Is Your Glass Art Valuable?
3 ways to tell if your glass art is valuable… There may be more ways, but most likely there are less.
Attaching a value to art in general is very tricky. The price of art compared to its value can be very different.
Things people collect, whether it is art, antiques, or something rare and unique, are generally valued at what someone is willing to pay. There are many factors involved in determining an object’s value.
Value Factors for Glass Art
The following factors can help determine if your glass art or glass sculpture is valuable.
#1 – Is it “handmade”?
There is a definite value placed on objects having been handmade. A certain amount of uniqueness can usually be found in handmade objects. Even in objects from a repeated design will have unique attributes when they have been made by hand.
If I were to make 10 hand-blown glass vases the same shape, color, and size, they might appear to be identical at first glance. The handmade process will inevitably reveal small differences in each vase. These small differences gives each glass vase unique “character” often desired by collectors.
Handmade doesn’t necessarily equate to quality. It just means a machine didn’t make it.
#2 – Is there a signature of the artist or maker?
A signature or maker’s mark is simply to say a particular person, studio, or company made the glass art.
The reputation of the artist, studio, or company behind the signature can play a part in an object’s value.
#3 – How “unique” is the glass art?
It can be enormously tricky to apply a value towards glass art in particular. Sometimes a one-of-a-kind object is considered more valuable than a repeated design. A repeated design may be more valuable than a one-of-a-kind piece or sculpture based on its “significance”.
Value is Connected to Significance
Significance is actually one of the top factors in determining the value of glass art and contemporary glass sculpture. In fact, significance creates the value in just about everything.
The significance of an object may include many factors. It could have historical significance. It could have developmental significance. Its significance could be the many ways it is unique.
How an inexpensive object becomes valuable
A person once asked me if I could repair their glass vase. The damage was minor and repairable. However, the cost for me to do the repair was 3 times what the person originally paid for the glass vase.
The person was more than happy to pay for the repair because the glass vase held enormous “emotional” value to them.
The significance in “emotional” value can create a value that is priceless.
There may be 3 ways or many ways to tell if your glass art is valuable… But no one can argue the value it may hold for you.
By Bernard Katz