Antiques Roadshow, perhaps?

April 15, 2011 2:55 PM

Help me identify and date this glass pendant lamp.

The thrift store I work at just received this really cool glass pendant lamp, and we have no idea what it is or what the value might be. I've taken some pics, available
here

I tried Googling strings like "art glass/vintage/Murano/Italian/cased glass/optic glass" but I can't find anything that combines this style of the metal wraps and the striped glass. Thanks for any help you can give.

posted by anotherkate to home & garden (5 answers total)

Try this guy. He seems to be pretty much an antique lighting nerd, and although he says he doesn't give appraisals, he's likely to know if your light's Victorian, 1920s, etc., and you can search further from there.
posted by essexjan at 3:23 PM on April 15, 2011

Looks rather like lamps I've seen from Portugal (could be Spanish)... tried to find an example for you, but my google-fu is weak tonight. If the force is strong with me tomorrow, I'll pop back in.
posted by likeso at 3:59 PM on April 15, 2011

Gorgeous, whatever it is.
posted by maryr at 7:28 PM on April 15, 2011

You might add this to your google search, to include the shape (melon) and how it was created: melon glass blown into frame
posted by Houstonian at 7:00 AM on April 16, 2011

I found one that is almost identical on the fossilfly forum, here. The responders there say that this is caged Murano glass, and the pattern comes from a technique called reticello, which requires two glassblowers working together. The one on that site is only white and clear, and they are saying it's a great example and lesser items sell for $200 so that one could be as much as $400. Yours seems nicer, to me. Another person has a similar lamp, and believes it was made in the 1960s by Toso Brothers.

That forum has a buying/selling board, by the way...
posted by Houstonian at 6:56 AM on April 30, 2011