1878 Tiffany & Co. Mixed-metal & Mokume Tray
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GUEST:
That is my Tiffany tray. I bought it many years ago. I l, admire Tiffany things, and so anytime I would see something Tiffany that I could afford, I would buy it. So I've had this tray since the mid-'70s. I bought it at an antique show that traveled to Atlanta every year.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
I think I paid $95. My husband thought I paid too much for it.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
And I didn't bargain.
APPRAISER:
It's a really unusual piece of Tiffany. You know, Tiffany made a lot of things. They did a lot of metalware, but they did other, other mediums...
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
...mediums, as well. But this piece is very interesting because it is mixed metal.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
It's primarily copper, but it has the addition of several other metals, including gold and silver. It dates from the year 1878. This particular type of design is called Japanesque, and the Japanesque design occurred about the 1870s or so. It coincided with the opening up of trade to Japan...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...in the mid-19th century because of a treaty with Commodore Perry. As Japanese manufactured goods became, began coming into United States and other countries, everyone was very interested in things that had the Japanese appearance.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
So American and English and European companies began making things that looked like objects made in Japan.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And so this is Tiffany, an American company, imitating things that would have been imported from Japan at the time. The interesting thing is, is that people are more interested in the objects that are the copies by Tiffany and their other American and European makers than they are about the, the objects that were actually made in Japan and exported.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
It's very Japanesque in sh, in style and shape and so forth. You've got a wonderful gourd shape. Which is a highly unusual shape.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
You've got the ha, the, the, uh, stem of the gourd, which is curling back, and that's made of silver.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The base of the tray is made of copper. You've got this great dragonfly, and the wings are gold. They're probably 18-karat gold. And then you have, uh, the, the, the leaves of this plant here made of sterling silver, and the vines of sterling silver that are nicely curling. A little blossom here, also made of gold. But the thing that makes this super-special is this wonderful gourd that is in this mixed metal called mokume.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
So it's a technique whereby they take layers of different kinds of metal, in this case, copper and silver, and they roll them over and over and over until you get this very intricate sort of mottled effect. We rarely see pieces with this mokume added to it.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
And that steps it up a whole 'nother level than if it did not have that.
GUEST:
Okay. (chuckles)
APPRAISER:
It does have some condition issues, though.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
I mean, you see how the, the copper, the copper background is not uniform in color? What would be appropriate for it is if it were all this sort of nice red color.
GUEST:
Exactly.
APPRAISER:
So I'm going to flip it around so you can see the color of what it would have originally been, this nice sort of red color.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And then this is the Tiffany mark, and the numbers here correspond to the date, year of 1878.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
Well, this is really a hot area of collecting...
GUEST:
Mmm.
APPRAISER:
...mixed metals, and particularly Tiffany silver. And objects from this time period, which we call the Aesthetic Period...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...are very, very popular with collectors today. As a mixed-metal tray, silver on copper, if it didn't have the gold, you probably would be talking a few thousand dollars. $3,000, $4,000, $5,000.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The addition of the gold pumps it up to maybe $8,000 to $10,000.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
But when you add this mokume to it, that doubles that, and you're looking at more like $20,000 to $25,000 at auction.
GUEST:
Well, very interesting.
(both laughing)
GUEST:
Okay. I'm pretty excited about that, with my $90.
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