Items made by Tiffany regain ‘stylish’ status
Terry & Kim Kovel
Mention “Tiffany,” and collectors might think of many different items made by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
The designer and creator of glass, pottery, jewelry, windows, lamps — and even houses, rooms and gardens — fell out of favor less than a decade after his death in 1933. Nowadays, though, everything he did is back in style.
Charles Lewis Tiffany, Louis Tiffany’s father, opened a jewelry store in 1837 that still does business as Tiffany & Co. Louis Comfort Tiffany started his own business in 1879 and named it Louis Comfort Tiffany and Associated American Artists (1879-1902).
He also was a decorator for his father’s company in the early 1900s. The name was changed to Tiffany Studios after his father died in 1902, and he became vice president. L.C. Tiffany usually signed his name on his famous iridescent glass instead of the Tiffany Studios company name. He also signed his name on his paintings and sketches.
The jewelry and clocks he designed were made by and signed Tiffany & Co. The Tiffany Glass Co. made the glass for the windows and lamps, but many of the windows were not signed. He also made many metal and glass desk sets, paperweights, candlesticks, bookends, glass scarabs and other small objects. Presentday collectors and art buyers want anything with any of the many Tiffany marks, and some of those items sell for more than $100,000.
Q: At an antiques show in Pennsylvania, I saw a small quilt labeled a “privy bag.” I know what a privy is, of course, but I’ve never heard of a fancy bag used to hold toilet paper in an outhouse. I have a bet with my husband that it is dealer’s joke term.
A: You lose. Online A table lantern marked “Tiffany Studios New York,” which sold for $6,655 at a recent auction in Maine
references date back to 2010 for books and exhibits in Pennsylvania featuring quilted privy bags made to hold toilet paper. Among the examples at a recent show, one was priced at $995.
The quilted bags have mostly been traced to the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, area. Privy toilet paper often consisted of pages of an old Sears, Roebuck catalog or squares of newsprint stored on a large nail.
A decorative holder was crocheted in the 1920s and 1930s from directions in some sewing magazines. A full, round, colorful crocheted skirt was made to fit a small doll. The legs of the doll were stuffed into the cardboard center, and the skirt covered the paper.
Q: I think I have a Collier Holland No. 561 planter, which is oval and slightly bulbous and has a rolled rim. It resembles the Collier pattern made by Gouda pottery, but it doesn’t say Gouda. Other markings on the bottom: two diamonds, one above the other, and a stylized house. Have you come across anything like this?
A: Gouda, Holland, has been a pottery center since the 17th century, and Gouda is the generic name for pottery made in several factories there.
Some early Gouda items are marked with only a pattern name or a pattern name and a number.
The Plateelbakkerij ZuidHolland, or PZH, factory was founded in Gouda in 1897. In about 1910, the company developed a new process to make matte glazed pottery. Your planter has a version of the PZH logo — the little house that represents the Gate of Lazarus, once an impressive stone doorway of the leper infirmary in Gouda.
The two diamonds, tip to tip, are the date mark for 1923. Gouda planters of this era sell for $125 to $250.
Current prices
Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary by location because of local economic conditions.
• Rockingham pitcher: raised arm, hammer, inscribed protection to American industry; 9 inches; $90
• Christmas cookie jar: drummers drumming around Christmas tree, Fitz & Floyd; 18 1 /2 by 13 3 /4 inches; $245