Albert Carrier-Belleuse Bronzes, ca. 1855
Watch
GUEST:
Well, my grandfather owned a moving business in Springfield, and he probably acquired 'em in the '50s. Someone couldn't pay their storage and moving bill, so he said, "Do you want these?" And my grandfather said, "Yes."
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And brought 'em home to my grandmother. And that's where they've been ever since. And that's everything that I know about 'em, except they're very heavy. They were just sitting on the fireplace in, you know, in the room with the couch that nobody ever went into. (laughs)
APPRAISER:
(chuckles) Uh, they're two wonderful sculptures, and they're signed "A. Carrier," Albert Carrier. But he, later in his career, he used his, uh, family name, Carrier-Belleuse, so he's sometimes called Carrier-Belleuse.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And he was born in 1824. And he had a classical French, uh, academic training at the École des Beaux-Arts. And he was very, very successful as a, uh, as a sculptor in many, many public commissions. He's particularly interesting because, uh, for a while, he worked in England at the Minton's, uh, Works, and he designed porcelain for Minton's. And later in his career, he was actually the artistic director of Sèvres. Uh, he was there for a number of years, and he actually died in, in, in Sèvres.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And he was a really leading artist of his day. He did a var, a series of sculptures, and these are two rather famous people from the Renaissance. Here we have Michelangelo, and here we have Raphael. I like Michelangelo here. He's holding this little sculpture, and Raphael has his pen or pencil ready. What's particularly nice about these is, they're from the mid-19th century. And the French at that time were f, fabulous casters, uh, of bronze. So the, the casting was incredible. These also had to be finished, they had to be filed, they had to be chased, uh, when they came, they're pretty rough when they came out of the mold, and then they had to have a patina put on it. And what's really amazing about your pieces is, they have the original patina. Nothing's been happened, they're not rubbed, they're not, nothing's broken. So they're really in quite, quite good condition. Again, the detailing is, is spectacular. All the small details here, uh, and right down to the shoes, these wonderful little pointy shoes. They're really quite lovely. Uh, and again, the quality, the condition is just superb. So, hopefully, the only thing you do is dust them off?
GUEST (chuckling): I just wiped 'em down with a paper towel last night, 'cause they were sitting in the same spot for 15 years. (laughing)
APPRAISER (laughs): And have you ever had them valued?
GUEST:
Never.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
They've just been the two statues.
APPRAISER:
They're really wonderful examples. They're, they're sort of the best quality of French sculpture in the middle part of the 19th century. Unfortunately, it's not a particularly popular collecting field. So even though, um, uh, Carrier-Belleuse was one of the absolute leading, um, sculptor of his period, and one of his claims to fame is that Auguste Rodin...
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
...was his assistant...
GUEST:
Ooh.
APPRAISER:
...for about six years.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So, that's, that's given him the visibility. In terms of the value, at retail or for insurance purposes, for the pair of these, in the $10,000 to $12,000 range.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
(laughs)
GUEST (laughing): That's great. They're gonna be passed down to my daughter. She has a fireplace to keep 'em on. (laughs)
GUEST:
And does she like them?
APPRAISER:
She's never seen 'em, and so it'll be a surprise. (laughs) She lives in a very old house, and she's very old-soul, and it, it'll be perfect.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
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."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
