Julius Rappoport Silver Rabbit Figurine, ca. 1880
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GUEST:
I'm waiting for you to tell me what I actually brought. I'm not sure. Maybe they're silver. I've had them for decades. My husband declared a moratorium of about 15 years. I'm not allowed to buy anything that has to be dusted. (laughing): So I've had them for quite a while.
APPRAISER:
Do you remember how much you paid for them?
GUEST:
I do not. I do not think it would have been a lot of money.
APPRAISER:
So what we have here are two silver animals that are purported to be by Julius Rappoport. Julius Rappoport was a silversmith. He had his own, uh, shop in St. Petersburg, in Russia.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And then in the 1880s, around 1883 or so, he worked for Fabergé. (inhales) And he was one of the main Fabergé workmasters, especially who did silver, uh, items.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
You can notice a lot of differences between the bunny and the cat.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
I think.
GUEST:
The bunny has a lot more detail to it.
APPRAISER:
That's true. And his attention to detail in all Fabergé, basically, uh, was all about how incredibly detailed it could be.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
We have two pieces by Rappoport, but one of them is right, one of them is wrong.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Which one do you think is right?
GUEST:
I'm thinking that the bunny is correct and the cat is not.
APPRAISER:
You're right. If we turn them around, this is the cat. You have "I.P." So I.P. in Cyrillic stands for Rappoport.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Then you have a oval cartouche, and in there it says "84." And there is a kokoshnik. A kokoshnik was a silversmith's mark...
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
...basically dating it. Now, when you look at the bunny, you'll notice the same "I.P." We see a lot of wear on the bottom, which is a good sign, because basically, it means that it's been moved from cabinet to cabinet. The actual hallmarks here, with the silver purity, which is 88, 88 zolotniks. Then we also have a town mark. And the town mark on the bunny is, is specifically very important because of Rappoport's history. So this was made in St. Petersburg.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
St. Petersburg was where he worked originally. He was born in Lithuania, and one of the few Jewish workmasters for Fabergé later. (inhales) But he got his own business in St. Petersburg until he moved to Moscow.
GUEST:
Moved, okay.
APPRAISER:
That helps us date the bunny to probably around the 1880s, a little bit earlier than 1883.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
This one, the, the impressions are much more fresh, l, as if they don't have any wear at all. Another thing that we can look at in terms of establishing which one is right and which one is wrong, we actually have to think about the weight. This one is really, really light.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And this one is, even though it's smaller, is a lot heavier. This one weighs about four ounces and this one weighs about two ounces. Rappoport, because he is one of the few silversmith workmasters for Fabergé, and he was known for animals.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
They're really quite desirable. His animals have gone for a lot of money. The bunny, I would easily put an auction estimate of $5,000 to $7,000 on it.
GUEST:
Okay. All right. (laughing) That is a big surprise. Truly is. And now the bad news.
APPRAISER:
The bad news, the, the cat, uh, it' s not so expensive.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
It's probably in the hundreds.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
The bunny, if I was going to insure it...
GUEST:
That was, yeah... (laughs) Sounds like I need to call my insurance agent.
APPRAISER:
I kind of saw... (laughing) I thought, I thought I saw that you wanted to ask. If I was going to insure it, I'd probably actually insure it for about $15,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Some of his larger animals, especially, have sold for, like, $30,000, $40,000, $100,000...
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
$150,000.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
The sky's the limit.
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