This piece is a real mystery to our family. We know it came to the US with my grandmother from Glamis, Scotland in 1920. There were originally two, but nobody in the family knows what happened to the other one. I inherited this from my mother's estate. This is a huge piece - 27" tall and 17" wide. It weighs 10 pounds. Now for the mystery part...there isn't a single mark anywhere - no hallmarks, no maker's mark. It is surprisingly light for its size. I don't believe it is sterling. It breaks down into two pieces. I have had this appraised more than 5 times, and not one appraiser could tell me where it came from or how old it is. There are three main themes - lions, snakes and soldiers with helmets. My daughter noted that the lions look just like the lions on the Scottish flag. Does anyone know what this is and/or its value? 

This is a strange piece, it is certainly a Moorish vargueno however beyond that fact I have had little luck in identifying the value, origin or age. it is my best guess that it is from around the turn of the 17th or 18th century and from Grenada however I am most likely wrong ;). Anyway I am trying to value this item in a effort to help fund college, so any help would be much appreciated indeed.

Apparently the image upload on this page is a bust so you can find pictures of it here (Full), here (top) and here (legs).

Thanks!,

-Martin

The lamp is a medium base 3 socket candelabra table lamp. The stem of the lamp has a brass screw that allows for height adjustment. The arms of the sockets are a reeded style solid brass 8' long about a quarter inch wide. The arms end just beyond the sockets with a cup shaped permanently fixed solid brass finials about 3/4 of an inch wide 1" long.A pewter cup sits below each socket .Below the pewter cups attached to the arms are permanently fixed solid brass slotted and shaped finials 1.5" long 3/4" wide. Approximately 2 inches above the base of the lamp there is a pewter cluster about 3''wide, 3'' tall shaped like a top ( RE: toy top). The soild brass base  covers a cast iron brass base  that serves as the weight for the lamp. When I turned the lamp upside down I found a # 2 stamped in the cast iron. The sockets are the original pull chain sockets . The sockets are 4" long 1.5 inches wide porcelain shaped like a half moon. These sockets are very rare and are not available by standard purchase methods. They  have the capability of being dissected and repaired ( I'm an electrician ). The sockets actually work take 100 watt bulbs and still have the original cardboard insulators over them as well as the original painted cardboard socket covers. The wiring if I am not mistaken should be a gold cloth covered wire . That type of wiring is still available under restoration  lamp parts suppliers Finally the shade on the lamp is a six panel parchment shade. Each panel on the shade has a black pen and ink floral sketching on it . Each panel is signed as follows PLB-6131,PLB-6122,PLB 6128, PLB 6124,PLB 6130, PLB 6121

http://s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj59/stranglerlou/

Please help with any info on inherited Japanese painting. The following is written on the back of the frame: " This picture may be valuable. It was done in London by a Japanese in 1930" My terrible pics do not show the beauty or color of this. I have not mastered the posting of pics here yet, so I am including a link to my photobucket page with pics. Artist and value info would be appreciated. Thank you, Lou