1908 Tiffany & Co. Equestrian Humidor
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GUEST:
This is a Belmont trophy from 1908. My mother bought it for my father. He had named his business after the horse that won it: Colin. She found it at an antique show in Louisville. She paid $5,000 in 1971. I did a little bit of research. I know that the August Belmont trophy is a whole different trophy, but that there were some trophies that were made perhaps by Tiffany's by a gentleman who I believe his name was Paulding Farnham. The research that I did showed that he only made these trophies until 1907. This being a 1908 trophy leads me to believe that maybe he was not the designer and artist that did it. But I would love to find out and know because I understand he's quite famous.
APPRAISER:
Well, you're absolutely correct. He did not make this; that was the last trophy that he made. In the time that I was trying to research this before we spoke, I could not find out who actually made this trophy. But you could consult the Tiffany archives, and that information most likely will be available there. If you'll help me tilt it over, I was going to show you a little bit about the mark. There is an M here on the bottom. Now, Tiffany put an initial on the bottom of each piece of silver made during the tenure of whoever was the director of the factory at that time. And this letter M corresponds to a gentleman whose name was John C. Moore II, who took over the factory management in 1907. And he was the manager for several decades. What's great about this piece is that aside from being a wonderful piece of presentation silver relating to horse racing, it's also a functional piece. And if we open it up, we see that it is actually a humidor to keep your cigars in. It has this wonderful copper lining. And it has great crossover collectability. Not only is it a wonderful piece of Tiffany silver that would appeal to Tiffany collectors, but it's also a wonderful smoking collectible that would appeal to collectors of cigar things. And it also would appeal to people who are interested in equestrian things. It also has this wonderful box, which is the original presentation box. And if you'll help me, we're going to lift that up. And we know it's the original presentation box because it has the Tiffany & Co. Makers emblem on the inside.
GUEST:
Nice.
APPRAISER:
It's so heavy, we could not weigh it. But it probably weighs in excess of 200 ounces, which is a lot of silver.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
I would estimate that if it came up for auction being by Tiffany, which was one of the best if not the best silver manufacturers of the time, that it might bring between $30,000 and $40,000 in today's current auction.
GUEST:
Wow, that's amazing.
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