by Mike Fredericks, Department Head

In the early 1900s, Tiffany Studios designed and produced an incredible array of candlesticks, candelabra and luxury household items they termed “Fancy Goods” for the well-heeled consumer, that today give both the beginning collector and advanced connoisseur opportunity to add to their collections with endless variety at either end of the value spectrum.

In his noted work Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Alastair Duncan shares the following:

“A legend entitled ‘Candlestick Tops’, included at the end of the 1906 price list, directed the customer to the fact that there were twelve interchangeable candlestick tops from which to choose in order to personalize one’s acquisition, including various sizes and shapes in metal and jeweled or blown Favrile Glass. These, in turn, could be surmounted with a similarly broad selection of shades comprised of prisms, blown glass, or filigreed metal. The interchange of candleholders and candleshades generated a seemingly inexhaustible number of configurations, thereby expanding consumer choice. Some of the Studio’s candlesticks drew their artistic inspiration from humble species of meadow plants, such as the wild carrot, Queen Anne’s lace and saxifrage, the last mentioned an herb that grows in the clefts of rocks. The plant’s seed pods were fashioned with great refinement into a bobeche supported by a slender stalk rising from a symmetrical band of leaves that fanned out to form the foot. In this manner, a simple household appliance was transformed into a work-of-art.”

James D Julia, Inc. is pleased to have been selected to offer the Estate of Lynda Cunningham in our upcoming June 2017 auction, featuring nearly 200 lots of fine Tiffany Studios metalware and lighting.