Gold Snuff Boxes, ca. 1820
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GUEST:
My father, he worked for the government out in Washington, D.C. He was born in the little town of Tabor, Iowa. He had an account at the bank there and when I went down there to pick up what he had, he had a safe deposit box, and these were in it and I'd never seen them, never heard of them, and these were part of what I inherited. We have a jewelry store. When I seen them, I looked at them, I knew they were solid gold and what they was, and but I didn't know anything about them. We had a party there appraised them and he appraised them right at $8,000 for the two of them.
APPRAISER:
Well, how many years ago was that?
GUEST:
About '95.
APPRAISER:
We're going to start with the fact that they're snuff boxes. You had some paperwork, a portrait of a gentleman...
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Henry Dearborn, and this box, inside, is engraved with his name. He was probably gifted this box, but I could tell you for sure that this is not him on the shell cameo.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
On the cameo is Napoleon, it's not Dearborn.
GUEST:
Well, I'll be darned, okay.
APPRAISER:
But I got a little bit of bad news for you. This cameo section, you can see how over here it comes over the edge and over here it comes over the bottom edge, and if you really look at it and analyze it, it's a little crooked. This piece was applied to this box.
GUEST:
To it, okay.
APPRAISER:
So it's not original. It's what we call a marriage in the business, right? This box here is French, has a French hallmark in it. It also has a maker's mark in it.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
From about the early part of the 1800s. A box like this today, at auction, may be $2,500 to $3,500.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Now let's go to this box.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
I love this box. This is what they call Swiss enamel. This happens to be large for its size. We think it's a scene from Greek mythology in Troy. It may possibly be Hector and Andromache. The detail in this is just incredible. I love over here, on his epaulets, the detail in this face, and you see the emotion in them talking to each other.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
It's incredible. Then, we go down here to the side, and we see we have beautiful oak leaves...
GUEST:
Yes, yes.
APPRAISER:
...underneath the blue enamel in the edges, but the best part of this box, the best part, I think you kind of know what it is...
GUEST:
The butterfly.
APPRAISER:
...the butterfly.
GUEST:
You cannot believe how that butterfly just stands out when the sun's shining on it.
APPRAISER:
So let's show everybody. I'm going to put a...
GUEST:
Okay, a little light on it.
APPRAISER:
A little light on it…
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
…and just look at that, how it pops.
GUEST:
Yeah, you can see that it's beautiful, yeah.
APPRAISER:
Incredible. Interesting enough, there's no hallmark on this box, there's no maker's mark.
GUEST:
It looks like 18-karat.
APPRAISER:
Oh, it is 18-karat. We believe this box was probably manufactured sometime in the early part of the 1800s. Although we call it Swiss enamel, the box very well could have been manufactured in France.
GUEST:
I see.
APPRAISER:
We truly feel that today, this box, at auction would bring $20,000 to $30,000.
GUEST:
Wow! This one here?
APPRAISER:
This one here, the butterfly.
GUEST:
Boy, I'm happy, but can you imagine how happy my wife's going to be? (both laughing) I had no idea on any of that price. That's wonderful.
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