Micromosaic Cross Blessed by Two Popes
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GUEST:
I brought a silver crucifix with mosaics on it. And it has the four major basilicas of Rome. I was in college, and a friend's elderly relative passed away. And so she and I and a friend went to go housesit in the house while they settled the estate. And while we were there, I noticed this cross. And I flipped it over, and on the back side, it has a, a taped message that says "Blessed by Pope Leo." Pope Leo was pope of the Roman Catholic Church in the year 1900. And the crucifix is from the holy year 1900. Uh, every 25 years, the Catholic Church celebrates what's called a holy year, and it says "anno santo," which is holy year, and "Rome", and the year, "1900." The next year, I studied abroad in Rome, and so I thought, "Well, I'm going to take this crucifix with me, see if I, by chance, can get it blessed." The pope gave his message, his blessing, and then he worked the rope line. I asked him to bless it. He took my hand in his hand and blessed the crucifix. So it's blessed by Pope Leo XIII in the year 1900 and by Pope St. John Paul in 1983.
APPRAISER:
The cross is what we would call a micromosaic cross. And it was made in the Vatican Studios. And the wonderful thing is, it is actually dated 1900. And, as you said, that was a holy year. So I would imagine there were a lot of pieces produced out of the Vatican Studios that year.
GUEST:
Hm. Right.
APPRAISER:
We'd almost refer to this as sort of like a Grand Tour item. Traditionally, people think of the Grand Tour as in the 18th and 19th century. But someone would travel to Rome, and as a souvenir, a memento of their trip…
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
...they would pick up this object. Examples such as this, when they do come up for auction, sell for around about $1,000. Which is not an insignificant sum.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
With the provenance, and with all of the historical information, I would say that you would almost certainly double the value to $2,000. Knowing that both popes blessed it and to have it come on the ROADSHOW is a really lovely thing. So thank you so much.
GUEST:
Great. Thank you.
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