Chimú Strap-handle Vessel, A.D. 1000-1400
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GUEST:
One of my friends, who's an antique dealer, she bought this piece, she said about 20 years ago, from an estate in Connecticut. And she was getting rid of some things, and she offered it for sale. And I really loved the face. And then I thought, "Well, why not?" It's different from anything I collect. I thought I might enjoy having it.
APPRAISER:
And so what did you pay for it?
GUEST:
I paid $100 for it.
APPRAISER:
Okay, and has anyone looked at it or appraised it?
GUEST:
Nope, I don't know anything about it at all.
APPRAISER:
So, what do you want to find out today?
GUEST:
I'd like to know where it's from, if it... She said she thought it might be Peruvian. I wanted to know if that was true.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
And if it's-- is it old? Is it new? What, what might it be?
APPRAISER:
You know I have a reputation for doing reproductions on this show. I do, yes. And you are a college professor.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
So I'm going to be very gentle.
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
And I will tell you this piece is real.
GUEST:
Oh! That's exciting!
APPRAISER:
Isn't that good?
GUEST:
Yes. (laughing): That's a big relief.
APPRAISER:
So let me tell you a little bit about it.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
This is from Peru. It's from Northern Peru. And it's in the area called Chimú, C-H-I-M-U. And it actually dates A.D. 1000 to 1400.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Now, this would have been a vessel that would have been in a tomb, and it would have accompanied the deceased to the afterlife.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
And it would not have had anything in it. But it's just a, it's really a neat example.
GUEST:
That's so cool.
APPRAISER:
Now, there are some really cool things about this.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
First of all, the face is lovely. It's a mold-made pot. You can see the mold line right down there.
GUEST:
Hmm.
APPRAISER:
Now, that's absolutely normal. Sometimes you know that they're hand-thrown pots, but this isn't.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So what makes this one exceptional? The mold is really, really lovely. The face is beautiful. This spout is very elegant. And I'm going to turn it one more time here, but I'm going to turn it all the way to the back. This element of the pot is called a strap handle. But I want to look here, what we have is a double figure. One figure is standing up here with the legs down here. It's so subtle and so elegant, it really is nice. Now, in my 45-year career, I've seen about a billion of these, okay?
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but I've seen a lot.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
This one is very elegant, and I'm going to put a value of $800 to $1,200 at a good gallery.
GUEST:
All right!
APPRAISER:
Now, that's an aggressive price for it, but I think it really is well worth it. And I think it's a super object.
GUEST:
Well, this was very exciting! Thank you so much! I am so relieved. I thought you were going to tell me that it was fake. Thank you. Wow.
APPRAISER:
You're very welcome.
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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