Handel Leaded Glass Shade, ca. 1907
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GUEST:
The only thing we know is that it hung in my parents' family room over the table for, like, 35 years. And my mother passed away, and then eventually my father, so then it became mine. It's a Handel signed lamp, and my father counted all the pieces, and there's 877 pieces.
APPRAISER:
Well, you're right about it being a Handel, but believe it or not, there are 1,100 pieces of glass in this lamp.
GUEST:
Oh! Then he didn't count right.
APPRAISER:
Well, it's hard to count. But I'll tell you why I know there are 1,100 pieces in the lamp. Because in an article written in July of 1907, this lamp was described. And one of the things that it said was, "There are exactly 1,100 pieces of leaded glass in this lamp."
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
It said, "The background, or upper portion of the shade, "suggests rich foliage that extends down over the skirt, or apron..." And this is the apron right here. "...and breaks into flowers and fruits, which are not only fashioned, but are also colored in a manner closely imitative of the types they represent."
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness.
APPRAISER:
So it's very exciting that someone took notice of this lamp back in 1907. They thought that it was a really excellent example. So it was probably made circa 1906, 1907. Handel was actually based in Meriden, Connecticut, and in 1905 they opened a factory in New York, specifically to make this kind of lamp. This kind of lamp at the time, what they called this glass, "opalescent glass," and there was more opalescent glass in and around New York City and Brooklyn, but also the people who knew how to assemble these lamps were really located in that area, so it's been suggested by a number of scholars that that's probably the reason why they opened the New York showroom and factory.
GUEST:
I see.
APPRAISER:
Well, it is a hanging lamp. There is evidence inside the shade that it could have also fit on a floor base.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
But this is done very nicely as the hanging lamp, and I believe that it probably came two ways. I don't think that that's an original cap, the very top of it, and you don't have original chain. That's something you could look for, and that would increase the value. It's a very fine example of a leaded glass shade by Handel. It's one of the nicer ones, and it's one of the larger ones also.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
It would retail at least for between $12,000 and $17,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my, wow.
APPRAISER:
And since this has always been in your family as a hanging shade, it should stay like that.
GUEST:
That's what we'll keep it as.
APPRAISER:
It's very beautiful.
GUEST:
Thank you. We love it.
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