Georg Jensen Silver Set, ca. 1920
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GUEST:
It was owned by the daughter of David Jacks of Monterey. He was at one time the largest landowner in Monterey County. Monterey jack cheese is named after him, as a matter of fact.
APPRAISER:
No, really?
GUEST:
And he became a large landowner after California became a state. He kind of took land from the indigenous peoples, and they were unhappy about that, so they put a curse on him that he would never have any descendants. Well, he did have seven children, but none of them ever had any children themselves. It was passed down to my mother and then passed down to me recently.
APPRAISER:
So was she related to the seven children?
GUEST:
Her father was the cousin to the Vida Jacks.
APPRAISER:
Oh, okay. So we can see the "Vida Jacks" is right on the bottom of this one here, and they're all inscribed that. This was made by a very important and prominent silversmith in Copenhagen named Georg Jensen, and Georg Jensen got his start in about 1904, 1905 and really epitomized high-quality silver-making. And by the 1920s, he had shops all over the world. The date on this is right around 1920. Georg Jensen always marked his silver, and you can see the silver mark of Georg Jensen right there, and then it says "Copenhagen." It's kind of a Queen Anne influence, with this nice Queen Anne leg here. It's got kind of a crown around the top, which I've never seen before. Is this the full extent of it, or is there more?
GUEST:
There's a tray that I know of and one other larger bowl.
APPRAISER:
So you have a high coffee pot, a teapot, the creamer and the covered sugar, and then the fifth piece would be an open waste bowl for the silver and then the big tray. This is typical of him to have this handle at a 90-degree angle to the spout. I find that always amusing as opposed to having the handle on the back, like you would normally see. My feeling is that the insurance value, with all six pieces-- so including the tray and the fifth piece that you have-- would be somewhere in the $25,000 to $30,000 range.
GUEST:
Really, that much? Wow.
APPRAISER:
The insurance value for what we have on the table here, the four pieces, would be somewhere in the $17,500 range.
GUEST:
Wow, that's great. Wow, wouldn't expect that.
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