Mae Timberlake Roseville Tankard, ca. 1905
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GUEST:
This piece my father acquired probably 40 years ago, I'm guessing either at a flea market or a gun show. And brought it home, cleaned it up. My mother fell in love with it. It sat on the shelf in the den for all those years, and I inherited it about five years ago and brought it home and gave it to my wife and she fell in love with it. It's been on our shelf since then. That's all I know about it.
APPRAISER:
And it was her idea to bring it?
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Well, one thing you do know is the information on the back of the piece. It says "Hunter Arms Company, First Prize, Class A." We're pretty sure that they had competitions for shooting, maybe even for field trials with dogs.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But this is a presentation piece made for the Hunter Arms Company, not by them. And the mystery is, who made the tankard?
GUEST:
Okay, okay.
APPRAISER:
Well, there's an artist's name on this piece. Did you know that?
GUEST:
No, I had no idea.
APPRAISER:
Okay. Well, under the handle, it's signed "M. Timberlake." That's the only mark on the piece other than the Hunter Arms thing. Mae Timberlake was a very, very fine decorator. She worked at Weller for a while. She also worked at Roseville.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
This piece is Roseville.
GUEST:
Oh, boy.
APPRAISER:
And the reason we know that, it's a classic Roseville tankard shape. We also know that Roseville made a number of these presentation pieces for the Hunter Arms Company. Most of them probably made around 1900 to 1910. That's typically when these brown, Rozane Royal, dark pieces were made.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
What's special about this and special about most of Mae Timberlake's work is the beautiful decoration. Do you know how much your dad may have paid for the item when he bought it?
GUEST:
Probably paid less than $50 for it.
APPRAISER:
The piece has a few minor flaws. Even with that, we think that at auction, a piece like this probably would sell for $1,000 to $1,500.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Glad your wife had the hunch?
GUEST:
I am too, I am too.
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