GUEST: This particular piece has been in our family for as long as I can remember. When I was a little girl, this lamp lived in my grandmother's home. We used to love playing with it. When it was lit, we would call it the brain lamp.
APPRAISER: The brain lamp?
GUEST: The brain lamp, yes.
APPRAISER: I understand why.
GUEST: Yes. We also used to do a lot of dressing up as kids, and we would, like, turn it so that we could also use it as a spotlight for our performances.
APPRAISER: How wonderful.
GUEST: It's a very heartfelt piece for our family, so...
APPRAISER: Well, there was a glass called brain glass.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: Yes, but this isn't it.
GUEST: Oh, okay.
APPRAISER: This is actually a turtleback tile iridescent glass, and the glass is thinner than you would see in other items of bigger form. Little bit thin. It's usually not signed. I will never say never, but it's usually not signed. And this is a bronze vase, patinated bronze all the way down to the feet with the lily pad. The good news is, it is Tiffany.
GUEST: Oh, my God! Oh, Kathy, that's fantastic!
APPRAISER: That's the good news.
GUEST: Okay, okay.
APPRAISER: And the bronze bottom does have on the foot the Tiffany Studios mark, and this lamp is circa 1910. Now, this chain has been put on here later. This is a process that can be reversed to make it the way it was originally, which should get done to the piece.
GUEST: All right.
APPRAISER: That does hurt the value a little bit. With regard to replacing the chain, it wouldn't be very expensive. My guess is it would be a few hundred dollars.
GUEST: And it would be specifically a Tiffany chain, correct?
APPRAISER: You would have to take it to a Tiffany specialist
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: to get the specific Tiffany piece. As far as increasing the value on this piece, it would probably increase it maybe by $500 or $600. It wouldn't be a huge amount.
GUEST: Great.
APPRAISER: Now, I found a couple auction records. This was very difficult to find. It's extremely rare. And I would say today, in a retail market, you might find this piece at $30,000 to $40,000.
GUEST: Oh, my gosh! Wow... wow! Oh, my gosh. Kathy, thank you so much. I can't believe it! Wow.
