MONROVIA, CA — At first glance, the lot looked like a nice Tiffany Studios Wisteria table lamp. Any casual observer would think so, until a closer inspection was performed and a beloved copycat brand was made clear.

Paul Riviere founded The Riviere Brass & Bronze Works in New York in 1904. Little is known about the company; it was rarely mentioned in trade publications of the time, and it apparently did not advertise. Most of what is known today comes from the diary of Paul’s son, Paul Jr., who joined the firm in 1906.

Riviere’s lamps were often shameless copies of Tiffany’s designs. The company marketed two primary product lines: etched metal overlay lamps and leaded glass mosaic lamps, from which this lot was identified as part of John Moran Auctioneers‘ Traditional Collector sale held July 30.

Moran noted the lamp as being unmarked and estimated its production date to the 1910s. The three-light lamp featured a hand-wrought tree-form base, possibly made from copper-plated metal using an ‘antique verde’ patination variant. Its patinated metal shade, made with leaded-glass hand-cut elements, depicts the rich blue hues of a wisteria tree in full bloom.

Standing 24in in height with a 17in-diameter shade, the Riviere Studios Wisteria lamp had previously sold in November of 1974 at Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet in Los Angeles.

Collectors appreciate Riviere lamps for their fine construction and period feel without the painfully high price tag that accompanies a Tiffany Studios original. As a result, this example hammered for $25,000, or $33,000 with buyer’s premium against a $8,000-$12,000 estimate — more than doubling the high number. The lamp very nearly sold to a LiveAuctioneers bidder at $22,500, when a floor competitor offered $25,000, thereby ending the competition.