Ilya Schor Silver Necklace, ca. 1950
GUEST:
It's a piece that was given to my mother by a man who was the president of the Boston Hebrew Teacher's College, who was a scholar of Hebrew and also Greek literature. He gave this to my mother when they were both, uh, in their 70s, so probably in the 1980s. And it's a piece that was done, I think, by an American Jewish artist. It represents the Torah, the books of the Bible. Also, my mother wrote that it symbolizes the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Genesis 2:7. My mother was a librarian, so she kept notes about a lot of things.
APPRAISER:
Wonderful.
GUEST:
And it looks to me like there's Adam on this side and Eve on this side, and it's all done in cut silver that's all soldered together.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, it's beautifully done. It is made out of silver. So… it represents Adam and Eve depicted in the garden here from Genesis. It's actually signed by the artist, and we'll turn it over here. So the artist is a man named Ilya Schor. So he was born in Poland, he studied on a grant in Paris, and fled Paris with his wife at the beginning of the war to this country, and he really embodied a lot of what was sort of the, um, idealized view of sort of eastern European shtetl life in the arts that he created. It's signed "I. Schor, New York," and this little dove device is something he often used as part of his signature. It has the references to Genesis, but it also has a lot of whimsy. It's got a little squirrel, and squirrels are something that often appear both in his work and work of Polish folk art, Jewish folk art of the time, of the 19th century and later. And it's just beautifully done. There's a lot of, as you say, the cut work of the silver, but a lot of detail and a lot of, um, energy and life to the design. So the necklace was made in New York, probably it could have been in the 1940s, it could be late – as late - as the mid to late '50s. He died in 1961 but had a very, very active career. He created silver, he did a lot of ceremonial work, Torah finials and shields, Torah pointers. He is also known for wood engravings for illustrations for some well-known Jewish texts. He did paintings, so he was really a Renaissance artist. Very accomplished, but in a lot of different areas. His work is represented in many museums. Market value today, I'd say between $5,000 and $7,000.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
A beautiful piece.
GUEST:
Well, thank you so much. I didn't come for the value, I came for the story, and you really fleshed that in beautifully.
APPRAISER:
Good, thank you.
GUEST:
I appreciate it.
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.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.