Presentation Libation Set
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GUEST:
It's been handed down in the family-- this is fifth generation. It's from the Civil War era. It was my great-great-grandfather's, who was the governor of Maryland during the Civil War. Mom left it to us, and we were thinking about giving it to the historic society. And we had no idea what it was worth, and thought we'd bring it in since you guys were in town.
APPRAISER:
Well, this is a libation set-- namely a pitcher and two goblets, obviously-- on an oval tray. It's inscribed to Governor Hicks of the state of Maryland, and it was a gift from the Third Maryland Regiment. Interestingly, it bears a date of December 24 of 1861. What I'd like to show is the marks. It's marked the Gorham Silver Company. It's made out of coin silver-- old coins melted down and then reformed into this set.
GUEST:
Oh, my...
APPRAISER:
It is also-- and quite, I think, comically-- on an oval silver-plated tray which also bears the same inscription. So they all are original as a set. Historically important because Maryland was one of the states that vacillated from joining the Confederacy and staying in the Union, and the president had to keep troops in Baltimore to keep the peace. Many people feel that Baltimore would have voted to go to the Confederacy, but they were kept out of it. As to value, frankly, it's a unique item. I would think very conservatively historical silver of this nature, a four-piece set like this would be valued somewhere in the range of $12,000 to $15,000.
GUEST:
Wow! That's incredible.
APPRAISER:
Does that surprise you?
GUEST:
Yes, very much so. I figured a couple of hundred dollars.
APPRAISER:
We're absolutely delighted you brought it in, and thank you for joining us at the Roadshow.
GUEST:
Thank you very much. Good heavens-- you're serious?
APPRAISER:
This is important, oh, yeah.
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.
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