Vienna Porcelain Table, ca. 1895
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GUEST:
This table has been in my parents' living room for 25 years, and they purchased it from a friend, who had collected antiques for quite a few years. They paid $1,000 for it.
APPRAISER:
It's a very good-looking table. It's got a combination of material that you find very commonly in and around the late 1800s. It's porcelain-mounted and giltwood, and this giltwood, when you look down here, this very elaborate cabriole leg that's carved with foliage is what we call Rococo Revival. Now, this is the sort of piece that someone probably would have picked up on a tour, perhaps, through Austria. And I'll show you why. All right. I'm going to lift the top off, and what you have are these marvelous painted rondelles. These are all Neo-Classical scenes. And these are all hand-painted, and that's important, because oftentimes, what you find in porcelain plaques from this time period are transfer-printed, which are like decal-decorated, but these are all hand-painted. And the center one, which is signed Ulmer, is just very well done. Probably done by one of the factory's better painters. And if you look on the back, it has just what we would expect to find. This is a title in German, which is ein Traum, which means "a dream.”
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
And this is what they call a beehive mark, but it's actually the shield off of the Habsburg crest. And up here, we have Austria, which is an export mark, which means it was manufactured around 1892. So it's probably around 1895.
GUEST:
All right.
APPRAISER:
And you can see, when you go back, "a dream," which is really nice. Put it back down here. Now, I imagine you guys don't use this for a plant stand at home.
GUEST:
No, we don't.
APPRAISER:
At auction, I would expect to get around $8,000 to $12,000 for it.
GUEST:
Good, good, terrific.
APPRAISER:
A really beautiful piece, and beautifully painted.
GUEST:
Well, that's good to know.
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