Dirk Van Erp Copper Vase, ca. 1930
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GUEST:
My mom gave it to me. She actually got it at a silent auction about ten, 15 years ago. She paid about $100 for it.
APPRAISER:
And you know who it's by? You know who the maker is?
GUEST:
I think it was Dirk van Erp.
APPRAISER:
Dirk van Erp. Well, he's really a very interesting craftsman.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
He emigrated to the United States from Holland in 1886, and he started work in San Francisco at the Naval Shipyard. And he started making things out of brass shell casings. He would give them away to friends, and he started selling them.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And then he set up a shop, in Oakland, and eventually moved to San Francisco in 1908. And he had a shop where he produced copper works. He had his two children work with him, and he had a number of other craftsmen. And they made vases. they made bookends, desk sets, and they made lamps, which they're very famous for. The piece what you have, though, is not from this Arts and Crafts period. I feel that this piece is actually from the 1930s. But really, all the emphasis on collecting his works is in the earlier period.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
And these later pieces are not of interest to collectors of Arts and Crafts. These are more collected by people interested in the Modernist '30s and '40s. It's made out of a very heavy-gauge copper, and it's very clearly marked. And it's been detached from the base.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
And if we look in, on the bottom here, we can see his mark.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
And it's a windmill, in honor of his home country, and it says "Dirk van Erp." So it has some condition problems.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
The fact that it's detached doesn't mean that much. It can be repaired.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
It's a piece that now, a collector interested in this would probably at auction pay something in the range of $6,000 to $8,000.
GUEST:
Wow. That's something else.
APPRAISER:
Isn't that cool?
GUEST:
That is cool.
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