Colima Pottery Dog Figure, 200 BC - 200 AD
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GUEST:
I think it's a Colima dog, pre-Columbian art. She came to me with the name Spot. (appraiser laughs)
APPRAISER:
Would that refer to this area here, I would think?
GUEST:
Exactly. I bought it in 1999 from an art collector...
APPRAISER:
You did?
GUEST:
...who did collect, so I felt like it was something special. I just... when I saw her, I just adored her. She was in an exhibition that I had seen her in, so...
APPRAISER:
Oh, really?
GUEST:
Yes. I've traveled to Mexico a few times. I've always liked pre-Columbian art. I'm fascinated by anything ancient. The collector said that she was pregnant and called her a she, and that her name was Spot.
APPRAISER:
It suits her, I think. What did you pay for her originally?
GUEST:
I paid a little bit over $3,000.
APPRAISER:
So you saw it and you loved it, immediately you knew that... you knew that Spot was for you the minute you saw her.
GUEST:
I had to have her, I had to have her.
APPRAISER:
There's something that is really alluring about her. She's a Colima pottery dog from the Colima culture, which is in western Mexico. How old do you think she is?
GUEST:
I feel like that she is old.
APPRAISER:
She is from 200 B.C. ...
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
...to 200 A.D. She has wonderful patina overall. This mark here is a firing mark, it's an irregular darkening from when they fired her originally.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But she has been around for centuries. The shape and the form of her is the very best of the dogs that I've ever seen.
GUEST:
Oh, wonderful. She is kind of a famous dog. I was able to track her to find old collections that she'd been in. She's got great size, but what the collectors love is this big, fat body that she has. She's a hollow-bodied creation. If you look at how she's constructed, I mean, to build that cavity and have that weight rest on those legs the way that it does...
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
that's where the aesthetic symmetry and beauty of her comes in. Stylistically, she's stunning, she's worthy of being on display in any museum in the world.
GUEST:
Okay, oh.
APPRAISER:
And she's kind of a signature piece for the Colima culture. I mean, you could not find a better one. And I feel that in the marketplace today, she's worth $9,000 to $12,000 at auction.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh. (laughs)
APPRAISER:
And just what a lovely piece of art she is.
GUEST:
Oh, my word. Oh, my goodness. I want to pet her. (laughs)
APPRAISER:
Go ahead.
GUEST:
Spot, you're doing good. (laughter) That's fantastic.
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