San Jose Pottery Tiles, ca. 1930
Watch
GUEST:
I find them at garage sales and I go out hunting on Friday and Saturday mornings, and these are a group I had bought. I think I left a couple at home, but this is the group I brought today to show you.
APPRAISER:
And how much did you pay for these?
GUEST:
Oh, maybe a dollar a tile.
APPRAISER:
And you bought them all at the same time?
GUEST:
All at the same time at one place.
APPRAISER:
What do you think they are?
GUEST:
Mexican tiles. I have no idea what they are really.
APPRAISER:
It's not a bad guess at all, but they're not. They were made by the San Jose potteries. And they're from San Antonio, Texas.
GUEST:
Oh, how about that?
APPRAISER:
San Antonio has a very famous mission called "San Jose Mission," and so that's how she got the name for the pottery. The lady who was in charge of putting this group together, her name was Ethel Wilson Harris. And Ethel Harris was not an artist of her own right, she was an entrepreneur. She set up her company in 1931. She hired all these people. There were not many women who would have been in that position. And her earliest tiles, from 1931 to '41, she referred to as "Mexican Arts and Crafts." So this is what these are, the earliest production.
GUEST:
Oh, cool.
APPRAISER:
And it's hard to tell what you have very often because they're seldom marked and when they are marked, sometimes either it's with a tag, which has come off with the years, or it is like this with the glaze, and this is a little maguey plant. Now, these two here, they're a pair. She is La Tijuana and he is El Tijuano. And this may have been from a Christmas series here. And these two here may be from the same series as well. So you've got a really lovely collection. On a retail level, because this is such a nice collection... This one has a little wear here and missing a bit of glaze on top, so that one will be a little less, in the $300 range or so. The other ones are roughly in the $600 to $800 range per tile. For five bucks you did pretty well.
GUEST:
I think I did. That's great! I'll keep looking. (laughs)
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.
