M.J. Copple Crazy Quilt, ca. 1900
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APPRAISER:
Sherri, all I can say about this is... (imitating explosion)
GUEST:
(laughing) Thank you.
APPRAISER:
Where did you get this?
GUEST:
My mom. I saw, like, a crazy antique suitcase in her closet, and I said, "What's that?" And she said, "It's a crazy quilt inside." And I said, "Oh?" And she said, "Yeah. If you keep cleaning my house, I'll give it to you." And 25 years ago, it's been in my closet ever since. In that same crazy...
APPRAISER:
In your closet for 25 years?
GUEST:
Yeah, yeah, after hers, yeah.
APPRAISER:
So did she say where she got it?
GUEST:
Nothing.
APPRAISER:
Well, let me tell you, it's everything that you think a crazy quilt should be. I don't even know where to start: there are birds; here, it looks like an Edward Hicks "Peaceable Kingdom" lion; This wonderful chanticleer blowing his trumpet. There's a salmon here. There's cows, there's dogs. There's a an eagle down here with a snake. And then there's this remarkable scene of what I guess is a circus. Someone in a circus with his horse, and there's a stylized American flag. There's a signature. It seems to read, "M.J. Copple," C-O-P-P-L-E. 99.99% of these were made by women, so we don't know who M.J. Copple was, but we can almost certainly guess that she was a woman, a very talented woman. The impact of this is just astonishing.
GUEST:
Thank you.
APPRAISER:
And I can just see this framed on somebody's great big wall.
GUEST:
Whoo.
APPRAISER:
Well, I think that it's worth at least, from an auction standpoint, an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000.
GUEST:
Wow, cool, cool.
APPRAISER:
And I think if I were you, I would insure it for $10,000. And if this were to appear in an auction, and you had two bidders get tangled up in wanting this, it could easily sell for $10,000 to $15,000.
GUEST:
Wow. (laughs) It's been in a closet. It's great.
APPRAISER:
Take it out of your closet, put it in a frame, and hang it up in your house!
GUEST:
Yeah, thank you! Wow, that's incredible. Thank you. (laughs) Jeez. Oh, boy.
Appraisal Details
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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."
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