Perfume Flask Pendant with Brooch, ca. 1850
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GUEST:
It belonged to my dad's aunt, who lived in Kansas City, and she gave the piece to my mother because she really liked her. I know she did collect antiques.
APPRAISER:
And do you know how long it has been that she may have had this?
GUEST:
She died in 1958, and I think she was in her 90s when she died, and she started collecting antiques in '32.
APPRAISER:
Well, this is a very unusual piece, and it's one of the few pieces that are quite rare in my venue of dealing with antique and estate jewelry. The bottom portion here, this is a perfume flask, and you can see there's a little stopper up here. And this is done with a specific type of enamel work, which is called champlevé enamel. They engrave the design into the surface of the gold, they fill it with enamel, and then they sand it flush to the gold so they can create these beautiful Arabesques and designs. We've got turquoise and the Persian turquoise coloration of the enamels. And this would date somewhere around 1850, 1860, when there was a sort of interest in exoticism related to North Africa, Moorish designs, and to Middle Eastern designs especially. And so basically what we have here is a circular design. The flask moves up to the top with the hinge here. There's a pearl on the shoulder on either side.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And this whole wonderful piece would have either been hanging from a chain or hanging from the top piece here, which is rather unusual because this is in the shape of a dragon. And the beauty of this is that the dragon part clips into the clothing, and one can see from the side view how the hook operates that one would attach the scent flask.
GUEST:
Right, and that's how my mother wore it.
APPRAISER:
And the purpose for scent flasks were when one walked down the street or was out and about in a carriage, horses were in the street, unfortunately garbage was in the street, and so if a lady was being overcome by either the heat or the scent, they would have these what sometimes were called vinaigrettes or scent flasks. She could open this up…
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
…And have a lovely aroma to help revive her a little bit.
GUEST:
Wow, okay.
APPRAISER:
This is probably one of the most lovely ones I've ever seen. And then also, when we turn it around, we'll see that the design is the same on the back as well. I mean, this is really a wonderful piece of jewelry. It's definitely a one-off piece.
GUEST:
So it really is one-of-a-kind.
APPRAISER:
It is really one-of-a-kind.
GUEST:
And is the gold... what karat gold is that?
APPRAISER:
The gold is actually 18 karat.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And it's all handmade. I would estimate at auction, a piece like this would be worth somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And it could go much higher than that depending on the audience or the collector's market for these type of items.
GUEST:
Well, we've always loved it. My mother, like I said, wore it all the time.
APPRAISER:
I've not seen another scent flask like this in years that has gotten me this excited.
Appraisal Details
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