Miniature Dyed-oak Melon Baskets, ca. 1920
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GUEST:
I found them in my mother's attic when we were cleaning it out to get ready for an estate sale.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
GUEST:
So...
APPRAISER:
Why didn't you put them in the estate sale?
GUEST:
Because I liked them.
APPRAISER:
Okay, okay. What... what was... what about them did you like?
GUEST:
I just think they're cute. They're, they look like they're in really good shape. I have no idea. I don't know anything about them. Figured they'd been in the family for a while.
APPRAISER:
Well, they're little miniature melon baskets. And the fact that you said they're cute is what makes them so compelling...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...because indeed they are. They're made of oak, and what's lovely about these two little ones is that they also have some dyed oak in them. These are decorated with these wonderful stripes, and the bright yellow is probably created either from sumac or actually onion peels. It's a natural dye. And then the brown is walnut shells. I don't know if you've ever been picking walnuts.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
You get your fingers all brown.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
So it... It's just a little decorative element. These are difficult baskets to date. They could have been made as late as the Depression. I mean, they were making these baskets...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...all through the early 20th century.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And families did them, it was almost a cottage industry.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
People did it to supplement their incomes. Do you have any idea of their value today?
GUEST:
I have no idea.
APPRAISER:
I think if I, I found them in an antique shop, I would expect to pay maybe $200, $300 apiece for them.
GUEST:
Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
Yeah. Yeah.
GUEST:
Wow. Somebody else is going to wish they had went into my mother's attic before I did, I guess.
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