Tiffany & Company Silver, ca. 1885

Appraised on: June 17, 2006

Appraised in: Tucson, Arizona

Appraised by: Sara Wishart

Category: Silver

Episode Info: Tucson, Hour 3 (#1109)

Originally Aired: February 26, 2007

IMAGE: 1 of 3  

Appraisal Video: (3:03)

GUEST: They came from my great-aunt. Um, probably about 20 years ago. I was in my early 20s, and she had received them in her early 20s from her husband's grandmother. And she didn't have children with him so they came to me.

APPRAISER: All four of these wonderful pieces are by Tiffany and Company of New York. Which we know based on the markings on the underside of each. The marking is here, and the dating is signified by the letter within the mark. So in this case that letter stands for 1875 to 1891. So all of those pieces bear that same date letter. They represent why the Tiffany name is so renowned. You can take away the decoration. Just the handling of the metal-- this hammering just makes beautiful facets. It's all sparkling like a diamond. All of these pieces are what we would call Aesthetic Movement. And the Aesthetic Movement was a style of decoration that looked a lot toward Asia and the East. So all four of these pieces show a lot of Japanese influence. The naturalistic decoration, the use of florals. And in two of these cases, the use of monkeys. So I'm wondering if there was any family connection with monkeys.

GUEST: Uh, you know what, I don't know. In the back of my mind I remember hearing something about a pet monkey.

APPRAISER: Oh, really?

GUEST: But, you know, I don't know for sure. And it was so long ago that... At the time, I wish I'd asked more questions, but I just loved it because it felt to me, contemporary.

APPRAISER: The idea of a pet monkey is not outrageous. This would have been a custom-made piece.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And the reason I know that is it has an acid-etched monogram. But over the top of the monogram they placed these monkey figures. This was expensive when it was purchased. This piece with the frogs is fantastic quality. This is all top-notch American silversmithing. Beautiful, beautiful quality. This piece has mixed metal, which you can see on the back of this diving frog-- copper inlay. And the back of the frog is gold wash. So there are three colors on one piece. This is fabulous stuff. You're looking at, for auction, and I think that this is a little conservative-- but I would say the spill vase with the tangle of monkeys, I could see that doing $3,000. The bowl with the frogs, probably $6,000.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: The mixed-metal tray... $10,000, and this amazing pitcher with the monkeys, $15,000.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Which brings you to a total of $34,000 worth of amazing American silver.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: So it's... it's, it's beautiful, what I would call lust-worthy silver. So I certainly thank you for bringing it. I've loved seeing it.

GUEST: Thank you.