Early 20th-Century Daum Art Glass Lamp
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GUEST:
My grandmother got it from her sister. I believe it was about around 1930. My aunt was moving, and my grandmother had four little boys, and she said, "Would you come buy a train set from me?" And when my grandmother went there, I think the lamp also came home with her. So my grandmother had it, she gave it to her only daughter, my aunt, who's now in her early 80s, and when I went to help my aunt move from California, from Los Angeles, to the Pittsburgh area, she said to me, "Is there anything you would like?" So when I went into the bedroom, I saw this lamp and I said, "I have a blue living room." I said, "That would be very nice." And she said, "It's yours."
APPRAISER:
What do you know about it beyond that?
GUEST:
She told me that it was from France, that it was a Daum Nancy lamp.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
We had looked it up on the Internet at one point to see some value, and there was an amber one there that was very similar-- I don't know about the size-- and it was about $800.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
So we kind of thought maybe the value was about $800.
APPRAISER:
Okay, and then you had mentioned that there was a signature on the shade.
GUEST:
Yes, on the front of the shade. It almost looks like it's scratched in.
APPRAISER:
That would be referred to as an etched signature.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
And actually here, we have "Daum," "Nancy," which is where the Daum factory was located, and then, "France." They were started by a fellow named Jean Daum in 1878 in Nancy. And they were perceived as some of the highest level decorative glass makers in the world at that time, and then upon the death of Emile Gale in 1904, they really were perceived as the premier decorative glass makers. Probably better known than this type of lamp are the cameo glass lamps, Daum cameo. This one, more into the Art Deco period, very much stylistically Deco, and then you have this mottled, wonderful green into blue palette. These are hand-wrought supports here as well. And then someone replaced the socket and rewired it.
GUEST:
I was wondering. We put a 15-watt bulb in it to use as a nightlight. Should we keep a small wattage bulb in there?
APPRAISER:
Yeah, I think that's always appropriate for this type of lamp. You really have to kind of be careful. We see so many fakes, day in and day out, being produced, much of the time in Central Europe. But this one, it really is a legitimate Daum lamp. Very nicely done, very good size, and it's a very attractive lamp. I would say, retail, we're talking about $5,000 or $6,000 very easily. You have a nice piece of art glass from the early 20th century and you have a nice family story as well.
GUEST:
All right, thank you very much.
APPRAISER:
It's a pleasure to see it. I'm glad you came in.
GUEST:
All right, thank you.
Appraisal Details
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