Rare Tiffany vase purchased during the Great Depression is now worth $150,000

Stephen Proctor

A guest on Antiques Roadshow got the surprise of a lifetime when she brought in a crate of Tiffany vases her aunt had purchased during the Great Depression. For starters, the woman couldn’t believe how much the crate alone was worth.

Appraiser Arlie Sulka said, “The crate, in a retail setting, this is something for Tiffany geeks everywhere —collectors, museums — they would actually be very excited about this, and it would be worth between $5,000 and $10,000.” “Holy cow,” the woman reacted. The crate was worth more than the pastel glass vase, which was appraised at $2,000 to $3,000.

The surprises kept on coming. The paperweight glass vase, which the woman thought would be valued between $8,000 and $10,000 turned out to be worth between $50,000 and $75,000. But the rarest of the vases was something Sulka had been longing to see.

“This is the piece I was waiting for for 20 years,” Sulka said. “And what I can tell you is, every night before the Roadshow, people would always say, ‘What is on your wish list? What would you like to come in to the show tomorrow?’ And I always say, ‘A Tiffany lava vase.’ And that’s what this is. It’s extremely special.”

She said a similar vase has been on display at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris since 1906. The estimated value of the woman’s piece: $100,000 to $150,000 retail. The value of all four items, including the crate, was $157,000 to $238,000.

Antiques Roadshow airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on PBS.

Watch as a woman finds out her $100 statue is actually worth $100,000:

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