Eye Candy in the East Bay: Remarkable Collection of Original Tiffany Artifacts

This weekend the East Bay will provide rare opportunities to enjoy visual splendors of remarkable quality.

The Cobweb Table lamp, from the cover of the Michaan Auction catalogue

This Friday, and Saturday morning are the remaining opportunities to preview the world’s foremost collection of the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Alameda is a surprising location, but we should all take advantage of the opportunity!  Michaan’s Auction Gallery is host to a truly remarkable collection of the finest quality Tiffany pieces, collected over 20 years by Takeo Horiuchi, a Japanese real estate investor. His collecting came to an end when predictions of further earthquakes in Japan halted his plans for a new museum to house a multi-million dollar collection of the finest lamps, windows, vases, silver, paintings and other objects produced by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and the Tiffany firm. His collecting was assisted by Alasdair Duncan, perhaps the most recognized Tiffany authority and author of numerous books on the topic. It is an unusual opportunity for us to see these items in the East Bay, as opposed to New York. And it does make one wonder why the Metropolitan Museum or some other institution did not purchase the collection. . .much of that story appears reside in the passion of  Allen Michaan himself as a collector of Tiffany windows. His love of  Tiffany objects gave him the connections necessary to purchase a substantial part of the Horiuchi collection, allowing us here in the San Francisco Bay area to view some of the most spectacular creations of that firm, and of the Art Nouveau period. Price estimates range from just a few thousand to more than $1M. Included is the rarest lamp of all: the Cobweb Table Lamp featured on the catalogue cover–that one is price upon request. If you have to ask. . .

The entire catalogue is available for viewing online, and will provide a tremendous beautiful distraction, and education about some of the less common creations of this iconic American firm.

Michaan’s Auctions
2751 Todd Street
Alameda, CA 94501

800-380-9822 or 510-740-0220
www.michaans.com
info@michaans.com

 

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arlene