The name Tiffany has long been associated with unmistakeable, exquisitely beautiful and carefully crafted decorative objects that defined the American Arts and Crafts era. As a result, Tiffany pieces produced at the turn of the last century can be prohibitively expensive, and from time to time, the national press features reports of stained glass lamps and iridescent vases selling at auction for tens, and sometimes hundreds, of thousands of pounds.

In 1997, Christies sold a stunning Lotus lamp, made from a complicated and delicate arrangement of stained glass, for a record-breaking £1.5 ($2.8) million. Fortunately, it is still possible to find a range of more affordable objects produced by the company.

Antique Tiffany pieces are popular, and therefore expensive, because they are distinctive, innovative and skilfully crafted. The complex designs and quality of workmanship, evident in the glass and metalware produced by the firm, stem from the creativity and dedication of one man: Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933).

As the son of Charles Louis Tiffany, the founder of the successful multi-million dollar Tiffany & Co. jewellery business, Louis Comfort Tiffany was originally expected to oversee the family firm. Instead he chose to make his own unique mark on the world by following his passion for the creative arts and employing the good business sense he inherited from his father.

After studying as a painter, Tiffany established a successful interior design company, Louis C. Tiffany & Associated Artists, to ‘bring beauty into every home’. From the mid-1870s, the firm was very much in demand from wealthy society members; Mark Twain and the White House featured on its client list. Whilst working on his designs, Tiffany developed his long held fascination with glass, which he used extensively in his restyled interiors.

As a student, Tiffany had studied glass-blowing and started experimenting relentlessly with new techniques. In 1881 he patented his unique type of iridescent glass, named ‘Favrile’ which means ‘handcrafted’ in German. The glass broke with the fashion for decorating pieces with painted designs and was instead sprayed with metallic lustres to create an opalescent and multi-dimensional finish.

In 1885 Tiffany established a new company, which was later named Tiffany Studios, to focus on the development of innovative freeblown glass vases –produced commercially from 1894. The Art Nouveau style influenced the shape and design of pieces, but in accordance with the Arts and Crafts movement, objects were skilfully hand-finished to the highest standard. The distinctive ‘Jack-in-the Pulpit’ and the slender floriform vases are particularly sought after today and prices range from £500 ($1,000) to tens of thousands of pounds. Simpler vase shapes were decorated with a huge variety of techniques such as feathering, painting and threading. Some shapes were so complex that they took many months to produce.

Although highly regarded for his glass vases, it is the dazzling and distinctive array of handmade lamps and shades that Tiffany is now most widely known for. As a young man in Europe, Tiffany had been struck by the beauty of stained glass church windows and had used decorative windows in his work as an interior designer. He realised that the tremendous effects of daylight through coloured glass could be recreated in the domestic interior using artificial light – lampshades would be a perfect medium for his work.

The first leaded shades included ‘Nautilus’, ‘Dragonfly’ and ‘Wisteria’; by 1906, over 125 different types were on sale. Generally hemispherical in shape, shades were made from tiny fragments of glass held together by lead. Earlier pieces tended to be simple with geometric designs using only one or two colours. After extensive experimentation, Tiffany had over 5,000 colours at his disposal, which reproduced the subtle tones of nature.

In time, decoration gradually became more complex and colourful, featuring flowers, fruit and insects in highly ornate arrangements. Natural designs that featured irregular shaped borders required the highest level of skill to produce and are consequentially extremely valuable today. Prices range from around £5,000 ($10,000) for a simple one-colour shade to over a million pounds for the most rare and exquisite examples.

His successes with art glass vases and leaded lamps lead Tiffany to receive international acclaim, especially after exhibiting at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. However, Tiffany did not limit himself to the production of glass; he excelled in designing silver, jewellery and bronze objects. Among these were affordable household items such as lamp bases, desk accessories and clocks. Some of these items were retailed through Tiffany & Co., which he took over after the death of his father in 1902.

Tiffany’s metal pieces can be more affordable than much of his glassware and allow collectors on tighter budgets to own a sample of the great designer’s work. A patterned bronze ashtray might be worth around £200-300 ($400-600), while enamelled gilt-bronze bookends could fetch in the region of £1,000-2,000 ($2,000-4,000). Prices rise to tens of thousands for more unusual items, such as a bronze inkwell with turtleback panels. Most metalware is marked “Tiffany Studios, New York”, but as with glass, there are many fakes on the market.

After many years of success, Tiffany Studios finally closed in 1932. Tiffany & Co. are still in business and continue to produce high quality silver, jewellery and glass today.

Take a look at my Arts and Crafts Collector’s Guide for more information on Tiffany and many other important Arts and Crafts designers.