A stained glass Tiffany window depicting blooming trees and a rolling river in vibrant colors could become the most expensive Tiffany Studios piece ever to appear at auction when billionaire owner Alan Gerry lists the Danner Memorial Window with Sotheby’s next month.
Key Facts
- Louis Comfort Tiffany, the first design director of Tiffany & Co., and window designer Agnes Northrop created the 16-foot-high leaded Danner window in 1913 as a tribute to John and Terressa Danner, founding members of the First Baptist Church in Canton, Ohio.
- In 2000, it became the most valuable Tiffany Studios work ever offered at auction when it sold for $2 million and is set to break that record again on Nov. 18, when it is expected to fetch between $5 million and $7 million.
- The window is being sold by billionaire Alan Gerry, who founded and sold Cablevision Industries to Time Warner for almost $3 billion in the late 1990s and has dedicated much of his time and money to the arts, including through the creation of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York State.
- Sotheby’s calls the Danner window the “most significant and valuable Tiffany Studios work ever offered at auction” and says it’s comparable to famous counterparts like the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Autumn Landscape Window and the Hartwell Memorial Window at the Art Institute of Chicago.
- The work depicts fruit-laden trees on the banks of a river with vibrant red, orange, blue, green and purple hues.
What To Watch For
The Danner Memorial Window will be on display at Sotheby’s New York from Nov. 8 to 18.
Key Background
In the early 20th century, Louis Tiffany’s creations were sold on the main floor of the Tiffany & Co. store on Fifth Avenue in New York, as well as in London and Paris stores, and original Tiffany Studios pieces are highly collectable today. Some 3,800 original Tiffany windows remain in the United States today, including at churches in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York and in the chapel of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Surprising Fact
The sale of the Danner Memorial Window comes as the Metropolitan Museum of Art prepares to install a three-part Tiffany window designed by Agnes Northrop as part of the Museum’s American Wing 100th anniversary. The acquisition of that piece, called Garden Landscape, was also made possible by Gerry, according to the museum.
Big Number
$3.37 million. That’s how much the most expensive Tiffany Studios piece ever auctioned, a Pond Lily Lamp, sold for at Christie’s in 2018.
Forbes Valuation
Gerry was ranked as the 2,177th richest person in the world as of Wednesday with an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion.
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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