1884 Thomas Webb & Sons "Swan's Head" Perfume Bottle
GUEST:
I brought a goose head. It's a perfume bottle. It used to belong to my great-grandmother. She collected all sorts of glass, and this sort of made its way down the family. I was told it was cameo.
APPRAISER:
Have you ever had it appraised?
GUEST:
It was appraised in 1984, and they said it was about $900 at that point in time. So I've been keeping it sort of hid away so it doesn't get any damage.
APPRAISER:
Tucked it away for safekeeping at that point.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
It is a cameo perfume bottle.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
It's produced in England, and it does have a sterling silver lid. And if we go in, we can see a set of hallmarks here, which track us back into London in 1884. It's a very, very important English glassmaker, and it was made by a company called Thomas Webb & Sons. And they produced these swan's head.
GUEST:
Oh, it's not a goose head?
APPRAISER:
It's not a goose head, it's a swan's head. Produced these swan's head in a variety of sizes and a variety of colors.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Ruby is one of the better colors and probably the best color. This is the 5 1/4-inch size, which is a little bit smaller than a large one. And it's great that it's in its original box. Any clue what you think it might be worth today?
GUEST:
I figured it was worth probably more than $900, but I've been told that collectible glass, people don't collect it as much as they used to. So I don't know what the value would be.
APPRAISER:
Well, there are certain things that perform still. This particular piece, if you brought it into an auction today, conservatively would be estimated between $5,000 and $7,000.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Would not surprise me if it exceeded that number.
GUEST:
Well, thank you very much. That's amazing.
Appraisal Details
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