The highlight of Sotheby’s upcoming sale “Tiffany: Dreaming in Glass” in New York on December 17 is a group of seven lamps comprising one of the most important collections to come to auction in more than 10 years. They were assembled over a period of three decades by well-known Tiffany collector Sandra van den Broek before being acquired by the present owner, who consigned them to Sotheby’s. The present owner is not identified in the catalogue.

The seven lamps are expected to bring in $3.1–4.6 million for the auctioneer.

Among the top lots of the group are two successively numbered “Wisteria” table lamps, circa 1901–05, offered as separate lots, each with an estimate of $700,000–$1 million. The Wisteria lamp was designed in 1901 and offered for sale during Christmas of the same year. The complex pattern of the shade is made of nearly 2,000 pieces of glass individually selected and cut, according to Sotheby’s.

Together the Wisterias “represent the closest iteration of a pair to ever emerge at auction.” Former owner van den Broek, who acquired them 15 years apart, was surprised when she discovered they were successively numbered, and said she realized they had been cut from the same sheets of glass once she placed them side by side.

Tiffany Studios “Dragonfly” table lamp (ca. 1910) is estimated at $600,000–900,000. Photo: Courtesy Sotheby’s.

Also on offer is a “Dragonfly” table lamp, circa 1910, which sports cabochon jewels and has turtleback tiles and mosaic glass (estimate: $600,000–900,000) and a “Grape” chandelier, circa 1905, with an estimate of $300,000–500,000.

The entire 41-lot sale is estimated to bring $4.6–6.8 million.

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