"Chaplin" Mesh Purse
GUEST:
We like Charlie Chaplin, and when we saw it many years ago, my wife said, "Why don't we buy it?" So I said, "If you want to, buy it."
APPRAISER:
And how long ago was that?
GUEST:
I'm going to have to guess 10, 15 years ago. And it's just been laying around the house ever since.
APPRAISER:
When I saw this, my eyes rolled around and you noticed.
GUEST:
I saw that, I saw that.
APPRAISER:
I couldn't hide it. Well, the reason is, this is really the Rolls Royce of the mesh bags.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
It really is. Do you remember what you purchased it for?
GUEST:
In those days, I couldn't buy anything for more than $25, $30.
APPRAISER:
This mesh bag is made by Whiting & Davis, which is a very well-known manufacturer of beaded bags and mesh bags. Very high quality. And this particular bag is made of, um... what we call spider mesh. The chain on the bag is a rounded chain, a very long rounded chain. So you have a bag of very excellent construction-- the hardware to the mesh to the chain itself, but the most intriguing thing about it is the image on it. And, of course, we know who that is.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
But did you know that it's part of a rare set of portrait purses?
GUEST:
I heard that it was part of a set, but we never knew what or how or who they were.
APPRAISER:
Well, it's made by a company that did the image itself, called the Heritage Company. They made very few. They're so rare, in fact, that in some of the reference materials that we have, they don't even give a price. They just say "very rare."
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
But I'm going to, um... refer you to a book that I brought with me today that illustrates this bag as one of four in a series. They did one of Renée Adorée, which is in beautiful colors; also one of Marion Davis in blues, cool colors; one of Clark Gable; and then finally, the one of Charlie Chaplin. It's the only one that was done in black and white, so that makes it even a little more rare.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
Now, the reason that they're also considered to be very rare is because they were recalled and discontinued.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
And so they weren't on the market for very long. And there's lots of rumors about why that might have happened, but the most prevalent rumor is because the manufacturer wanted to protect themselves from lawsuits from the heirs of the Hollywood stars.
GUEST:
Really? I didn't know that.
APPRAISER:
So it's a rather fascinating story.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
If you found this bag... You know, if you were out in the marketplace today and you were shopping, what do you think you might pay for it?
GUEST:
Well, I would only buy it because it has Charlie Chaplin on it. The purse really doesn't interest me. I like the image. But I imagine a hundred, $150, somewhere in that area.
APPRAISER:
I'm going to put an appraised value on it of at least $650, and in my opinion, that's a conservative price in today's market.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
Exactly.
GUEST:
Well, thank you very much.
Appraisal Details
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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."
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