Picasso Madoura Plaque, ca. 1964
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GUEST:
It's from my grandparents' house. It's something that I've always admired. And when my grandmother died in 2008, my mother sort of had to fight my aunts for me to get this. I know it's a Picasso. They got it in 1965, I believe.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
And paid $650 for it. They had it appraised in 1983 for $5,000. I believe that the title is “Jacqueline.”
APPRAISER:
Well, I do believe that this is indeed Jacqueline Roque, his second wife, the woman that he married in 1961 and was with until he died in 1973. I believe the actual title of this is Petit Buste de Femme, a, a s, a s...
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
A small bust of a woman. He would have done, in this style, also as an edition, about seven of these plaques. Some are of her...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...who was his number-one muse, and some of, of other scenes. The date of the design on that...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...is 1964.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So it may very well have been made in '65. And the technique for the tile is pressing this terra-cotta, or earthenware, into a mold that was a plaster mold, and those molds were done from linoleum carvings.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And I would like to flip that now to show you how it is marked and how small the edition is. The Madoura works that we see that come up on the market are often in editions of 500.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Or 250. This is a very small edition of 100, and this particular one is number 16.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
But that is the stamp that you look for. The market for Picasso and his editions that he did in Madoura during the last 25 years of his life...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...when he sort of moved down there and worked on doing the originals, and then other people pretty much did the editions, that market, for the last ten to 15 years, has been steadily creeping up. When these started out, it would have been a couple of thousand dollars.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
When they started coming out on the secondary market. These, for the last ten years or so, have been bringing at least, hammer price at auction, $20,000.
GUEST:
Hm. (softly): Nice. (aloud): Great.
APPRAISER:
So with the buyer's premium, that is often $25,000. That is what someone would have to pay.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Should you wish to do a replacement value...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, okay.
APPRAISER:
...you could certainly do $30,000 or $35,000.
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