René Lalique Dressing Table Garniture, ca. 1920
Watch
GUEST:
These belonged to my mother. My father was a doctor, and they lived in Ohio. He quite often would go to New York, and he liked the female form. So he quite often would bring home beautiful things that had this nice form on it.
APPRAISER:
What you have is a dresser garniture. These were made by R. Lalique, by René Lalique, in the 1920s; they're French. But ordinarily, you usually just see one of these at a time. I was really quite flabbergasted when you came in with all three, because I've never seen the three together. Now, there probably was a box that went with it.
GUEST:
There was.
APPRAISER:
Oh, and what happened to the box?
GUEST:
The cat jumped up on the dresser and knocked it off.
APPRAISER:
We understand that happens. We love our cats, but...
GUEST:
(laughing) Not that much.
APPRAISER:
So what this is called, this particular bottle, it's called a "flacon," which means perfume. But it's actually an eau de toilette because it's a larger bottle. It's called "Myosotis." Myosotis means forget-me-nots. And if you look along the sides of these, you can see that these are little stylized forget-me-nots.
GUEST:
Oh, I never noticed that.
APPRAISER:
Now, they are very rare, very unusual, but they have a few condition problems.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
This one, which is the smallest of the three bottles, has two cracks in it.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And then this one over here has a chip to the rim. And then this, you told me you couldn't get the stopper out. But that... I believe that that can be done. But we also have something in here, which we call a sickness or a cloudiness to the glass. And probably what happened is when you leave a stopper in, and there's still liquid inside, you get... This is how it ends up drying because you can't... It doesn't... the air doesn't come out of the piece. Now, this could be fixed, actually. If someone gets this top off, they could probably work on the inside. So that's a good thing. This, unfortunately, cannot be fixed.
GUEST:
No, you’re right.
APPRAISER:
We can't regenerate the glass. This can actually be ground down, this piece here.
GUEST:
Oh, yes.
APPRAISER:
This can be ground. Now, it will affect the piece, and it will... The value is already affected. Now, in the present state, the three of them, even though they all have condition issues, are worth... They would be sold in a retail store for around $8,000. If these were all perfect, they could be worth as much as $20,000 to $30,000 in a retail store.
GUEST:
Thank you so much, and thank you for telling me about this.
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.
