by Dr. Lori Verderame
When it comes to vintage lamps, look for quality in this list of famous lamp makers. I say this about all vintage and antique objects and lamps are no exception. Lamps are some of the most overlooked decorative art objects in the marketplace today. While we all rely on them, we don’t give them a second thought when it comes to their value as vintage design pieces or valuable antiques. They are both important to design and many lamps can be very valuable. Various types of lamps hold value too. Wondering which lamps you should look for? Read on. Floor lamps, table lamps, and desk lamps all have a dedicated following of collectors and values that may surprise you.
What to Look For
Design qualities and features of vintage and antique lamps that impact market value are high quality craftsmanship, designer names, good materials, complete parts, original bases, original shades, and interesting designs. Look for lamps that have hand-painted porcelain or blown glass bases, cast metal figural elements, modern designs like sleek geometric forms or Brutalist metal details, stained and slag glass shades or reverse glass painted shades, and finials that match the overall design of the lamp. You can find lamps of all different types for bargain prices at thrift stores, yard sales, and elsewhere and you can resell them for top dollar. These features and other design characteristics in your lamp can increase the value of a vintage or antique lamp.
When evaluating lamps, certain lamp manufacturers and styles set the tone with collectors during certain time periods. If you find a quality lamp by an established maker in that maker’s famous design, then value goes up. Potential buyers and seasoned collectors like to collect lamps by design, style, time period, country of origin, etc.
Early 20th Century Lamps
The early 20th Century and the advent of electric lighting changed the face of the lamp collecting market. If you are looking for a fine antique lamp, you can’t go wrong by selecting a Tiffany Studios of East Corona, NY or a Pairpoint Corporation lamp from New Bedford, MA as these manufacturers always bring good value and their most famous lamp designs date to the early 1900s in America.
Tiffany Studios, of course, is known for their perfected stained-glass shades featuring organic forms of the Art Nouveau art movement in early 1900s time period. They are also known for commanding very high prices for their lamps. In fact, I appraised a Tiffany floor lamp with a stained-glass shade featuring Shasta daisies for nearly $1 Million dollars. Others that I have appraised have been worth $500,000 for a traditional table lamp by Tiffany Studios in the famous dragonfly motif. Turtleback Tiffany lamps can also command between $75,000 and $150,000 at auction, online, and other outlets where antiques are sold. Tiffany Studios lamps are the sought-after examples featuring imagery of flowers, insects, animals, and landscapes in the firm’s mature and characteristic style. Tiffany Studios lamps are typically clearly marked on the top of the stained-glass lamp shade or on the side of the metal armature support. Fine craftsmanship and superior designs set Tiffany Studios apart from their imitators in this list of famous lamp makers.
Like Tiffany Studios’ devoted fans, many collectors like to add a Pairpoint Corporation lamp to their collection. The Pairpoint Corporation of New Bedford, MA is a well-known producer of fine lamps for the living room, bedroom, and workplace. The Pairpoint Corporation is the firm responsible for the molded glass shades known as the “puffy shades” lamps featuring formed glass shades with hand painted images on the reverse side of the lamp. Puffy shades are often painted to highlight leaves, various flowers, or landscape scenes. On the market, historically, a Pairpoint puffy shade lamp sold for upwards of $50,000 at the height of the lamp collecting craze and today, while not as pricey, antique and vintage Pairpoint lamps command values into the several thousands of dollars. These lamps continue to keep Pairpoint Corporation lamps in the front of collectors’ minds.
Other well-known American lamp manufacturers include:
Bradley & Hubbard of Meriden, CT
Handel of Meriden, CT
Fulper of Flemington, NJ
Gustav Stickley of Syracuse, NY.
Each of these firms manufactured lamps and today collectors look for these names to add to their collections, too. For instance, Bradley & Hubbard produced traditional lamps for everyday use while Fulper made and marketed specialty lamps featuring the firm’s well-known ceramic body forms for its lamp bases. And, the Stickley firm, another popular designer of the early 1900s, offered the buying and collecting public lamps that were in the firm’s very popular Craftsman style.
Art Deco Lighting
As the late 19th and early 20th Century march on, the Roaring Twenties contributed a great deal of new design ideas for decorative arts, specifically for lamps.
Another example in the list of famous lamp makers is Frankart Inc. of New York whose lamps were the premier lamps of the Art Deco period (circa 1920s-1930s) with elaborate figural bases and impressive designs that intrigued 1920 flappers and 2020 collectors alike. Frankart Inc. lamps have bases that highlight female figures holding or presenting lamps in the form of spheres or cubes. The geometric emphasis of design elements of the era coupled with the sinuous and organic curvy forms of the figures holding the lamps are attractive to many.
A traditional Frankart lamp from the Art Decop period had a spherical shade held up by a cast metal and patinated figure or a cube shaped lamp resting on the lap of a nude beauty seated on a pedestal. The Frankart look was very popular in its day and remains sought-afterby collectors today, too. Frankart table lamps are valued from the low hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars in the marketplace.
Mid Century Modern Lamps
While early 20th Century lamps are regularly traded in the marketplace, there is a movement afoot that desires that the market moves into the realm of fine mid 20th century modern lamps. These lamps originate from many parts of the world and some of the best-known names or designers are those which command high prices. Which ones are they?
For mid-century modern (MCM) lamps, there are many international designers whose shops are based in countries such as Italy, Sweden, America, and Denmark. Fine quality lamps by these designer shops regularly bring high prices. Valuable lamps from the mid-century modern (MCM) period include those made by:
Murano of Venice, Italy
California’s Nardini Studio
Paul Henningsen designs of Denmark
If mid-century modern styles are what you are after to collect or resell, Murano blown glass lamps offer designs such as the famous millefiori or bases of cased or blown colored glass with gold flecks. Consider lamps made by the California firm of Nardini Studio in the USA as these floor lamps incorporate trendy glass table tops and cast pottery features. And lastly, Paul Henningsen’s Scandinavian design lamps reconsider highly recognizable everyday forms like artichokes, fruits, and vegetables, hence, offering a new take on an old standard. Italian firms Arredoluce, Artemide, and Arteluce, to name a few, were important lamp manufacturers that had designers on staff who were busy actively designing and marketing lamps in the mid 20th Century. Clearly marked and in good condition, these lamps can command values in the $500 to $3,000 value range.
While these mid-century modern names are good to know and valuable to look out for, designers and export firms with a stable of designers are important to the mid-century modern collecting trend. For instance, many designers produced classic lamps for distribution firms. Designers such as Michie Clay, Peter Hamberger, and Isamu Noguchi all designed lamps for Knoll during the mid 20th Century time period and these lamps, in good condition with their original parts and shades, command high prices in the vintage resale marketplace, too. The best way to find good MCM lamps is to look for the Knoll label. If you see the Knoll label on a lamp, buy it. You can research the designer with ease online and when you see how much these lamps sell for on the resale market, you’ll be glad you purchased that vintage lamp.
For more traditional lamps appropriate for workspaces, occasional tables, or desks, there are many designs that impress collectors made by companies such as:
The Stiffel Lamp Company of Chicago, IL
Aladdin Industries of New York, NY
Lightolier of New York, NY
The Stiffel Lamp Company’s lamps are recognizable for their obvious late 1900s designs in brass and are another manufacturer to add to our list of famous lamp makers. Throughout the decades of the late 20th Century, Stifffel usually sold its lamps in pairs and a Stiffel lamp in the 1970s and 1980s were the envy of the neighbors. Today, Stiffel lamps are big scores at thrift stores and yard sales. If you have the opportunity to purchase a pair, don’t pass it up. Find the money to buy them both. Values of Stiffel lamps range from the high hundreds to well into the thousands of dollars.
Reselling Tips
Lamps can be unassuming in the marketplace too when compared to sculptures, sofas, and tables. On average, very good quality and very high value lamps can be overlooked in the marketplace. People are surprised at the high prices that people are paying for vintage and antique lamps today. I always tell my clients “Don’t let it go until you know what it’s worth.” Some of these list of famous lamp makers show up at yard sales, thrift stores, and online auctions for a fraction of their true retail value.
Don’t give up on a lamp just because it doesn’t work. A lamp doesn’t have to be working to be valuable. Rewiring a vintage lamp is easy and inexpensive yet rewiring to improve the function of a lamp makes a big impact when listing a lamp for resale. You may want to keep the original wiring as proof of the lamp’s age or origin if you are reselling an old lamp that you have rewired. Most antique lamp buyers want new wiring for safety reasons. Don’t change or damage the base when you rewire. Rewiring an antique or vintage lamp is a great way to attract buyers and increase the value of your old lamp.
Watch videos on my YouTube channel where I share a list of famous lamp makers. I can appraise your lamp from photos or you can show me your lamp during a video call.
