Ellen Taylor of Ann Arbor, MI gives us this report.
Antique Roadshow last night had a Steuben lamp shade – Blue vine and hanging
heart- that the owner had been told was several other kinds of shade. The show
is repeated on many public TV stations on Saturday evening. The show was in
Orlando. Incidentally, the price was estimated at up to $6000.

Several interesting responses to be shared from Ellen Taylor calling our
attention to a shade appraised on the Roadshow.
First, from David Skarda of Heritage Lighting of Cedarburg, WI. You may recall
that I discovered his antique lighting shop back in August and shared a number
of pictures with you. I would like to see the shade. It does seem a bit high, but I’m not surprised at some of the prices that items are bringing today at auction. THE SKIES THE LIMIT! On the pricing, member David Goldstein, who with Elissa have now given up their Ft. Lee, NJ residence to become permanent Fl.
What size shade? If it’s a 14″ Shade $6,000 is not unreasonable. If it’s a 10″
Shade that would be pushing it. Sometimes size matters.

Member Pete Bennett of Rochester, NY observes:
Only a couple of years ago blue hanging heart and vine shades brought $ 5000 – 6000 retail. Today I expect one would bring $ 3000 max.

Bob Weinberg of Vernon, NY who saw the show says:
I am sure that the appraisers on the Antique Road Show are the first to admit that they have made errors both on and off the show. I will not comment on the price, but my first take (it may have been the color on my set that gave the leaves and vines a platinum color) was that the shade was Durand.

Steve Gleissner, curator at the Wichita Museum asks the question that may be answered in the next e-mail. I need to add as we’ve observed before, that Steve has directed the Wichita Museum to build one of the better Carder Steuben collections in the country. It really does seem high. Who was giving the appraisal?

Our member Gerry Eggert, another Rochester, New Yorker, saw the show and says:
I saw the shade on The Roadshow. There was a similar Steuben shade in the Antique Shop on Market Street (West Antiques?– Tom Dimitroff has a lot of his stuff there) last year. The shade on TV had nicer markings and coloring. The price on Market Street was $7,000 or so. I offered $4,000 and was turned down. So is $6,000 fair? I think so.

Another viewer was Dick Stark of Bethesda, MD who says:
the correct price for that shade ay present is more like 3500-4500. it looked like early Aurene but it may have been tiffany blue which is very choice. i think they are undervalued as they are vastly more scarce than similar tiffany ones and the motif more attractive than the typical damascenes in green. Reyne is Reyne if that clarifies things. I suppose the reference to Reyne, is that the appraiser must have been Tiffany expert, Reyne Haines of Cincinnati. For those who care and want to see the show, it is usually reshown in various parts of the country on Friday or Saturday. Check your listings.

Reyne Haines has answers for all the television speculation.
The shade was certainly Steuben, and not Durand. The shade was the larger, not
a 10″ The blue was a royal blue, not a Tiffany blue. I know it can be hard to tell
watching on TV. It had to be one of the finest, most crisp examples i have seen in a very long time. And after watching what has happened at auction lately, that’s how I came up
with the price I did.
Reyne, thanks for the clarifications.

The Antique Roadshow identification and appraisal caused a great deal of comment. Here follows Tom Dimitroff’s responses, and in particular, his perspective on the subject of value.
Just a note first to give accurate information and then a comment.
The shade referred to as being in the 94 West Shop in Corning is, indeed, mine. It is a 15-inch diameter decorated BROWN AURENE shade. I feel that is a very fair price for it.
Now, the comment. I wonder where the notion that there is an exact price or value for every antique out there? This is just not true. First, there are too many variables, especially in glass – variables such as condition, provenance, various markets, and not the least in importance how much the dealer paid for it and how much profit he or she wants or needs, and your respect and trust of a dealer. I could go on and on. The result of all this, I believe, is what has been true about price for as long as I remember. A price estimate of a piece is simply someone’s estimate and that estimate is simply an opinion. And, an opinion is simply that. Some opinions are more valuable than others based on the knowledge and experience of the holder of the opinion.
Ultimately, the Value of an item is what a willing seller and an able buyer agree upon, at any specific time. Watching similar pieces sell at various times and at various places may ultimately give a person a pretty good idea of value but, then, tomorrow’s another day!
All of this assumes, naturally, an acceptable level of knowledge, whatever that is.
I, for one, would be very sad if someday a national price for every piece of Steuben would be posted and that would be that!
Tom Dimitroff