Barbedienne Bronze Candelabra, ca. 1860
GUEST:
I bought this at an estate sale in Beaumont, Texas, in 1993. It just caught my eye and it was a period in my life that I was making some major changes, doing different things, and one of them included shopping. And I went to an estate sale, saw the piece-- I have another matching one at home-- and I bought them.
APPRAISER:
And do you use them? Are they on display?
GUEST:
They're on display but I don't use them.
APPRAISER:
The quality of the bronze work is actually quite remarkable. The decoration, right down to this wonderful festoon here and all of the extra work in this gilt bronze is quite amazing. Now, this is also bronze as well, but this has a brown patination. And it's not so unusual that they would have the two different patinations going on. Now, the most famous founder from the largest foundry in Paris was Barbedienne. Ferdinand Barbedienne was one of the premier artists in bronze and he eventually created one of the largest foundries in Paris. He had over 300 high-quality craftsmen working on bronze.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
And he was particularly known for doing this work with Greek or Roman figures. What really tells us that it's Barbedienne is up in the socle here, which is this small part here, it is very clearly signed in his very typical capital letters, "F. Barbedienne." It would have been produced just about 1860 in Paris. His height of his market came about 1855 for the Paris Exposition when he put some remarkable things on display. And shortly after that he did a tremendous amount of high-quality work on bronzes like this for the general public. You have these almost serpent-like mythical decorations on the handles and this wonderful rouge marble base accented with gilt bronze, beautiful quality. I think the only flaws that we found were that some of the little drip cups at the top here were missing. The drip cups hurt the value a little bit, but you can get replacement drip cups.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Really an eye-catching pair. You paid...?
GUEST:
$700.
APPRAISER:
$700 for the pair. The value of a single one at auction would be in the range of $3,000 to $5,000, but as you have a pair of them, the value for the pair at auction would be in the range of $8,000 to $12,000.
GUEST:
Lord have mercy! That's wonderful. Thank you.
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.