Barbra Streisand Sold Her Tiffany Lamp for $717,000 in 1994. One Just Broke $4.4 Million at Auction
Streisand wanted to simplify her life. Her auction haul exceeded $5.7 million and rewrote Tiffany history.
Tiffany lamps have a way of stopping you mid-scroll. The stained glass, the craftsmanship, the warm glow. Most versions you come across are reproductions, but authentic Tiffany Studios originals are serious collector’s items that have fetched six- and seven-figure prices.
Barbra Streisand helped put these lamps on the mainstream radar when she auctioned her famous Cobweb in 1994. Since then the market has only accelerated. A single Tiffany lamp shattered the $4.4 million mark at the end of 2025.
That kind of price trajectory tells a bigger story about rarity, provenance and what collectors are willing to pay for a century-old piece of glass.
How much did Barbra Streisand pay for her Tiffany lamp?
Streisand picked up her Cobweb lamp in 1979 from the basement of Lillian Nassau’s Manhattan shop, according to The New York Times. She recalled paying $70,000, though auction reports later placed the figure closer to $55,000.
The shade was patterned with cobweb-like medallions on a mosaic base with white flowers. Streisand described it to The Times as “kind of ugly-great.”
She noted that another Cobweb went for roughly double at auction just two weeks after her purchase. “Cobweb lamps have soared in value ever since,” Nancy McClelland, a Christie’s specialist in 20th-century decorative arts, told The Times.
Why did Barbra Streisand sell her Tiffany lamp collection?
Streisand wanted to simplify. In 1994 she put more than 400 pieces from her Art Nouveau and Art Deco collection up for auction at Christie’s in New York.
“I don’t want to spend so much time being preoccupied with objects, and I don’t want so many anymore,” she said in a Christie’s newsletter quoted by the Los Angeles Times. “That’s all. I just want less.”
She also said she no longer wanted pieces sitting in storage and preferred other people to enjoy them while she was still alive.
What were the auction results for Barbra Streisand’s Tiffany lamp?
Christie’s estimated her Cobweb at $800,000 to $1 million. It sold for $717,500, making it the second-highest price ever paid for a Tiffany lamp at the time. The record stood at $770,000, set by a different Cobweb in 1992.
The auction results for her broader collection were equally impressive. The full sale totaled $5.77 million, far exceeding its roughly $4 million presale valuation, per The Washington Post.
What is the most expensive Tiffany lamp ever sold at auction?
A rare circa-1910 Magnolia floor lamp from the Schur Family Collection brought $4.4 million at Sotheby’s in December 2025. It set a new record for a Tiffany Studios leaded-glass lamp.
The estimate had been $2 million to $3 million, but a roughly 10-minute bidding war among four bidders pushed the price well past that, per Elle Decor.
What other Tiffany lamps have sold for over $1 million?
Several have crossed into seven figures. A Pond Lily table lamp, one of only 14 believed to exist, brought $3.37 million at Christie’s in 2018 and set a then-world record.
A Lotus lamp went for $2.81 million in 1997 and held the record for more than two decades. A Wisteria table lamp reached $1.55 million at Sotheby’s in 2013. And a Cobweb and Apple Blossom lamp, one of just three known examples, sold for $1.155 million in 2017.
Did Elton John own a Tiffany lamp?
Yes. A Tiffany Studios Poinsettia Border lamp once belonging to Elton John appeared at McTear’s in Glasgow in May 2025. The lamp dated to roughly 1899–1920 and carried an estimated value between about $27,000 and $40,600, per the Glasgow Times.
It went for about $30,000, according to The Scottish Sun. “The lamp is an extraordinary piece of decorative art, but its connection to one of the world’s most celebrated performers gives it a rare cultural cachet,” McTear’s director Magda Ketterer said.
Are vintage Tiffany lamps for sale today?
Authentic vintage Tiffany lamps still come to market through major auction houses and specialized dealers, but they are rare and expensive.
For homeowners drawn to the look, Tiffany-inspired stained glass has become part of a broader vintage tavern lighting revival. Modern reproductions and vintage finds let people capture the stained-glass warmth of a Tiffany lamp without the six- or seven-figure price tag. More than a century after they were first made, the aesthetic keeps showing up in everyday homes.
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