Georg Jensen Sterling Flatware, ca. 1930
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GUEST:
We were up in Minnesota, and we were on our way back because my husband doesn't fly, so we drive everywhere. And my husband said, "Oh, let's take Route 2." We took Route 2, and there was just yard sales everywhere you go. And one I came to and it had a box of silverware. I asked the guy, "How much do you want for the box of silverware?" And he turned around and said, “$25.” I said, "Sold." I didn't know about this until I got home. My husband said, "What's in these things that are all wrapped up?" We opened it up and he says, "Oh, it's old silver." That's all we knew about it.
APPRAISER:
How many years ago?
GUEST:
Twenty-five years ago.
APPRAISER:
Okay. And have you been using it?
GUEST:
Oh, yeah, we use it for the holidays, you know.
APPRAISER:
And then what do you know about it-- the brand or...
GUEST:
Mmm... just what it says here. That's all we knew, and it was silver.
APPRAISER:
So, what it says here is "Pacific."
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Now, Pacific actually is the company that made the cloth that keeps the silver from tarnishing.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The silver actually was made in Denmark. It was made by the preeminent firm of Georg Jensen. It's sterling silver. It's called the scroll pattern. This is hand done. It was made by Johan Rohde. He was the designer, and he designed this in 1927. But that's not to say that this set was made in '27.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
This could have been made in the '30s, into the '40s, possibly. The pattern continued in production after 1927. How many pieces did you get?
GUEST:
Oh, maybe a hundred pieces or more.
APPRAISER:
Whole sets are fairly scarce. You don't see a lot of them around. They get split up in families. So to find a whole set that large with the age to it is fairly unusual. The pieces you have just here, because it's all not here right now, the pieces you have here right now would probably be worth in a retail setting around $2,500.
GUEST:
(laughing) No!
APPRAISER:
Now, you add the other 80-some pieces you have...
GUEST:
W-wai.. You're saying this is just $2,000...
APPRAISER:
Just for the pieces right here. You add the 80-some pieces that you have and you have a little north of a hundred pieces, plus or minus, you're probably talking about a set that in this environment today on the retail level would be somewhere between $10,000 to $15,000. It's an unbelievable investment for $25.
GUEST:
Yeah! (laughing) Wow. Nobody's eating off of it no more. (laughing) Wow! I never expected that, never expected that. I'm shaking. (laughing)
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