Objects of Lust: Swank Lighting

Imagine stumbling upon a treasure trove of hundreds of pieces of gorgeous and highly sought-after vintage lighting lying forgotten in a dusty warehouse -- all of it utterly pristine and still in its original shipping crates.

That's exactly what happened to antiques dealers Ed Sexton and Doug Taylor of Dallas, who recently discovered the remaining inventory of the Edward P. Paul Company, importers of handblown Venetian and Murano glass made by Italian glass houses such as Barovier & Toso, Barbini, Seguso, and Venini from the 1940s through the 1960s.

Sexton and Taylor snapped up the entire cache and had each of the lamps rebuilt with new, UL-Certified hardware. Now the pair have opened a Dallas showroom and online store called Swank Lighting to showcase their incredible "20th century archaeological finds."

Mind you, the lamps are very, very dear, ranging from $1,800 to $6,000 a pair. But as Sexton explains, the prices reflect not only the size, rarity, and quality of the lamps but also the skill and difficulty that went into making them: "Opaline glass, for instance, required the glass blowers to actually blow lead powder into the glass," he says. "As you can imagine, that process is outlawed today."

So yes, a pair of these exquisite lamps will definitely put a crimp in your credit card. But they're also works of art to be treasured for a lifetime.

Check out Swank Lighting's entire inventory right here -- even if, as in my case, it's only to admire it from afar.