19th-Century J. Hoare Cut Glass Lamp
GUEST:
Well, it was a lamp that was always at my grandmother's house on the top shelf of the china closet. And it was there for as long as I can remember and we weren't allowed to touch it or God knows what would've happened. And once in a while she'd take it down and show us that it really worked.
APPRAISER:
That the light turned on?
GUEST:
That's right.
APPRAISER:
Well, what you have is a boudoir lamp, a vanity-type lamp, and the maker is J. Hoare, H-O-A-R-E. And if we take this shade off, and we look right in the center of the lampshade, you'll see the mark of "J. Hoare, 1853." Now, Mr. Hoare was a predominant glass maker in Corning, New York, along with all the other big names-- Libby, Pairpoint. J. Hoare was an excellent cutter. He had five partners when he first started out in 1853. However, this lamp was made more into the Brilliant Period, which would be about 1880 to 1914. This lamp has so many wonderful patterns on it. It has the etched flower pattern... daisy button pattern, right in this part here, and it is excellent all-over cutting. These are the prisms, or the lusters, and I set them over here so you could see that there's a cut luster and then there is a flat luster. These lusters are put on and you can see they're put on jagged. That can be easily fixed by just working with these wires that are all the way around. They just pinch the wire and these should all level out and be even. And I like to see a lamp that has all cut and none of the plain.
GUEST:
Do you think that originally came with the two different kinds of prisms?
APPRAISER:
No, I don't, I think it all had one. And you can buy them new and it doesn't hurt the value; if you want to have all the ones the same. I'm sure from watching the ROADSHOW, you know when there are problems, the value can go down. You're very lucky. The value is not hurt by the prisms because it's easy to fix, easy to repair, and can be as normal as when it came out of the factory a hundred years ago. And the lamp is worth between $2,500 and $3,500.
GUEST:
Great. That's very nice, thank you.
Appraisal Details
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