Weller Eocean Vases & Owens Utopian Vase
Watch
GUEST:
My grandfather was William Henry Stemm, who was an artist at the Weller Pottery later on, but first he started at the Owens Pottery. He had worked before that for Ronchetti, the French muralist. My grandfather was his apprentice. Ronchetti was a very dangerous work in that he had scaffolding that was way up in the domes of buildings. And he also traveled. My grandmother told my grandfather that she wouldn't marry him if he was gone so much and in such a dangerous line of work. So he began to work at Owens Pottery. And our family has always been grateful because providentially, on the next job that Mr. Ronchetti had, the scaffolding broke and he fell and hit the balcony and was killed. And my grandfather was always right beside him, so he would have been killed too. I have a picture here of my grandfather and grandmother and myself when I was just six weeks old.
APPRAISER:
Owens Pottery didn't last very long because J.B. Owens died, and they closed by 1907, which is probably why your grandfather then went to work for Weller.
GUEST:
Okay, I didn't realize that.
APPRAISER:
They were in the same town of Zanesville, Ohio. There were crosstown rivals, along with the Roseville Pottery Company. A lot of competition. Great clay deposits in the area. There were several rivers that converged in Zanesville, Ohio, so it provided power, access to the company. So it was the center of American art pottery around the turn of the century. All three companies in fact copy the fame of Rookwood. Rookwood was in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Rookwood made a standard brown glaze in the '80s into the '90s. And this piece of Owens that your grandfather did is called utopian ware, which is their name for standard brown glaze. Rookwood made iris glaze, which instead of the brown background and darker colors, was pastel backgrounds and pastel colors. Owens had their copy, they called it lotus. And Weller had their copy, which they called Eocean. And what you have here are three pieces of Weller Eocean. This one is marked by the Weller Company. What's also interesting is this artist's signature on the side, and that is...
GUEST:
Stemm-- William Henry Stemm.
APPRAISER:
I've seen the signature before, I've had pieces by him, but I'm not really familiar with the artist. So to have this family background, it rounds out my education in the material, my understanding of it.
GUEST:
Later on, Mr. Weller would not allow the artists to sign them.
APPRAISER:
He was crafty, Mr. Weller.
GUEST:
He was. My grandfather didn't think he was a very good man.
APPRAISER:
I don't know that anybody who worked for him had anything good to say about him. So in terms of value of these pieces, all made in Zanesville, Ohio, between 1905 and about 1910, the brown glaze pieces don't bring all that much. For you, it's family value, historical value.
GUEST:
Right, exactly.
APPRAISER:
And a small, brown glazed piece like this today is worth about $100 to $150 at auction at most.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
This is one of the first of the three Eocean pieces that you have by your grandfather, signed on the front...
GUEST:
"W.S."
APPRAISER:
Because it's a pitcher, it's worth a little bit less. This is worth at auction between $800 and $1,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
This is very similar to the pitcher, again signed "W.S." on the front. But because it's a vase, it's worth about $1,200 to $1,600.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
And finally, this is a really pretty one. It's just bigger, it's better, it's got better colors, the background tends to blush so it's Eocean rose, which pumps it up a little bit. This at auction is between $1,500 and $2,000.
GUEST:
That's amazing.
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.
