This was posted a week ago, but I’m bumping it up to the top of the page now due to an important correction.
This lantern was created as a replacement for a stolen G & G lamp, originally made for the Gamble House; once the original was recovered, this copy was auctioned off to raise funds for the Gamble House’s upkeep and education programs was sold off – see below. It sold at auction last weekend for $2,500, a bit lower than the expected $3,000 – $4,000. There are several excellent images on the ebay auction page.
reader John Hamm of Hamm Glass Studios writes in to give us the straight dope on this:
I do not know where you received the infromation stating that the Gamble House profited in any way from the sale of this lantern but it is completly false. The Gamble House had absolutely nothing to do with the sale of this piece, and in no way made any money from its sale. The "gentleman" that located the original that was stolen from the house many years ago was given the reproduction as a thank you, at a public ceremony no less, for allowing the Gamble House to purchase from him the original lantern that he located and purchased on E-bay. He then in turn put the repro. up for auction and profitted soley from its sale – an action that I personally find repugnant. You may verify this by calling the Gamble House and speaking with the director, Ted Bosley. It would have been a kind gesture if the profit from the sale had been directed back to the Gamble House, but no one there knew about the sale until the auction was about to take place.
So basically the owner profited twice: he bought stolen property (something that people are often punished for!), which was then bought back from him at the Gamble House’s expense; and then he sold off the lantern that was given to him and profited from that as well. Certainly within his rights, as the radical capitalist portion of the antique-selling trade have reminded us on this very forum within the last few weeks (when I questioned the ethics of selling pottery ebay for a huge markup without telling the buyer they could buy it for less from the potter directly) – but not very ethical behavior! Thanks to John Hamm for setting us straight on this.
So how much did the eBay buyer pay for the original and did anyone else recognize it as such (how was it described?), i.e. did it get bid up? Was there any follow-up regarding the eBay seller’s identity and why they were in posession of the stolen piece? Next question of course: How much did the Gamble House pay to get the original back (in addition to giving the seller the repro)? Why didn’t Rago feel any need to inform the Gamble House that their “gift” was up for sale? Wow
I personally know the buyer. He bought it from ebay, suspecting it could possibly be a Greene and Greene lantern but having no idea that it was from the Gamble House (GH). As soon as he did the research and discovered what it likely was, he contacted Ted Bosley, who was involved in each and every step of the process to get the lantern back to the GH. The ebay buyer was celebrated last fall at the dedication of the lantern hanging on the GH and Bosley was aware that he might indeed sell the lantern at auction. The buyer paid $1,000 for the lantern, which was then appraised to be perhaps as much as $100K. The buyer generously returned the lantern (FOR NO MONEY .. he got a lifetime membership to the GH and the repro lantern – that’s it) as soon as he learned its history. I want to stress that Ted Bosley worked throughout the process with the ebay buyer, who in turn, has also been very involved in turning over any info he had on the ebay seller of the lantern (who claimed it had been taken off his mother’s childhood San Diego home before demolition in the 1970’s — a story entirely plausible and leading to the buyers piqued curiosity about its origins). Why would the GH care if the *repro* lantern got sold at auction?? The foundation got their original lantern generously returned. Enough said.
I need to correct one thing about my above post: I do believe that the ebay buyer was reimbursed by the GH for the $1,000 he paid for the lantern on ebay. No additional money was paid by the GH to the ebay buyer. He did not profit by giving the lantern back to its rightful owners/locale and therefore, it truly was a donation.
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Hewn and Hammered: Gamble House Lantern – sold!