Q: I’m looking for the value of a single pillar two-tier glass epergne with a Rosenthal mark on the foot and production number 40 on the foot and stem of the insert as well. It’s just over 23 inches tall with the insert. The insert is 11 inches with 3-inch bowl diameter and the main stem and bowl are 19 inches with 5-inch bowl diameter, and 5-inch bowl height. What can you tell me about this?

 

A: This isn’t an epergne but may be a champagne tower, a group of glasses stacked in a tower so the champagne can be poured into the top glass and then spill into the lower ones. They are often used at weddings and formal parties. You could impress your guests at a Christmas or New Year’s Eve party by surrounding this tower with a stack of glasses so the champagne would pour into them. This cut and engraved pattern, called Romanze (Romance), was designed by Bjorn Wiinblad in the 1960s to go with a dinnerware pattern he designed for Rosenthal in 1959. We’ve seen s single long-stem wine glass in the Romance pattern and a tall three-level champagne tower in the same pattern. A three-glass tower in mint condition would sell for hundreds of dollars. A single drinking glass sells for $200, including the buyer’s premium and shipping.