it, which also are reproduced in the base. The base is made of bronze. It's a bronze dorè base, and the dorè refers to the gold color that it has. The shade is probably made by a very fine French manufacturer, the Daum Factory or Pantin. It's not signed, however, and the reason that it's not is that both of these factories produced shades for lamp companies. It wasn't the important part of the lamp at that day, but today, art glass collectors are very interested. This shade was made by blowing glass into a mold and then acid-etching back the decoration as well as applying some enamel decoration on the top of that. So it's a three-part process and very beautiful.
GUEST:
We have the original fringe and I forgot to bring it with us. It's fallen apart. It's individual little glass beads strung. And I think it must have hung on the inside of the lamp. And I just forgot it.
APPRAISER:
I do think that it would look more beautiful without this fringe on it, and so I'd like to take it off, if we can do that. Notice this curvilinear line around the outside of the shade. So I encourage you to replace the proper fringe on this lamp and bring it back to its true glory.
GUEST:
We promise.
APPRAISER:
Well, I think that the lamp, were it to be sold today, would probably fetch in the $2,000 to $3,000 range.
Appraisal Details
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