About Antique Tiffany

Tiffany is my Last Name. I am distantly related to Louis Comfort Tiffany, and I have long prized his art. My mother was an antique dealer, and we had a modest store in a small town in Western Kansas for a number of years.

As an adolescent and teen, I spent many weekends with my mother at estate sales, auctions, and the occasional antique show. I would often hunt for the Tiffany Studios pieces while she canvased for a wider variety of pieces for the store.

I spend most of my working hours as a mid-level executive at one of the world’s largest IT conglomerates. I’ve long been focused on devices for end users in commercial settings, and supporting virtualization technologies. I enjoy the pace and working with teams to win in the market, but without my artistic diversions just working in IT would leave me feeling incomplete.

Besides my interest in Tiffany Studio’s antique products, I also write fiction. Why not? If you can live on 5 – 6 hours of sleep a night you can get a lot done. You can see my blog about writing at www.AllenTiffany.com.

But back to how I got started with Tiffany pieces: My mother’s tastes were eclectic, but I always treasured the occasional piece from Tiffany Studios, or Tiffany Favrile glass, or the rare piece we’d see from Tiffany Furnaces. We could not afford much of it, and many pieces got away from us in auctions. But I always enjoyed seeing them, especially the Etched Metal and Glass pieces (of which “Pine Needle” and “Grapevine” are subcategories) from Tiffany Studios.

“Pine Needle” and “Grapevine” patterns are created by placing Tiffany Slag Glass in bronze frames. These pieces can come in a variety of colors and combinations. Most often the bronze will be dark with a “patina” finish, or a shiny gold. And the glass will be white with caramel coloring, or dark green with streaks of white.

Most often the products will be stamped, “Tiffany Studios New York”. Beside or below the Tiffany Studios New York stamp will be a three- or four-digit number. This number indicates the actual product. For instance, Pine Needle 824 is a handkerchief box, 8″ x 8″ x 2.75″.

I am disciplined about sticking to Tiffany Studios desk sets, especially the Pine Needle and Grapevine pieces. I know these sets well and have a modest collection. What I sell are usually pieces that I come across that I ultimately conclude are not a good fit for what I’m after.

I occasionally accumulate other pieces. For instance, in an estate sale, a Tiffany Studios item might be bundled with another object, Tiffany or otherwise.

Overwhelmingly, though, the pieces I buy and sell are Tiffany Desk Sets and a smattering of Tiffany’s Favrile glass.

I have a strong preference for the Pine Needle and Grapevine products. I think they are beautiful, but they are also a compelling investment precisely because they have the very fragile slag glass. Sadly, over the decades more of it is broken, so there are fewer pieces remaining that are as they left the factory. In contrast, the solid bronze pieces – also valuable and beautiful – are far more difficult to damage.  I believe that over time, as more of the slag glass in the Pine Needle and Grapevine pieces is broken, the remaining unbroken pieces will appreciate more in value as an investment.

At the moment and for the foreseeable future, my antique store will be hosted by eBay. You can see my current inventory here.

Please write me with any questions.