Tiffany Pony Wisteria Lamp Leads Heritage Auction, Estimated at US$300,000–US$500,000
A Tiffany Studios table lamp is expected to sell for between US$300,000 and US$500,000 at Heritage Auctions, the US auction house. The lamp leads the house's Early 20th Century Design Signature Auction, scheduled for 11 November, according to a Heritage press release.
The piece is the Pony Wisteria Table Lamp, made around 1910 by Tiffany Studios, the design workshop run under the American artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. It is offered as Lot 79003 in Heritage's Auction 8256. A lot is the single item put up for sale, given its own number in the catalogue.
Heritage describes the lamp as made of leaded glass and patinated bronze. Leaded glass is coloured glass pieces joined by thin strips of metal. Patinated bronze is bronze with a coloured surface finish, applied over time or by hand. The listing gives the lamp's size as 17 by 10 inches, or 43.2 by 25.4 centimetres.
The estimate is the auction house's forecast of the likely sale range. It is not a guaranteed price. The final result depends on bidding on the day. The hammer price, the bid the auctioneer closes on, is set before fees. Buyers then pay a buyer's premium, a fee added on top of that figure.
Heritage's sale is one of several design auctions that run in the autumn. For readers who follow the market, the November date is the main thing to watch. For everyone else, the lamp is a useful reminder that the price on a catalogue page is a starting point, not the final number.
