Telling the Age of Glass

 QUESTION: I just started collecting antique glass. Unlike antique ceramics, most glass has no mark, so it’s really difficult to tell not only the maker but if it’s even old or not. How can I tell if a piece of older glass is, in fact, old? 

ANSWER: Identifying a piece of older glass is truly a challenge. Because most glass doesn’t have a maker’s mark, about the only way to tell anything about it is by studying its form and decoration. 

Of all the items for sale on the antique market, glass is probably the hardest to identify as being old. In fact, many of the old patterns have found new life in today's households, so much so that manufacturers scramble to fill department store shelves with reproductions. 

Pressed glass frequently is advertised as having been made recently from old– meaning 19th-century molds. However genuine the molds, the resulting glass cannot be compared with the original pieces. Both the glass and its color are somewhat different. The present-day manufacturer who uses 19th-century molds doesn't go to the trouble of mixing a batch of glass according to 19th-century formulas. As a result, his clear glass isn't an exact counterpart of last century's, and the red, green, blue, or other colored glass pieces rarely have the same tints and tones as the originals.

In addition to reproductions, many fakes are being made in pressed glass. One telltale sign of a fake is a slight difference in pattern. During the 1800's, variants of popular patterns became common, but a variant made by a glasshouse other than the one that introduced the pattern shows some alteration in the motifs or their arrangement. A fake, on the other hand, is an attempt to reproduce a pattern of the 1800's without bothering to copy every detail exactly.   

Twentieth-century imitations of the popular Wildflower pattern, for example, have fewer leaves and flowers in each motif. The band of pressed daisies also is narrower. Moon and Star, a pattern that probably wasn't made before the 1880's, can be confused with an inaccurate contemporary version in which the sawtooth-like cutting around the moon is smoother and flatter than in the originals. As a matter of fact, any colored Moon and Star pieces are definitely fakes, for the 19th-century pattern was offered only in clear or clear and frosted glass. Dimensions of pieces also differ, but this is impossible to judge unless you have access to an authenticated 19th-century piece.

Pattern glass was made after 1850 in large sets for the table. Reproductions of even the most popular patterns, however, seldom include the entire set. Goblets are the most widely reproduced pieces, with tumblers, mugs, salts, match-holders, and other small pieces likely in some patterns. Considerable lacy glass with its stippled background, first made by the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company in the 1830's, also is being made now. Lacy glass never was made in a complete table set. Other specific clues for distinguishing between antique pressed glass and this century's copies are discussed in the chapter on pressed glass.

Cup plates, which were generally used until about 1850, and dolphin candlesticks, which were made from the 1830's to the early 1900's, have been so popular that fakes and imitations found a ready market. Dolphin candlesticks made between 1900 and 1910 can hardly be classed as antiques yet, but most of the late ones are much finer work than the more recent fakes and reproductions. Again, some dolphin candlesticks are said to be made from old molds, but the glass isn't the same quality or the color a duplicate of the original.

Dolphin candlesticks were made by many glasshouses, from the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, which introduced them, to firms in Pennsylvania and the Midwest. The earliest Sandwich glass ones had a single square base. Then came the double square or square stepped base, also made at Sandwich and widely reproduced before World War II in the United States and Europe. Other glasshouses during the 1800's produced candlesticks having the dolphin shaft but with bases and sockets differing from those made at Sandwich. A hexagonal base, for example, introduced by a Pittsburgh glass firm in the 1850's has been reproduced widely too. There is also the petticoat dolphin with a high round base first made in the 1850's or 1860's. All styles were made in clear, opalescent, and some colors, also opaque white and opaque blue. 

Anyone who looks carefully should be able to recognize copies of dolphin candlesticks. Those made within the last 30 years have sharper, clearer details--fins in particular are sharper to the touch. The sockets, whether ribbed or petaled, usually don't flare outward. The glass is of poorer quality and the colors more garish. The proportions aren't so good either, for the dolphin is likely to be larger, and many of the copies are shorter candlestick

In spite of the large number of patterns in which cup plates were made in the 1800's, comparatively few are being reproduced. Since the originals were early pressed glass, the quality of the glass was good enough to give a bell-like ring when the little plate was tapped lightly. Reproductions or 20th-century imitations sound dead or dull.

A classic example of a fake, imitation, or reproduction that can confuse all but the most knowing is the Butterfly pattern cup plate, first made by the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company in clear and colored glass. The butterfly that gives the pattern its name stands out in the center against a stippled background. Flower sprigs encircle the rim and the edge is scalloped. During the 1930's, Butterfly cup plates were reproduced from a new mold that was not an exact duplicate of the original one. On antique Butterfly cup plates, the stems of the two leaves below each blossom are at least 1/s inch apart, but on this century's, the stems are almost opposite each other. One blossom on the old Butterfly plate has seven petals; all the blossoms on the recent plates have six. It's particularly easy to be fooled by a blue Butterfly cup plate, for this color as made in the 1930's  compares favorably with that of the 1830's.

Imitations of curtain tiebacks and furniture knobs also were made in quantity and sold cheaply  during the 1930's. Old patterns, including some of the Sandwich ones, were copied in both clear   and colored glass. Neither the quality of the glass nor the workmanship are any more comparable  than the colors to those made during the 1800's. The appearance of 19th-century milk glass are quite different. The slightest acquaintance with any piece of antique milk glass should enable a person to distinguish between the old and the contemporary.

Fakes aren't confined to pressed glass. Bottles and flasks, for example, frequently are made in imitation of typically American styles of the 19th Century. A "golden amber" bottle in the shape of a fish, made recently in Italy, "queen of the glass-making industry for generations," is not worth any more than its retail price. Only the amber fish bottles made in this country to hold Dr. Fisch's bitters are antiques. For holiday sale, 19th-century milk glass is still being manufactured in quantity, and many pieces copy or are reminiscent of the forms and decorations used during the late 1800's. However, the character and appearance are different.

To tell the difference between a 19th-century pressed glass goblet and a 20th-century reproduction or fake, a person must be alert to the patterns and pieces that are currently being manufactured. Equally important are a knowledge of the authentic motifs, as well as of their make-up, proportions, and placement to form the patterns, and the ability to judge the quality of stippling and frosting.

Cost prohibits the reproduction of cut glass as it was made throughout the 1800's. Its surface distinctions are the sharpness of the decorative motifs to the touch and the heaviness of the piece. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

All That Glitters Isn’t Always Tiffany

QUESTION: I recently bought what I thought was a Tiffany lamp. I paid several hundred dollars for it and thought it was a steal. Now I'm not so sure. I cannot find a signature on it anywhere. Can you tell me if you think it's a Tiffany?

ANSWER: Unfortunately, as the old saying goes, "You got robbed." Well, not exactly. No, your lamp isn't a Tiffany. It's not even close. But what you paid for it probably is what it's worth. And as long as you like it, that's what counts.

The sight of what looks like a Tiffany lamp sends some people into a dream-like state, blinded by the dollar signs in their eyes. Others begin to see dollar signs at the mere mention of the name. Tiffany lamps have become the Holy Grail of antique collecting for many people. To find one—to own one—is paramount to winning the MegaMillions jackpot. And there lies the rub.

Because lamps made by Tiffany Studios command such a high price, people tend to lump all stained glass lamps into this one category. They think that any stained glass lamp is a Tiffany and that they’ll be set for life. In a million-to-one shot, they just might be, but more than likely, their lamp had been made by another company. While its not a fake, neither is it a Tiffany.

Between 1895 and 1915, small factories in New York and Chicago produced a huge variety of mosaic stained glass lamps to satisfy a growing demand for stylish lighting designs to complement the new electric lamps. While Tiffany Studios set the industry standard, other companies produced excellent designs as well.

Companies such as Duffner & Kimberly and Gorham, made lamps of a quality equal to Tiffany Studios and created styles that appealed more to the Victorian taste, although on its way out, that the American middle and upper middle class preferred. Some companies, like Wilkinson, made high quality bases, and took short cuts with their shades. Others, like Unique, focused on creating complex shades and paired them with simpler bases. Many copied Tiffany’s Art Nouveau designs—in many instances almost exactly—and many copied each other.

Tiffany lamps are about the most flamboyant art objects ever produced in America. They attract celebrities, speculators, and decorators, whose buying whims have driven the Tiffany market into a frenzy and then leave it a shambles when the next fad comes along. For the last few years, the market for these wonderful leaded-glass lamps, most produced during the first two decades of this century, has been recuperating from a decade-long manic-depressive binge.

During the 1950's, a few pioneer collectors began looking at the sensuous floral lamps made by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his Tiffany Studios. Louis was the son of the founder of the famous New York jewelry firm, but for most of his life he preferred painting, the  decorative arts, and interior design.




During the 1960s, interest in the lamps grew rapidly because their restless, fragmented, colorful designs fit nicely into eclectic, psychedelic decorating schemes of that time. Inflation in the 1970's drew investors, speculators, and celebrities into a market where prices sometimes doubled from year to year. Recession in the early 1980's drove those buyers from the market, and prices collapsed. Since then, prices for  some lamps have moved back to, or even above, their former highs; but the market is still very selective one.

The current record price for a Tiffany lamp is the $528,000 paid in December, 1984, at  Christie's in New York City for a large floor lamp with a shade in the Magnolia pattern.  The lamp was one of several being sold by record producer David Geffen, who had been a major Tiffany buyer during the era of hectic growth. Although it was set long after those halcyon days, the record was more a last gasp than a portent of things to come. Today, authentic lamps made by Tiffany Studios and signed either “Louis Comfort Tiffany” or “Tiffany Studios” on the rim of the shade go for as high as $30,000. No wonder there are so many “Tiffphonies” out there.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 24,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about antique clocks in the Fall 2019 Edition, "It's That Time Again," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.

Far East Fakes

QUESTION: I recently purchased a secretary. From my research online, I think it’s done in the Napoleonic Egyptian Revival style. The piece isn’t in great shape, but I would like to know how to determine if it’s a reproduction or is, indeed, an antique, and if so, how old is it?

ANSWER: At first glance your piece looks like an elegant secrétaire à abattant or a drop-front desk from the French Empire Period. But upon closer inspection, you should notice certain discrepancies. While it may look like a piece from the early 19th century, it isn’t a reproduction, but a poorly made facsimile. That’s not a fake, but a piece of furniture made to simulate a particular style.

Since the 1990s, there’s been a flood of “antique” furniture coming into the U.S. from Indonesia. While high-end antique dealers and experts can tell immediately that it’s not authentic, the typical antique dealer can’t. A high-end dealer sells quality and provenance at up-scale shows while most shop dealers are just interested in selling to make a fast buck.

So what makes this drop-front desk a possible candidate for Indonesian facsimile antique furniture? There are three construction clues that even a novice antiques collector can use to identify Indonesian facsimiles: First, Indonesian furniture makers use  a single species of wood  throughout. Second, they hot-glue many of the joints. And third, they use common nails—both finishing and flathead.

Since there are few legal restrictions on how furniture makers can market or advertise wood,  trade names have been developed to help promote little known wood or to make common woods sound more valuable.

The wood in Indonesian reproduction furniture, for example, comes from the groups Shorea, Parashorea, and Pentacme which grow in Asia and aren’t true mahogany. However, all of them can be legally advertised and sold as "mahogany." Two other generic trade names for these woods are Philippine mahogany and Lauan mahogany. The genuine mahogany used in fine antique furniture comes from a different group called Swietenia, originating in Central and South America, Cuba, Honduras, and the West Indies.

So why do Indonesian furniture makers use only one type of wood? The answer is simple. Since they’re using a lesser quality wood, they can afford to use it for an entire piece. Cabinetmakers of the 18th and early 19th century used expensive mahogany on the outside of a piece of furniture where it would be seen and lesser quality woods on the inside out of sight. It would have been impractical for a cabinetmaker back then to use mahogany for a glue block, for example, when no one would ever see it.

Another reason to use more than one type of wood was weight. Larger pieces of 18th and 19th-century furniture would have been too heavy if cabinetmakers used mahogany for entire pieces. Indonesian facsimiles are actually heavier than authentic antiques because they use dense Philippine mahogany.

Cabinetmakers of the 18th and early 19th century used dowels, splines, or special cuts, such as mortise and tenon, to join pieces of wood. They didn’t use nails because they cost more and didn’t hold the joints as well. And they didn’t use screws because they didn’t exist at that time. Indonesian furniture makers tend to use hot glue or common nails to join wood. Hot-glued joints tend to split with shrinkage. Plus the hot glue will fluoresce under black light.

Countersunk finishing nails are commonly used on Indonesian facsimiles. In fact, makers often use wider, filled in countersunk holes to simulate the effect of using wooden pegs.

Now let’s take a look at the details on this drop-front desk to see why it isn’t a real antique. Mahogany veneer has been applied to all the outside surfaces. However, the drawers don’t seem to be veneered but are made of solid pieces. And all the parts of the drawers seem to be made of the same Philippine mahogany wood. Because the wood isn’t real mahogany, it doesn’t have the beautiful grain pattern of the real thing. Also, the grain on the drop-front is horizontal but the grain on the drawers, like the sides, is vertical. Certainly all the grain on the front should be going in the same direction.

The brass fittings or ormulu are very poorly cast and finished. The escutcheons—keyhole surrounds—seem to be nailed rather than screwed into place. The brass fittings are of several different styles0—Baroque, neoclassical anthemium combinations, and egg and dart molding. The masks look more Phoenician or Egyptian, as do the heavy drawer pulls. The plaque in the center of the drop front is “Autumn” from the four-seasons series produced in bisque by Royal Copenhagen, but, it too, is poorly cast. The bows with streaming tails are the Baroque-style decorations. The overall effect tries to be elegant, but individually the decorations don’t go together.

Much of this type of furniture has surfaced in the American antiques market. Some unscrupulous dealers, knowing that their clientele wouldn’t know the difference, have imported it to sell in their shops. Other pieces have been bought and sold several times in the last 20 years and have successfully become part of the overall antiques market inventory. Sometimes one of these facsimiles will even make it to an antique show because the dealer hasn’t done any research or ignores the lack of provenance. In this case, the dealer will sell if for less, but still make a profit on the unsuspecting buyer.

Unraveling Antique American Samplers

QUESTION: I love to do cross-stitch needlework. I’ve been admiring antique samplers and would love to start collecting them. But I’ve heard there are a lot of fakes out there. How can I be sure I’m buying the real thing?

ANSWER: That’s a reasonable question in light of today’s antique market. Samplers in particular fetch high prices, especially at Americana shows. There’s a good chance that the unsuspecting buyer discovering a single one in an antique shop will be taken, through no fault of the dealer. Most antique dealers can’t tell real samplers from fake ones. It’s only those who specialize in such things that can truly tell the difference.

According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the earliest known American sampler was made in Plymouth Colony around 1645. Over the next two centuries, women created samplers as a way to save different types of stitches or designs they might want to use sometime in the future.

An example of a 19th-century young girl's needlework could show the extent and quality of her education as well as her religious and moral convictions. Schoolgirls from wealthier families used more expensive threads and learned more complicated designs or stitches while those from poor families used samplers almost as resumes of their abilities in an effort to gain employment in doing sewing.

Today, collectors consider samplers works of art, as well as insights into the past.  Subject matter ranges from a simple alphabet to complex landscapes, Biblical scenes and passages, as well as birth/death/ marriage records offering valuable genealogical information. In the past, collectors overlooked samplers as ordinary exercises in needlework, but today, they’re highly collectible and can command extremely high prices. For example, a sampler, sewn by New Jersey schoolgirl Mary Antrim sold at Sotheby’s for a over $1 million in 2012, while another fetched over $611,000 in 2003. Some sampler makers used only thread and needlework to create them while others used watercolors and paper and added  embellishments like seed pearls or beads.

There are plenty of samplers being made today specifically intended to deceive unwary collectors in this lucrative tens-of-thousands to hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars market. The safest way to buy a sampler, of course, is through a reputable dealer who has a well-established reputation in sampler authentication. On the other hand, the riskiest way to purchase one is through an online auction site or an unknown online seller. Without being able to closely examine the fabric used and other details, there's no way to know for sure if a sampler is real or a fake.

So what are some ways to tell a fake or reproduction sampler from the real thing? One of the first thing to check is fabric discoloration. Old fabrics can darken in spots or brown to some degree in general, but much of this depends on what type of fabric the woman used and where it has been stored over time.

There are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to sampler age. However, there are a couple of basic things to look for to make sure the browning is authentic. Many times, fakers will add browning to fabric by staining or darkening the fabric with tea or coffee. If a sampler browns, it tends to do so naturally around the edges near the frame, but blotchy browning should raise a cautionary flag. Also, if the fabric is wrinkled as if it were twisted or bunched up and the brown spots seem to follow that pattern, there's a good chance the browning has been added deliberately.

There have been a few cases where the actual date sewn onto a sampler has been altered to make the piece appear older—a "9" changed to an "8" or a "6" changed to a "0."  If there's no evidence of stitches having been removed from the fabric and the piece is important enough, a genealogical search can be done to determine the dates of the needleworker's' life. If the sampler includes her age, would she have been of the correct age during the year sewn into the sampler.

Collectors interested in samplers from a particular region or school will find it easier to use style and thread type to authenticate them. By studying designs and types of thread used in a particular region or school throughout the years, when they came into use and  when they stopped being used, it’s easy to date just about any sampler. Certain designs or stitching styles may also be more prevalent in a particular region, a certain school, or during a specific time period. On the other hand, some designs or stitch styles may not have been used at all by a particular school.

As with any antiques or collectibles in today’s market, it’s buyer beware. Being educated about samplers is the best defense to being taken.

It May Not Be What It Seems

QUESTION: I’m a big fan of the Civil War. I’ve read a lot about it and go to re-enactments regularly during the summer. Recently, I started a collection of Confederate items. My most recent purchase was a cartridge belt plate with the letters “CSA” on the front. It looks real enough, but I’m not so sure. Can you tell me how to tell the fake from the authentic items?

ANSWER: As in all collecting, the more educated you are as a collector, the better off you’ll be. You must become an educated buyer. Purchasing on sight just because an items looks good and the price is right isn’t enough.

There’s a sucker born every minute. And when it comes to identifying Confederate militaria, there’s probably one born ever couple of seconds. In fact, someone once said that if the Confederates had everything that’s now believed to have belonged to them, the would have won the war and had a surplus.

Confederate items can be worth 10 times those that belonged to Union soldiers. So the market for Confederate fakes is ripe. Be wary of dealers that won’t tell you anything about an object, then offer it to you for what amounts to a bargain basement price. If the price is too low, the item most likely is a fake. Even selling it for a low amount, the dealer will make out on the deal.

To make objects look as if they’ve literally been in battle, some have minie balls hammered into them. A tell-tale gray ring will show that the ball had not been fired into the object.

Demand that a dealer authenticate a Confederate object. Ask if you can get the item appraised by a professional appraiser before agreeing to purchase it. Whether you plan on buying a $1 minie ball or a $10,000 Henry repeating rifle, it always pays to ask. If the dealer refuses to let you get it appraised, just walk out of the shop or away from his or her booth at a show. If the dealer is selling legitimate Civil War memorabilia, he’ll let you bring it back for a refund.

If you purchase what you think to be an authentic Confederate object for a relatively substantial price and it turns out to be fake, then you have the right to prosecute the dealer for fraud. Doing so will probably prove difficult, since fraud is difficult to prove, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

Confederate coins are a good case in point. Unscrupulous dealers have hundreds cast, and sell them for modest prices. Coins are minted, not cast, so they’re fakes. But, then again, how do you prove that the maker wasn’t making honest reproductions to sell to re-enactors?

Sometimes labels on objects will reveal their authenticity. First, paper labels didn’t come into common usage until the turn of the 20th century. If an item has a paper label on it, it would pay to have the paper tested. You might just discover that the process used to make the paper didn’t exist before the 1930s.

As for belt plates, two types exist, excavated—dug out of the ground—and unexcavated. Fakers will use acids and brass-black to pour over the buckle and create a dark color to make a patina. Look for signs of liquid in tiny pits, or smell the buckle. It will have a harsh foul smell, like something rotting.

A faker often makes a reproduction of an unexcavated buckle by making it look damaged. You should look for evidence that parts have been filed off. The belt plate also should have the same color throughout and "no spots where the brass is shining through. Above all, be suspicious of any buckle marked "CSA" or "CS." And if it has a date like 1862 on it, it’s not authentic.

Within militaria, the Civil War is a problem because there are more items from it around. One way in general to tell if a product is fake is to judge its quality. Very few can duplicate the quality of merchandise that they had back then.