Anna Hyatt Huntington "Yawning Tiger" Bronze, ca. 1920
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GUEST:
I don't really know much about it, just that it's a bronze lion. I think my dad called it a yawning, a yawning lion.
APPRAISER:
So it was something that's been in the family, or...?
GUEST:
Yeah, my grandfather purchased it at some gift shop years ago, and then after my grandparents passed away, then my dad ended up with it, and it's always been in our house as long as I can remember, and I always loved it.
APPRAISER:
So, have you seen that it has a signature on it, or...?
GUEST:
Well, I saw one of 'em, I didn't know there was two.
APPRAISER:
So, it is... it is signed. It's signed right here, Anna V. Hyatt.
GUEST:
That's the one that I saw, yeah.
APPRAISER:
And that's for the sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
So, American sculptor, born in 1876 and died in 1973, so quite a long life.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
The other mark-- I'll show you here-- is actually for the Gorham Foundry in Providence, Rhode Island.
GUEST:
Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
So they would have been the company that cast the bronze.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
It's number 39, this is the 39th one to be cast. So this is actually not a lion, but a tiger.
GUEST:
Oh, a tiger, okay.
APPRAISER:
A tiger, so its title is "Yawning Tiger."
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And Anna Hyatt Huntington was very interesting, one of the most prominent woman sculptors of her generation, working in America. And really interested in animals, and spent a lot of time observing animals and getting them their activity, and what's, you know, amazing about this is there's so much life and energy in the way it's been sculpted. You can really see that it's, you know, stretching from sort of tip to tail here. It was an early casting, probably cast in the 19-teens. And for viewers of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW this is actually a familiar subject, because this same subject was filmed about eight years ago.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
What's different is that that was a smaller version. This is larger. At the time, it was estimated at between $8,000 and $12,000.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
The market for the one that was filmed has probably dropped a little bit. They've been selling more in the $5,000 to $7,000 range.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
This size was cast... the records indicate that there were about 118 cast, the smaller version there were about 350. In this case, size matters.
GUEST:
I guess!
APPRAISER:
So fewer, and I would estimate for auction in today's market this to bring between $25,000 and $35,000.
GUEST:
Really? Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
That's exciting.
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