North Carolina Moravian Flask, ca. 1815
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GUEST:
It was my grandmother's, and they called it a doll. She said that it was her great-grandmother's doll. My great-great-great-grandmother lived in North Carolina, but at some point, they traveled out to Missouri and then came back to North Carolina. And that's really all the history I have on the doll.
APPRAISER:
And where in North Carolina were they from?
GUEST:
Winston-Salem.
APPRAISER:
That's a great little heirloom, and what do you do with it now?
GUEST:
Dust it.
APPRAISER:
Yeah?
GUEST:
That's about it.
APPRAISER:
Yeah? And the story is that your grandmother used this as a toy?
GUEST:
She played with it.
APPRAISER:
Wow.
GUEST:
She played with it, and we don't know why there's a hole in the head. I don't know if there used to be another type of hair coming out or what, but...
APPRAISER:
Okay. When you told me that your family was from Winston-Salem, that was one of the clues to help me identify this little flask.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And...
GUEST:
Oh, you're...
APPRAISER:
This is a very rare bottle.
GUEST:
Ooh.
APPRAISER:
It was made by Moravian potters.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
In Salem, North Carolina. Salem was the center of Southern pottery making. The industry began there in the mid-18th century. But this style of bottle was made in the first couple of decades of the 19th century.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
This was probably made 1810 to 1830.
GUEST:
Wow, wow.
APPRAISER:
Whether they were used for spirits or whatever, but the hole...
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
...is where a cork was.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So it was not a doll. (laughs)
GUEST:
Oh... (laughs) Okay.
APPRAISER:
It was actually used to store liquid in. The Moravian potters of Salem, or what's commonly known today as Old Salem...
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
...made a number of forms like this.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
They made a squirrel holding a nut, a fish, a turtle.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
The doll is probably the one you see more often than anything.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The necklace somebody added.
GUEST:
Yes, I think my grandmother did that.
APPRAISER:
Somebody... Your...
GUEST:
She was very handy.
APPRAISER:
And although it's really hard to see when you look at her crossed hands, she's holding a little bouquet of flowers. When you look at the side... See the mark here? The little, the vertical mark here?
GUEST:
Yeah, uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
This was made in a mold, in a pressed mold.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So the clay was put together, then they pushed the mold together to make it. It was not a hand-thrown bottle, it was a mold-made flask. These are very collectible and very desirable.
GUEST:
Ooh...
APPRAISER:
Have you ever had anybody look at it and say, "Hey, I'd like to buy that from you" or anything?
GUEST:
No, uh-uh.
APPRAISER:
This flask would sell at auction for between $15,000 and $25,000.
GUEST:
(inhales sharply) That's amazing-- God! So I'll, I'll keep on dusting it. Maybe I'll put it away so it doesn't get dusted.
APPRAISER:
(chuckles)
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