A few years ago, a woman brought a lovely glass panel lamp to a presentation a friend and I were conducting to teach folks not to throw away their family’s treasures.
The woman wanted to know what the lamp was worth. I wasn’t sure what type it was, but after some research I found out that it was a slag lamp. I actually found a lamp just like hers that had sold for $750.
I thought about her lamp recently when I came across three beautiful slag glass panel lamps at auction. One had a carved metal design that looked like a painting, and another had a bright red accent color. They were all lit up, just waiting for somebody to take them home.
The lamps were in a roped-off area of the auction house, meaning that we bidders or lookers were not allowed near them. So I was unable to determine who the maker was, but I doubt that any were made by the world-famous Tiffany Studios.
Tiffany’s was among a number of companies that made slag glass panel lamps in the early 20th century. These lamps were an alternative for people who could not afford Louis Comfort Tiffany’s expensive and meticulously handmade lamps. While Tiffany’s lamps ran in the hundreds of dollars, these could be had for less than $20. In 1925, Sears, Roebuck and Co. was said to be selling these art glass lamps in its catalog for $6.90 top $19. A 1923 ad showed them selling for $22 to $59.
The slag glass panel lamp originated in the late 19th century in England. Slag itself is a byproduct produced when metal is separated from its ore. The slag was added to molten glass to create such effects as tortoise shell to marbling. It was used largely for lampshades.
The slag glass panel lamps were not the only ones at the auction. There were several leaded lamps in that style of Tiffany. Two of them reminded me of a woman’s church hat.
The Tiffany Studios in New York was known for its lamps that resembled stained glass. The company’s lamps are very valuable and also very hard to find. There are plenty of lamps out there that resemble Tiffany’s, and there are ways to spot an authentic one.
The company produced its first lamp in 1895, and the lamps took off after they were shown at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. For years, Tiffany and his male staffers were credited with designing the lamps, but that was not the case.
A woman named Clara Driscoll was found to have created 30 Tiffany lamps, including the famous Dragonfly shade. She headed the Women’s Cutting Department where the so-called “Tiffany Girls” cut the glass from patterns and hand-assembled the lamps. Driscoll was hired by Tiffany in 1888.
Here are other lamps from the auction:
