1885 Rookwood Owl Vase

Appraised on: June 24, 2006

Appraised in: Salt Lake City, Utah

Appraised by: Riley Humler

Category: Pottery & Porcelain

Episode Info: Salt Lake City, Hour 2 (#1114)

Originally Aired: April 23, 2007

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (2:03)

GUEST: My husband's great-uncle was going into a nursing home and they were splitting up his possessions. And they knew that we liked the piece, because of the owl on it.

APPRAISER: Okay. Yeah.

GUEST: And so they asked us if we wanted it. So we said yeah.

APPRAISER: You've brought a little piece of Rookwood pottery for us to look at, and you knew it was Rookwood because it says Rookwood on the bottom.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: One of the nice things about Rookwood is a wonderful system of marks, as you can see. It says Rookwood. It's dated 1885, and then there are a couple of other marks on here. This 142C is the shape number. That's this particular shape, and then there's a little R down here which indicates it's red clay. And you can see the clay is bright red. But probably the most important mark on here is this incised set of initials, ARV.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: Which stands for Albert Valentine, who was one of the more famous decorators at Rookwood.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: Now, the thing that's most fun about this piece is the decoration. Now, we can turn it over and we've got a wonderful decoration of an owl sitting on a branch with a crescent moon behind him.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: This is a good example of Rookwood's standard glaze, which they made in the 1880s all the way through about 1905. The fact that it has an owl on it is really a plus, because any time you have animals or scenes, it becomes much more interesting to collectors. And as you understand, the owl is as cute as it could be. I mean, it really is nicely done.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: But the decoration is the key to this. There would be a lot of interest in this at auction. This piece would probably bring somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: Yes, really.

GUEST: That's great. Well, thank you very much. That's more than we thought it would ever be. We thought maybe $100 or $200, but nothing in that price range.