Marblehead Pottery Vase, ca. 1920
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UEST: Well, I found it on the shelf in the back of a little shop. Just thought it looked like a good piece, but I didn't know what it was. I didn't recognize the markings on it. So I purchased it and then did some research, and it said, apparently it is attributed to Marblehead Pottery.
APPRAISER:
And when you bought it from that, that shelf in that little shop, how much was that?
GUEST:
Three dollars.
APPRAISER:
And that was recently?
GUEST:
A couple of weeks ago.
APPRAISER:
Indeed, it was made by the Marblehead Pottery in Massachusetts. Doctor Hall had started a sanatorium, helping young women with... with physical and, and neurological issues through the making of pottery, which was a great idea. And it was a pretty common idea at the time, at the turn of the last century.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Except that it was found that instead of helping the patients, it was putting a lot of stress on them as patients, and it wasn't helping the pottery. And the actual pottery was sold to someone else.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So, Arthur Baggs took over the pottery in about 1915. This particular piece would have been done, the original design, around 1919...
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
...and produced over and over again through the 1920s, and probably through the '30s, as well. What I love about this is that you are buying it at this time, in the 21st century, for three dollars. Originally, it may have been a couple of dollars.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
These days, a very reasonable auction estimate would be $1,000 to $1,500, okay?
GUEST:
Okay, wow.
APPRAISER:
And, and the retail estimate, $1,500 to $2,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
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