Topic: Art nouveau Glass Lamp ID

[FJBLF]

I was wondering if I could have your opinion on the piece on the pictures attached.  It was given as a wedding present to my grandparents in 1932. They were people on High Social Standing,  so they got really nice presents. In the presents list, written by my grandmother's hand, which I still have , it was listed as “One Lalique Lamp”, and my family has referred to it as “The Lalique Lamp” for 3 generations now, but I believe it is a case of misidentification, and I suspect it may be Czech. It is Numbered and Signed in the bottom, the signature is scribed the thinnest of lines scratched on the glass and it is almost invisible unless you get it on the right light conditions and in the right angle; the number is inscribed in the same manner.  The glass is very thick and heavy and it is made in layers, the outer most layer is clear glass. The shade is not the original silk shade, it fell apart on the 70’s while an uncle try to clean it. The Bakelite 3 way switch is the original and works just fine as it is the rest of the hardware with the exception of bulbs and silk braided wire which are new as the old wire was a fire hazard after 80 years.

[rocco]

Hi and welcome to the board!

What a beautiful lamp...
Looks like WMF Ikora glass -- if you google it you will find lots of pieces in similar style. (Look at ebay.de as well)

Usually the metal fixture is marked, so maybe it is worth checking for that.
No idea about the signature, the glass is usually not signed...

Michael

[FJBLF]

Thanks Michael, I think it is indeed beautiful, I enjoy it alot regardless of its artistic origin, I just need to satisify my curiosity.  I never thought of checking the fixture for markings, but given the fact that WMF was a metals company who also made glass it would make sence to check. I'll check it tonight.

You would agree with me however that it is not "Lalique" 

I hope someone can shed some light on the signature and number, most every one sais about the glass not being signed, and this one is both signed and numbered; so I hope there are others with similar markings out there.

[flying free]

In my searches I did come across one thing signed by Karl Wiedmann, maybe a Unika piece?
m

[dirk.]

I think I´ve read somewhere, that genuine Wiedmann signatures on Ikora pieces
can be found, but they are a later addition and were made as a favour.
The signature is very hard to make out... Could you give it another try, please?
Rubbing in some talcum can be helpful.
As Michael already said 100% Ikora without a doubt...

[flying free]

the number looks like it could be 159/2539 (or similar) which I think could be a pattern number, although I can't find similar in the book at a quick look - the sig just looks like FO to me at the moment.
m

[flying free]

It looks very similar to 139/2532 45cm high grun, as marked in the book page 97.  I would guess the difference in number is that it is a lamp maybe? and perhaps it is from the same time period which says 1928.
m

[FJBLF]

Lets see if this one works better. I have one in large format, but the site limits the size of the pic so I'm having to make them small. Let me know if you want the hi res pic, where can I e-mail it to you.

[chopin-liszt]

Hi and welcome!
Beautiful beast - would it be possible for you to try again with the signature?

If you rub the talc over the surface, then tip the thing at an angle in the light, so that the camera will focus on the surface of the glass, rather than inside or through it.

If the talc's there, and you get light reflecting off the (shiny) surface where the talc isn't, it might be easier to make out.....?

[FJBLF]

I'll try the talc thing tonigth, see if the pics come any better. but just a thought. You all seam to be in agreement that this is WMF Ikora. So I went and research the marks they used for their metal products. I'm assuming the metal part of the lamp is also manufactured by WMF (I'll search for Markings tonigth)  It also may seam that  there is some concensus the number may be a model number. The "signature" remains to be explained, but it looks to me like a G O  WMF used a GO marking on their metal products, could this be the case that the metal marking was trasposed to the glass base???

WMF - Supplementary marks for hollow-ware
A = reject item
AA = refuse
as = antique silver finish
B = Britannia-metal
bg = gilt base
brass = export mark
copper = export mark
D.R.P. Deutsches Reichspatent (Imperial German Patent)
ep = electro-plated
gg = entirely gilt
go = parcel-gilt
ig = gilt interior
I/O = Normal thickness of gilding or silver-plating
M = brass
MB = partly brass, partly Britannia metal
N    NS = nickel-silver
O silver-plate deposit, 50% thicker than the normal coating
OX = oxidized
zg = fancy gilt
* = export ware or special production (possibly)

Check the markings on this site
http://www.silvercollection.it/wmf.html