A collector is amazed at the value of an antique floor lamp he bought for just a few hundred dollars.

He purchased the item along with other household goods years ago at a family member’s estate auction for about $350.

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According to a message from Antiques Roadshow appraiser David McCarron to the collector in a recent episode of the series, the item is worth significantly more today.

McCarron identified at least two key features that were responsible for the lamp’s increased value.

First, it was the designers who designed it – Duffner & Kimberly.

According to McCaron, Duffner & Kimberly viewed Tiffany as their competition as early as the early 20th century.

The New York-based company began producing household goods similar to the floor lamp around 1905 and 1906.

“They were actually only in business for a short time for financial reasons,” the appraiser explained to Antiques Roadshow.

“But they have always made great, high-quality lamps like this one.”

As a result, the lamp was almost as tall as the collector and McCarron, with a textured pattern of “shell or fish scales” on the shade and a long bronze stand that split into three pins at the bottom.

SETTING OPTIONS

In addition to being designed by Duffner & Kimberly during their brief stint as home goods manufacturers, the lamp also featured what McCarron called a “telescoping” feature.

In the center of the lamp stand was a small wheel, about the size of a golf ball, that could be turned to raise or lower the height of the object according to the owner’s wishes.

The only problem with the lamp was some plates on the shade.

McCarron noted that some had cracks due to wear and tear, but this would have little effect on the value of the lamp.

“It still looks like a million dollars to me,” he told the collector.

Although it wasn’t worth a million dollars, it was worth tens of thousands more than the collector had paid for it at the auction of a family member’s estate.

WHAT IS IT WORTH?

“I think even now, in his somewhat compromised position … it’s $15,000,” McCarron told him.

The collector was speechless at the estimate – a potential profit of a whopping $14,650.

It wouldn’t be the first time Antiques Roadshow found that an item a collector bought for a smaller amount is worth much more.

The same is true of a glass coffee table that a second-hand dealer bought for $20 in the 1980s. The value of the table was estimated by appraisers at around $1,600.

A man who was given a Rolex watch years ago also discovered that he had kept a watch valued at $50,000.

Another collector was moved to tears when Antiques Roadshow told him that the artwork he was keeping was worth around $20,000.