1904 Silver Presentation Punch Bowl
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GUEST:
I had a friend who I was helping clean out her attic, and we found it, and I fell in love with it and ended up purchasing it from her. I collect silver-- my family's been collecting for generations, really-- and I love nautical-themed items and presentation, trophy-type pieces, so it was two in one. So I went ahead and just said, "I'll take it."
APPRAISER:
So it was in her attic?
GUEST:
It was.
APPRAISER:
And how long had it been in there, do you think?
GUEST:
For about 20 years.
APPRAISER:
And how much did you pay for it?
GUEST:
I paid $4,000 for it.
APPRAISER:
It's a punch bowl, sterling silver, made in Philadelphia in 1904, and it's a presentation punch bowl with an engraved yacht on the front of it. It was given to a commodore upon his retirement from being a commodore of the Philadelphia Yacht Club. This is his yacht on the front-- it's the Geraldo. It's a beautifully engraved depiction of this yacht, and it's within quite a classic sort of cartouche with flowers around it. The ladle which it comes with was actually made by Dominic and Haff in New York.
GUEST:
Interesting.
APPRAISER:
But I think that Caldwell would have acquired the ladle and then decorated it themselves to match the punch bowl. As we can see, it has exactly the same decorative motifs on it, including this very striking rope which goes around the edge. We also see the rope on the edge of the punch bowl here. It stands on this really beautiful circular foot and has these really well done sort of sea monster faces emerging from the bottom there, as if they were coming from the deep.
GUEST:
That's my favorite part, actually.
APPRAISER:
Well, you'll have to clean them up and then they'll really pop.
GUEST:
Oh, yeah.
APPRAISER:
I think that it's a great thing. Caldwell's known primarily in Philadelphia as being a retailer, and to have this as being made by Caldwell and sterling silver I think is in itself quite unusual. Pieces by Caldwell are highly prized, and the Caldwell family are a very noteworthy family in Philadelphia. I'll just turn it around now just so we can see the other side. So there we are, we see that it's inscribed and dedicated to Commodore Abraham L. English, so that's Commodore Abraham Lincoln English, in 1904 by the Philadelphia Yacht Club. And we can see above his name in gold, and this is solid gold, his initials written there as well, and I think that's another element to this which really adds a bit of value to it. The market for these sorts of things is quite strong. There are people that like maritime memorabilia, there are people who own yachts, and there are also just collectors of things of Philadelphia interest, so there's quite a broad market that this would appeal to. You mentioned earlier that you paid $4,000, which I would assume, given the size of it, is around about the weight value.
GUEST:
Something along those lines. I think I looked it up at about $3,800, around there.
APPRAISER:
$3,800, you paid $4,000, and this is in 2014, and it's about $20 an ounce, give or take, maybe a little bit more when you purchased it. I think that if this was to be offered in a good auction house, it would probably be sold for around $8,000 to $12,000.
GUEST:
Wow, okay. That's more than I expected, for sure.
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