Rozenburg Pottery Plaques, ca. 1900
GUEST:
My parents came here from Holland in 1929, and it's always been in the house, but when my mother broke up the house, I got the plates because I collect them.
APPRAISER:
Well, the fact that they came from Holland is very appropriate because that's exactly where they were made.
GUEST:
Oh, they were?
APPRAISER:
They're made by a company called Rozenburg, which was in business from about 1885 to about 1913. They weren't in business very long. And they were located in The Hague. The mark is not easy to read, but it says "Rozenburg," and then there's a picture of a bird, which I believe is a stork, and then underneath it, which is almost impossible to read, it says "Den Haag," Dutch for "The Hague." And there's some other interesting marks and so forth that might tell us something about the artist if we did further research. Rozenburg made absolutely beautiful, wonderful, both porcelains and pottery, and these here are pottery. At that point in Europe, Art Nouveau design was very popular. At the same time, they were inspired by batik printed fabrics from the Dutch East Indies. So you've got a combination of the Art Nouveau and the colors, the wonderful colors that they saw in the batik fabrics. They were very expensive when they were new, relatively to the time, and they're very highly praised by collectors now. These are brilliant examples, and in fact superior examples, of the type of pottery that they do. This one here with the wonderful flowers, these rich, dark colors, and this one over here is really great with the wonderful, exotic peacock and colors.
GUEST:
I know!
APPRAISER:
As far as value, I mean, no matter what they're worth, nothing can replace your family history.
GUEST:
Oh, no.
APPRAISER:
But they've got a really good retail value as well. This one here would probably be worth somewhere between $800 and $1,200, and this one here with the peacock, which is my favorite, of course, is worth somewhere between $1,200 and $1,800. So collectively, you're talking about $2,000 or $3,000.
GUEST:
Oh, thank you. I didn't even realize nothing about them, and this is really wonderful to know.
Appraisal Details
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