What do you get when you buy a Chihuly?

"First of all a name brand, something many people put great importance on — you see it in clothing, automobiles and in art. Also quite often you are getting something aesthetically pleasing by very talented people."

— Doug Heller, New York glass dealer

"What does a person get when they buy any piece of art? Something that gives you pleasure and satisfaction, something that you want. You're still buying the essence of his talent. That hasn't changed."

— Don Foster, former owner, Foster/White Gallery

"You are getting an aesthetic experience. You are getting an education. You are having what we call an extraordinary family learning moment."

— Jeffrey Patchen, director, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

"I guess they're getting the concept. They're getting the Chihuly concept even though he's not physically blowing the glass. I think, though I'm not sure, that it's still his ideas behind the glass."

— John Olbrantz, director, Hallie Ford Museum, Oregon

"You are getting something very beautiful. If you're lucky, he signs it. But he didn't touch it before that."

— Charles Cowles, New York art dealer

"I think you buy his idea. Certainly watching him and working with him, every time he had an idea for the bridge (of glass), he was there talking it through with us. It was very clear it's all about Dale."

— Josi Callan, former director, The Museum of Glass, Tacoma

"The idea that it's artwork by somebody who has made it in a big way, the most famous in this field bar none. He is the only name almost everybody recognizes."

— Katya Garrow Heller, former Chihuly employee

"You get a remarkable play of light, that changes all the time. Works on paper or canvas are pretty much the same, but the translucency of these dimensional forms in glass is constantly changing in light, summer and winter. It's always evolving."

— Jack Lenor Larson, fabric designer

"I used to say the early pieces were investments. There are none of those around anymore. You are buying a beautiful piece of glass, if that's what you think is beautiful."

— Tom Landowski, former manager, Foster/White gallery