Franz Bergman Bronze Figure, ca. 1910
GUEST:
My husband bought it at a garage sale about 20 years ago in Alabama.
APPRAISER:
Do you like it?
GUEST:
I'm particularly not fond of it, but he likes it.
APPRAISER:
What you've brought us is an Austrian cold-painted bronze by Franz Bergman, and Bergman was making these exotic bronzes at the late 19th, early 20th century. And it has a mark, which is how the Bergman company signed their work. And it is this quintessential gentlemen's desk object. It really has a utilitarian use in that you see this rug dealer with his rug rolled out-- it's probably a tribal rug-- and you could actually use that. You could lay your pen on it, you might put spare change on it, so it's a useful object as well as being beautiful. So do you know what he paid for it?
GUEST:
He only paid, like, $20 for that and a vase that he also bought with it.
APPRAISER:
Value on it, I would say probably $1,500 to $2,000. This would be an appropriate price.
GUEST:
For this?
APPRAISER:
Yes, yes. The reason is that it is in impeccable condition. Also the fact that this is a bigger one. They're in the $200 to $300 range for a little piece.
GUEST:
I guess I will like it a lot more now and I probably will take a lot better care of it taking it home than I did bringing it in.
Appraisal Details
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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."
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