A. Ober Bronze Horse & Rider, ca. 1895
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GUEST:
I was married to my husband for about 30 years. It was our second marriage. He was somewhat older than me. And he was in an I&R platoon in World War II with the 242nd Rainbow Division of the Army. As the leader of the platoon, as the Allies were moving in and the Germans were moving out, he was selected to go to this castle in Germany where Goering had stored all of his artifacts that he had stolen from various countries, and out of their museums and so forth, I think. So the Polish either general or colonel that was in charge of getting their artifacts returned was so grateful to the Americans, and to him in particular, that he gave him this and two or three other things. And a couple of the things that were sent through the mail didn't get there through the mail, but this arrived in good shape.
APPRAISER:
And what's so interesting about it is that he had official permission to take this away.
GUEST:
Yes, he did.
APPRAISER:
And you have this wonderful, the original document.
GUEST:
Yup, I do.
APPRAISER:
That authorizes him to have this piece.
GUEST:
It says, "18th of March, 1946, "I certify that I have personally "examined the items of captured enemy equipment, "that they do not include any explosives or firearms "capable of being concealed on the person, "and that the mailing thereof is in conformity with existing regulations of the theater commander."
APPRAISER:
You know what this piece is?
GUEST:
Well, I know it's a sculpture.
APPRAISER:
Uh-huh.
GUEST:
And probably a bronze, I'm guessing. I knew that it was Russian that was written on the base of it, because we had some friends who recognized it as such.
APPRAISER:
It is a wonderful Russian bronze. It's signed by both the artist, as well as the foundry that produced it. The artist's name is Ober. It's very clearly signed here on the back, in Cyrillic, A. Ober. And then, on the front, is the foundry mark. And the foundry is called the Woerffel Foundry, and...
GUEST:
And is that actually in Russia, or was it in a different country?
APPRAISER:
Yes, yes.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So this artist is very interesting. He was Russian, but he studied in Paris.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And one of the people he studied with was the son of the famous animal sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye. And he studied with Louis Barye in Paris.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And while he was in Paris, he liked to go to the Paris Zoo, and he would make sketches of the various animals-- models-- so that he could accurately capture the animal himself. The hallmark of these Russian bronzes is the amount of detail that you have.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
I mean, the expression of both the figure, as well as the horse. The horse certainly has a personality. And you have these very nicely defined, all the bridles. The way the bridle and the harness is done is really wonderful. And the whole action of this figure is great. And the Russians were really wonderful at capturing this. And they did a lot of sort of contemporary scenes. The artist was born in the 1840s and he died in 1917. And this was probably cast in the late 1890s. I was talking to one of my colleagues...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Who happens to be Russian. And he said that the way the Russian was written, it may not have been written by a Russian person.
GUEST:
Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
It has the Woerffel, the Russian foundry mark, but there is a chance that it could have been cast in Germany. It could have been cast in Paris, also.
GUEST:
Oh, really? Okay.
APPRAISER:
So it might take a little bit of research to actually determine it. It's really a wonderful piece. And I think, if it was in a gallery, it would probably be in the $8,000 to $10,000 range.
GUEST:
Oh, okay, great!
APPRAISER:
The Russian market sort of hit a peak ten years ago. One of this model brought over $20,000.
GUEST:
Oh, is that right?
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