Boris Schatz Book & Bronze Plaque
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GUEST:
When I was young, my mother never mentioned that she had been married before, and one day, the family history came to light, and we noticed another name with my mother's, and so she finally had to confess that she had been married a time before, and she brought this book out to show us about that part of her life. And the book is about her first husband's father's career.
APPRAISER:
The artist is Boris Schatz. He started off as a sculptor. I think he trained pretty classically in Paris and then went to Bulgaria in the 1890s as a court painter for Prince Ferdinand. Then he became an ardent Zionist and traveled to Palestine. And really, his fame was not as a sculptor or an artist per se, but as a leader of the Israeli Arts and Crafts movement. And he's really responsible for trying to generate a style unique to Palestine, trying to blend together what was there stylistically with the international Arts and Crafts movement. This is actually a book of his life and work, which was published in 1925 in Jerusalem. And we start off by showing this kind of interesting comparison. You brought another small item with you today, which is this small bronze plaque, and these bronze plaques are copied after his artwork. Here in his folio, you can see an image of the artwork entitled "Havdalah." These little plaques bring about $100 at auction. They tend to be fairly readily available. I've actually seen a couple others today. His career and his importance to Judaica collectors is becoming more and more highly prized. This volume itself would probably sell in the $750 to $1,000 range. So a nice piece to a puzzle, both for your family and for collectors.
GUEST:
Thank you, this is great.
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