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Finds and Interests
Our WorthPoint Price Guide updates daily, with thousands of new items streaming in from our Industry Partners. I like to try to single out a few of my favorites to share with our followers. There’s usually a good story behind so many of these pieces, and sharing my passion for antique and vintage items is the best part of my job.
This lamp I am highlighting today was made by a Holocaust survivor and is a real gem. Let me tell you about it.
Items from the mid-century modern period always draw a lot of attention at auctions and estate sales. The atomic design of some bits of décor and housewares, along with the streamlined, aerodynamic aesthetic of many pieces of furniture, makes the look a popular trend right now. In a recent auction held by one of our Industry Partners, Billings, in Los Angeles, CA, a small lamp by a French designer sold for over $20,000.00, proving that demand for specific designs is robust.
The glazed stoneware lamp, made in France around 1950, certainly got some notice at the sale. Created by designer Georges Jouve, the lamp has a heart-shaped motif and a paper shade with brass accents. The piece does bear Jouve’s signature, so it’s verified as authentic; however, the mark is not as clear as on other pieces by this artist.
The piece sold for a reasonable price; however, the condition wasn’t perfect, underscoring that the lamp’s style and the designer’s history are solid factors in its value. The auction listing detailed some small chips, but overall, it was still in pretty good condition. It was rewired for safety, as is common with older electrical items.
Born in France and educated at École Boulle in both art history and sculpture, Jouve was imprisoned in a German concentration camp for a time but eventually escaped to family members who lived in a potter’s village in the South of France called Dieulefit.
By 1944, he had set up his own studio in Paris and was a fixture in the French art community, participating in exhibitions and events with the Compagnie des Arts Francais. His work was on trend for the time, but also very individual. The lamp stands as a reminder that, especially among European artists, the years when the war raged across so many parts of the world produced pieces that might have gone unnoticed initially but are now hot items with collectors.