Collection of Fans from Europe and China
GUEST:
They were in my grandmother's attic stored in a trunk with dolls and parasols and other items. And unfortunately, she never opened the trunk up when we were children so I never heard any stories about them or who owned them. So that's what I'd like to find out now-- how old are they and so forth.
APPRAISER:
It might actually be a good thing that she didn't open it up, because if she'd let you play with them, because of the fragile nature of fans, they might not be in such good shape as they are today. We have several different kinds. This is a simple sandalwood fan that's called a Brisé fan. When the fan doesn't have a leaf, when the sticks continue up and you just have a ribbon like this, it's called a Brisé. This fan is hand-painted but unfortunately we have a little bit of a damage problem here. In the hierarchy of fans, what the sticks are made of helps to determine the value. And wood is probably on the low end of the scale. Then we go into ivory. You have three lovely ivory fans. This one has a nice hand-painted scene and it's also partially done with a machine. But it's nicely done here with all of your pierce work. These two are not only beautifully done with all the pierced ivory work, but they also have the little spangles or sequins that you find in the late 19th century. Most of your fans are 19th century, and most of them are European. And this is ostrich feathers which also adds to the value of the fan. The most expense thing you have would be this one, which has mother-of-pearl. Mother-of-pearl is always on the top of the scale when it comes to quality. And not only is it mother-of-pearl, but it also has sterling silver inlay, which would add to the value. And then to add to that, we have this beautiful lace. It's all done by hand. And it's in excellent, excellent condition.
GUEST:
Handmade lace.
APPRAISER:
Yes, it is handmade lace.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
So looking at your fans, we cost this on the lower end. It is a Chinese fan. It's from the late 19th to the early 20th century and it's damaged. So it would just probably fall into something like $25 to $35. This would have been higher had we not had the damage here. But we've got damage, so I'm going to put this one somewhere around $40 to $50. The next is your wooden fan. I would probably put that somewhere between $250 and $350.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Then going up here, we're into somewhere around the same: $250, $350. This is really neat. You have a little mirror here; I love that. Where someone could actually either check out their makeup or the man behind her. That's kind of a cute thing. That's what I thought was cool. When we move to these two fans, we're somewhere in the $500 to $600 range for each.
GUEST:
Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
Yes.
GUEST:
Oh, my.
APPRAISER:
And this wonderful fan here, I would put somewhere between $800 and $1,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh. Wow.
APPRAISER:
So all together, this collection would retail at $2,400 to $3,000. So I really think it's a good thing that she didn't let you play with them.
GUEST:
That's true.
APPRAISER:
Another nice thing-- you have the original tassels. That would put them at the high end of the values that I'm giving you.
Appraisal Details
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