American Slag Glass Lamps
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APPRAISER:
It was certainly serendipitous when the both of you, coming up in two sides of the line, appeared at my table this morning with two very similar lamps. America wasn't fully electrified until the 1930s, during the Depression. Up to that time, wealthier people had electric lights.
GUEST:
Well, back in 1927, my father-in-law went to New Jersey to stay and he lived with a woman, and it was his landlord, and ever since then, he took care of her until she deceased, at which time he got her estate, and this was one of the objects that she had in her home.
APPRAISER:
Very nice object indeed. This is made by the Handel glass manufacturing company in Meriden, Connecticut, somewhere between 1920 and 1930. Handel made several different types of lamps. They made the leaded glass lamps like you find in Tiffany lamps, then you came down a level to the slag glass lamps, and very much on the same level were the reverse-painted glass lamps. This is a slag glass lamp with a filigree overlay with this wonderful sunset glass behind it. It's just a lovely landscape lamp. Now, if you'll help me take off the shade, it's marked in two places very clearly. It's marked on the rim, "Handel," and also on the base, it has a felt sticker, and it also has the Handel mark right here. Now, before I tell you what the value is, I'm going to go to this gentleman's lamp and we can show the difference. Many people couldn't afford this type of a lamp, so in order to have more and more middle-class people be able to enjoy lamps of this type, several other factories made them at a lesser value.
GUEST:
Well, I acquired it from my grandparents after they deceased. It was left to me in the will. Other than that, I don't know anything about it.
APPRAISER:
We don't know the manufacturer of this lamp. There are no markings on it, but it was made around the same time as the Handel lamp-- 1920, 1925, possibly as late as 1930. Slag glass, a less elaborate overlay. Well, as Tiffany lamps are becoming more and more valuable, these lamps are also going up in value. This lamp at auction today would bring around $1,000 to $1,500. And this Handel lamp would bring considerably more. We would do very well with this lamp and probably get somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000.
GUEST:
That's very nice. That's great.
Appraisal Details
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