Bronze Attributed to Renée Sintenis, ca. 1950
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GUEST:
Well, I purchased it at an auction in 2009 in Kewanee, Illinois.
APPRAISER:
What did you pay for it?
GUEST:
$125. As far as I understand, the gentleman who's standing is Lieutenant Colonel John Butterwick, and he was the person who they were having the estate sale for. And the lady that he's with is Renée Sintenis, a sculptor, I believe from Berlin.
APPRAISER:
You know, she's actually a very well-regarded sculptor. She was really sort of avant-garde, probably one of the most recognized women sculpting in Germany in the first half of the 20th century. Probably best known by the general public for creating sort of a bear bronze that's given out at the Berlin Film Festival. So she's in the homes of lots of famous people right now.
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
When you purchased this sculpture, did the photograph come with it?
GUEST:
Well, it was on another hay rack, and I noticed that it was a picture of the artist, so I decided that I wanted to buy that also. So I think probably maybe that was about $25 in another box of items.
APPRAISER:
Renée Sintenis was born in 1888, had a very long life. She died in 1965 and was really a very prolific sculptor. What she's maybe a little bit more known for are animal figures-- playful ponies and other animals. So do you know anything about his background?
GUEST:
No, other than he was a Colonel in World War II and he stayed there, in Germany, after the war to try and help get it going back.
APPRAISER:
Sintenis stayed in Germany throughout and a lot of her works were destroyed at the time. It doesn't seem to have a signature of her, but there is a foundry mark here. This is the Noack Foundry, where she had a relationship for casting and a lot of her works were done there. And this bronze likeness was probably created between the late '40s through the 1960s.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
And the foundry is still in business today. It was established in the late 19th century and is known for its artistic bronzes. There is a catalogue raisonné for her, and a lot of what we need to do for value is figure out is it by her. If we can attribute it firmly to her as an artist, I think based on auction records for the current market you'd be looking at between $10,000 and $15,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my. Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
So your $100 purchase I think was a good one.
GUETS: It was a good one. Yeah. (chuckles)
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