[TheForge] repair question

[Andy Vida]

Dan Scheid wrote:
> 
> has anyone ever tried to repair tiffany pieces. A friend brought me a night
> light for repair that she thinks it is tiffany. That is what it was sold as.
> Anywise this thing is very poorly made the lamp holder is just stuck on the
> copper foil with a pile of soder and then silicone glued to give it
> strength. Has Tiffany gone down hill?

	I'm not at all sure that Tiffany jewelers in NYC does lamps.
	Tiffany lamps are all OLD; built well before the days of
	silicone caulking, so either it is a fake ir it has been
	fiddled with by some imbecile who knows nothing of what they
	were doing.  If it is a real tiffany lamp, it could be worth
	several thousands of dollars if it hasnn't been wrecked via
	incompetent fussing.

	I would say that the first thing that should be done is to
	have it examined to determine authenticity.  If it is the
	real McCoy, then it should be determined if it is worth saving.
	if it is, then have someone experienced in the restoation of
	such items do the work.  Antique values are set by some odd
	and arcane criteria as regards originality and condition.  The
	more original and the less fixed it is, generally speaking,
	the greater the value.  I've seen Tiffany lamps fetch many tens
	of thousands of $$.  I would be loathe to mess with such items
	unless I really knew what I was doing, which I don't. :)