quote:
Maine Antique Digest
December 2007
Tarnished Silver
by Walter C. Newman
O what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!
This famous passage by Sir Walter Scott is found toward the conclusion of his epic poem, Marmion, which is a story full of betrayal, disguise, and deceit. That may be an apt description of a Tiffany style drinks set that recently sold at Ken Farmer Auctions and Appraisals in Radford, Virginia. The set that changed hands at Farmer's shares a single tangled thread with at least two other sets that have popped up over the years. 
In 1995 a man approached Atlanta silver dealer Beverly Bremer in her shop .....
[See the full article for the Beverly Bremer/ Janet Zapata portion of the story]
...... Bremer called on her friend, Janet Zapata, to examine the set and to verify what now seemed obvious. Zapata is a former archivist for Tiffany and could easily determine whether Bremer's set was legitimate. Zapata examined the set and quickly determined that it was, indeed, a fake.
Zapata's concern was such that she went on to write a cautionary article about the incident. Titled "Silverphiles Beware!" the article was published in the January/February 1996 issue of Silver Magazine.
Among the telltale signs that jumped out at Zapata were that the Bremer pieces, although sterling silver, had been created using the electroforming process, not hammered from sheets of silver, as Tiffany's craftsmen would have done. Also, the decorative elements on genuine Tiffany items are applied to the object's surface, not formed into the piece as they are in the case of the Bremer set. A final indication of the spurious nature of the set is that the identification marks were wrong. They read "Tiffany" and were in the lettering style of Tiffany, but there were marks missing that should have been present, and the marks used to date Tiffany pieces did not match the supposed time frame of the set.
Another observation that sealed it for Zapata was that she had seen a set like this one before. It belongs to a collection that she is familiar with, but that set does not have any Tiffany markings.
Speaking with M.A.D. about the incident, Zapata explained it this way. During the 1990's there was renewed interest in the Japanesque style that had been a popular Tiffany motif from the 19th century. In order to feed that demand, someone in the New York area had produced sterling silver items in that popular style. The items that Zapata had first examined had been unmarked; but at some time, someone, somewhere, had struck Bremer's set with what appear to be genuine Tiffany marks. That set then began a life of its own.
Fast forward to January 2007. Ken Farmer had received a large consignment of silver items from an estate in Charlotte, North Carolina. Farmer and his staff had cataloged the items for inclusion in his firm's upcoming February estate and collector auction. Among the items was a magnificent sterling silver drinks set consisting of a tankard-style pitcher, six matching gold-washed cups, and a lily pad-shaped tray. Each piece was decorated in the Japanesque style and was marked "Tiffany."
The set was added to the catalog and described as an "American Sterling Tiffany & Co. Cocktail Set." It carried an estimate of $8000/12,000. Farmer sent his catalog to the printer with a photograph of the set and several close-ups of its details proudly displayed on the cover.
One week before the February sale, Farmer's office received a telephone call from Richard Kurtzman, a New Jersey silverphile. Kurtzman had received his copy of the Farmer catalog and had remembered Zapata's eleven-year-old article. He faxed a copy of the article to Farmer along with a suggestion that a closer look was in order. When Farmer returned to his Radford, Virginia, office he did take a closer look. He also made some telephone calls to his fellow Antiques Roadshow appraisers. Faxes, e-mails, jpeg photo files, and telephone calls flashed back and forth. Agreement was reached; this set was not Tiffany.
Farmer quickly removed the set from the upcoming sale. Before the 11 a.m. start of the February 18 sale, virtually everyone had heard the story. In his opening remarks, Farmer addressed the attendees with a smile, a shake of his head, and a caution: "I don't want to hear the words 'Tiffany cocktail set' today. OK?"
What was going on here? Had the Bremer set somehow been assimilated back into the market and was now resurfacing after all these years? No. As the thread of this tale winds and unwinds, the drinks set that had been relegated to a credenza in Ken Farmer's Radford office has proved to be a second fake Tiffany set. It is a set that is only now surfacing in the auction market.
What happened to the Bremer set? It is safely stored in the vaults of Winterthur Museum in Winterthur, Delaware. After Beverly Bremer had learned the worst, and after she had resigned herself to the fact that the experience had not been simply a bad dream, she donated her set to Winterthur. Winterthur's collection of American decorative arts is world-renowned.
Ann Wagner, assistant curator of decorative arts, spoke with M.A.D. and explained the museum's interest in such items. "As a teaching institution, Winterthur keeps examples of marks and makers for comparison purposes." In that regard, Winterthur's library has compiled a large photographic collection of marks associated with silver, furniture, general metals work, ceramics, etc. Known as the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection (DAPC), it is a permanent collection and is open to the public.
DAPC maintains files of both spurious and genuine marks. In addition to the photographic evidence, the collection also contains a number of faked objects that are used during instructional seminars. Bremer's drinks set is part of that group.
Now, back to Radford and the Farmer set. In spite of the fact that it was known to be a fake, there was enormous interest in Farmer's set. Several individuals came forward and expressed an interest in acquiring the items. Ken Farmer was in a quandary as to what to do. An estate had consigned the set, but none of those now associated with the disposition of the property were familiar with any of the details of its acquisition. The drinks set was simply a part of a silver collection that was now being liquidated.
Farmer made the decision to fully disclose the nature of the set and to offer it in a future sale. That sale occurred on October 7. The catalog noted that the "Tiffany-style" set was "All marked 'Tiffany & Co.', but is a reproduction of Tiffany." The set sold for $8625 (includes buyer's premium), warts and all.
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