Longwy Bride's Basket, ca. 1885
Watch
GUEST:
I've brought this vase.
It says it's made
by Cloisonné,
and it belonged to my
great-grandmother.
APPRAISER:
Do you happen to know where
she might have gotten it?
GUEST:
I don't really know.
APPRAISER:
What we have here is a very
interesting interpretation
of somebody else's artwork.
And on the bottom
it does say here...
it says Cloisonné.
And then to the left of that
is the name Longwy.
And then these other
two represent probably
production marks.
The person who, say,
molded the piece,
and then the person
who enameled the piece.
So it's sort of a form of
19th-century quality control.
Now, Longwy is actually
the name of the factory.
It's spelled l-o-n-g-w-y.
It's in the northeast corner
of France.
And they specialized in making
pottery and porcelain.
And the word cloisonné, it's a French term that denotes
Chinese enamel or Asian enamel.
And it actually
means "fencing."
So, in real cloisonné, what you would do is you would take a metal body and put a series of metal fences around it and fill it with enamel. Well, the way that the people
at Longwy accomplished that
was really very interesting.
Rather than use the little
metal wirework,
what they did was use
little black ink borders,
and that's what holds
the enamel in place.
So you have the French
interpretation of cloisonné. The factory didn't put that under there. That was probably just some helpful uncle to say, “Oh, this is cloisonné here."
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And this is pottery, not porcelain. That's why you get all of this crackle glazing here.
It probably dates
to about the 1880s.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
It's a bride's basket.
So you've got a nice
rope twist top
and a beautiful shaped
body like this.
This shows an incredible
amount of effort
for something that is
a very simple gift
from this time period.
This would have been a bride's
pride and joy in the 1880s.
So I would say,
at auction,
you would be looking at a price
of around $1,000 to $1,500.
It's really a beautiful piece
of pottery.
Thanks for
bringing it down.
GUEST:
Wow. Thank you.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
