Late Period Egyptian Bronze Falcon

Appraised on: August 19, 2000

Appraised in: Boston, Massachusetts

Appraised by: Max Bernheimer

Category: Antiquities

Episode Info: Wild Things (#916)

Originally Aired: December 19, 2005

IMAGE: 1 of 2  

Appraisal Video: (1:57)

GUEST: I inherited this from an uncle of mine, and I guess I was one of his favorite nephews and he was one of my favorite uncles. And he had this bird, and I looked at him all my life, and I was fascinated by him. I loved him. And when he passed away, he left it to me.

APPRAISER: That's great. Well, this is a very special piece. It's Egyptian, and it dates to what we call the Late Period, so that means it dates between 664 B.C. and 304 B.C. And it's not just an image of a bird. It was sacred to the god Horace, and as such, it was hollow cast, and it originally contained a falcon mummy. And if you look where the tail has broken off, you'll see that there's remnants of the mummy inside. You can also see when you flip this over that it's hollow and that the falcon mummy would have fit up into here. There's also the remnants of a hieroglyphic inscription on the base which would have named the dedicant-- the person who gave this piece. It's beautifully cast. You have great details of the feathers here and the eye markings for the falcon. It's absolutely exquisite. Now, how did it get broken?

GUEST: Well, unfortunately, two of my sons apparently got the idea of playing with it back in 1962 or so. And it lasted all that time, and somehow or another, it fell off the shelf, and each of them went like that.

APPRAISER: "Not me."

GUEST: Yeah, "Not me."

APPRAISER: Maybe they thought it was the Maltese falcon, and were trying to find treasure inside.

GUEST: I'm sure they probably did.

APPRAISER: If this were coming up at an auction I would have estimated it at about $12,000 to $18,000, and I would probably expect that it would sell for more.

GUEST: Really? Wow, that's unbelievable.

APPRAISER: It's really a special object.

GUEST: Oh, that's super. Well, I really appreciate that. What would it have been worth if it wasn't broken?

APPRAISER: It won't affect the value at all.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: No, because it's a clean break. So it could be fixed, no problem.