Fake or Real Galle Glass?

LN from Santa Barbara sent me a fine looking cameo glass boudoir lamp marked “Galle” on the shade. Very tricky indeed, because I don’t think it’s an original French Galle lamp. I think LN’s lamp is a reproduction from, of all places, Str. Hangarului Nr. 4-Buzau, Romania. Why? I find most Galle reproductions are made in Romania.

If I’m wrong, the difference between right and wrong attribution is $15k- $20k. In order to know for sure I need to actually see and touch the lamp. I want to look for five definite things in a reproduction Galle lamp. The real deal dates from the last quarter of the 19th century to the early 20th century.

If I suspect a reproduction, I look for the signature “Galle” prominent and very large. Then I see if the glass looks clear with a colored overlay. In the original, Galle glass seems colored itself, not overlaid with a color. Next, I look inside the glass, as well as the outside. If the inside doesn’t feel smooth, I suspect a reproduction. Also I look to see if the pontil (where the glassblower’s pipe touches the glass as they blows the glass) appears ground down to a nice smooth finish. The reproduction pontil isn’t nicely finished.

Finally, I examine the quality of the raised areas of carved-out glass on the outside of the piece. Is this design beautifully naturalistic, or does it appear a little stiff? Is the raised area of the relief polished to a fine glow? And are the lines in the design finished, or left hanging? These artistic features take a little studying to determine if a piece of Galle is original or not.

Reason behind an evident artistry in the original Galle glass

In 1874 Emile Galle (1846-1904), one of the most important leaders of the Art Nouveau Movement, established his glass studio at Nancy (France). He revived the ancient art of making “cameos” in glass with acid etching. Or sometimes actually engraving cameo glass made of two separate layers of colors, where the outermost layer is carved or acid etched to reveal the color below. Add to this Galle’s use of metallic oxides, which he mixed with molten glass to paint (enameling) the accent features. This produces brilliant colors and a three-dimensional naturalistic effect.

Today we call the style of Galle glass, always in the highly original style, Art Nouveau (1890-1914). This became the first non-historically based and truly international style, rejecting the hard angles of the dawning industrial machine age. Instead, Art Nouveau sought to capture the exquisite sensuous carving forms of tendrils and vines. Galle not only studied glass blowing with his father, but botany, and his work shows it.

Difference in Value

What’s the value difference between glass that Emile Galle created and later Galle-style glass produced by a Romanian factory? A circa 1910 cameo glass table lamp, signed on the shade AND base, de-assessed from the Tiffany Garden Museum Collection, assembled in Nagoya, Japan (the greatest museum for Galle) sold for $27,500 at Sotheby’s, New York. Conversely, two Art Nouveau cameo glass lamps marked “Tip” Galle sold for $660 for the pair at Garth’s Auction, Ohio.. Tip is the abbreviation sometimes used to “be honest” in making a reproduction, but often etched out when faked.

Finally, LN writes that she bought this lamp at a silent auction about 20 years ago. That begs the question of when fakers began to fake Galle glass. I can answer that. Around 1993 I started seeing fakes. I should say there’s a real difference between intending to deceive with a fake (fraud) and faking a style by reproducing that style. LN’s appears simply (I think) a reproduction, as the Romanian Millennium Art Style site makes no bones about reproducing Galle-style glass. The problem emerges that the site calls their factory a “galle glass” factory. Notice the lower case “g” in galle. When it’s authentic, it’s a proper name, hence “Galle.” The finer points here add up to $20,000.