1979 Hans Christian Sterling Silver Bowl
Watch
GUEST:
At one point in time in my career I served as dean of the College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology. After that I decided to take a position elsewhere. But they wanted to provide me with a gift in recognition of the service. And so they put me in contact with a faculty member, Hans Christensen, who was a faculty member of the American Craftsman School. And he and I sat down together and discussed designing and producing some piece of silver.
APPRAISER:
So you're sort of partly a designer as well.
GUEST:
Well, it was really fun. We sat down at a table like this, and we discussed it, and within a minute or two he made some rough drafts, drawings. No, I didn't keep the drawings.
APPRAISER:
I was going to say that would be phenomenal if you still had the drawings to go with it.
GUEST:
But, you know, he was wonderful and extremely creative and skillful, but a very humble person.
APPRAISER:
Well, it is really a stunning piece of American silver. Hans Christensen apprenticed with Georg Jensen. He represented Georg Jensen for an exhibition in 1952 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. And at that time, he was highly encouraged to stay in the United States. And as I understand, he went back to Denmark, but eventually emigrated in 1954 to take a position on the faculty at the school where you worked with him there. And it's fantastic that you actually knew him and worked with him.
GUEST:
Oh, yeah, wonderful.
APPRAISER:
I was very excited when you brought this to our table because it exemplifies the 1970s, when this was made, stylistically, so much. And that is in fact one of the major areas of collecting today. People are so interested in things from the mid-century onward. And the 1970s is really starting to become popular again. Primarily because people who are buying things remember the 1970s fondly from childhood. So the generation that grew up in the '70s recognizes forms like this and they have an affinity for them. What year was this commission made?
GUEST:
This was made in 1979.
APPRAISER:
It's got a wonderful mark, which has his HC as well as a hammer, signifying handcraftsmanship. It's got this wonderful hand-hammered texture and this uneven sort of roughness to the edge of the bowl, and that's really very nice. It definitely symbolizes handcraftsmanship. If I were going to advise people of an item of collecting for the future, this would be the direction I would point them. I would say that if this were to come to the auction today, it would probably bear an estimate of $2,000 to $4,000, and could perhaps exceed that.
GUEST:
Yeah, that's great.
APPRAISER:
But I think in the coming years it's only going to appreciate in value.
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.
