Additional Coverage:
- ‘Antiques Roadshow’ guest gets a massive valuation for her ‘snake lamp’ that she didn’t even want (marketrealist.com)
Talk about a lucky strike! An “Antiques Roadshow” guest got the shock of her life when a lamp she inherited – and didn’t even particularly like – was appraised for a jaw-dropping $45,000.
The guest explained that the “snake lamp,” as her family called it, had become something of a hot potato, with no one wanting the serpentine fixture in their home. She knew little about it, other than a vague notion it was bronze and possibly by a French artist from the early 20th century.
“Antiques Roadshow” expert Eric Silver quickly identified the piece as the work of famed French metalworker Edgar Brandt. He explained that the lamp, titled “La Tentation” (The Temptation or Seduction), features a bronze snake emerging from a basket, likely inspired by the Egyptomania craze following the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in the 1920s. The shade, Silver noted, was probably made by the prestigious Daum glass factory.
While the lamp had some condition issues due to the natural green oxidation of the bronze (“It’s the reason the Statue of Liberty is green,” Silver quipped), its value remained impressive. Silver estimated the lamp would fetch between $35,000 and $45,000 in a gallery setting. He added that a pristine version had previously sold at auction for $62,000.
The guest, visibly stunned, could only gasp, “No kidding! Wow!
That’s incredible!” Clearly delighted, even with the lower valuation due to its condition, she concluded, “That’s pretty good for a snake lamp.”