This is a painting purchased in Los Altos, CA in a estate sale in 1999 for $50 (as we recall). Its nicely framed and has a light that perhaps came with the frame. However, the painting is slightly damaged - one crack above the mountain which has been fixed by someone and the other is not fixed. Both these points are shown in the photo. The condition could be Good or Fair or even Poor depending upon the choice.
I inherited a pair of these lamps from my grandparents in 2000 but my house is not victorian so they have been in storage. My grandmother said they were 1905 and indeed they are clearly very old but are electric - did they have electric lamps in 1905? They are in pretty good condition.
They work and throw a lot of light. They have an old two pronged cord in good shape.
This picture is a picture of a duplicate that I actually found on this site. If you look at it closely you can see that it has stains along the bottom. The copy that I have is prestine. It has no flaws at all. It has been incased in a glass frame since 1903 and is in perfect condition.
I sent pictures to the Illinois State Museum asking if they could give me any information about these beads. Illinois State Museum has an extensive collection of Stephen Fosters Merchants Trade Beads that the Foster Company imported during the 1800's.
I received an answere from Jonathan Reyman Phd. Curator of Anthropology and Collections for the Illinois State Museum.
He said the Beads all of them are Mid 19th Century Venetian Lamp-Work Trade Beads.
I'm trying to find a value for the Beads.
