Enamel & Gold Vinaigrette, ca. 1830
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GUEST:
My husband and I attended an antique show here in Salt Lake a couple of months ago. I happened to see this in a case with a lot of other jewelry, and I thought it was very interesting and unique. And I kind of passed by the jewelry three or four times, kind of deciding what I wanted to do, and I finally asked the dealer about it, and she couldn't tell me anything other than she'd bought it at an estate sale.
APPRAISER:
How much did you pay for this?
GUEST:
I paid $175 for it.
APPRAISER:
Did you kind of negotiate a little bit, or...?
GUEST:
Um...
APPRAISER:
You can tell me, it's okay.
GUEST:
I didn't negotiate.
APPRAISER:
You didn't... You said, "All right..."
GUEST:
I just loved it so much that I wanted...
APPRAISER:
$175, you wrote the check.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, yeah.
APPRAISER:
This is a very rare item-- I've seen examples of these in museums in Europe, and I've handled them. The item itself is called a vinaigrette, sort of like the salad dressing. There are no marks we could find. It's either Swiss or French.
GUEST:
Swiss, okay.
APPRAISER:
In the early 19th century, there wasn't garbagemen that carted away the trash. People threw the stuff out the window. And when you left your house, you would encounter odors that made you just choke. So they invented a device called the vinaigrette. And it was a box or a little trinket carried to revive oneself if one felt faint.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
I don't think that the dealer that sold it to you was aware of the fact that it's 18-karat gold.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And I don't think you knew that, either.
GUEST:
No, I didn't, okay.
APPRAISER:
The material that makes the color on this object is enamel, and it's polychrome, meaning many colors of enamel, in beautiful designs on both sides. The other side is different and just as pretty as the top. The connecting chain is enameled all around, as is the top piece. And inside is a gold pierced grill with beautiful decoration. But underneath the grill is a sponge. They would soak that sponge in an aromatic solution, sort of a mixture of perfume and ammonia, like smelling salts.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
So here's madam, and she's faint. "Oh, my goodness, I, I can't..." And... (inhales sharply) (exhales): "I can carry on now, I can make it to the coach."
GUEST (laughs)
APPRAISER:
That was the concept of the vinaigrette. These are quite rare. We don't see a lot of them. It's museum-quality and just beautiful. Conservatively, the retail value of a piece like this is about $7,500.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness.
APPRAISER:
In today's market.
GUEST (laughs): Oh...
APPRAISER:
So, let me tell you...
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
For $175, you did phenomenally well.
GUEST (laughs): I'm amazed-- I'm amazed.
Appraisal Details
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