18th C. Dutch Silver-Mounted Torah
Appraised Value:
$8,000 - $10,000
IMAGE: 1 of 2
Appraisal Video:
Appraisal Transcript:
GUEST: It was a gift to me on my Bar Mitzvah. It was actually given to me by my father. I got a pair of roller blades and this, and, at the time, I was a lot more excited about the roller blades. But I do know that it was given to my father from one of his cousins, who he considered an uncle, and to him from another family member.
APPRAISER: So it goes back in the family quite a while?
GUEST: Yeah, it goes back in the family a couple generations. Yeah.
APPRAISER: It's a copy of the five books of Moses-- the Torah-- the Hebrew bible. So something that would have been used as a, you know, scholarly work. What's interesting about it is it has a silver binding overlaid on brass. And this little cartouche here on the cover would have been so you could have it monogrammed or engraved. This kind of thing would have been given as a gift for a significant occasion. And the book itself-- we'll open it up here-- was printed in Amsterdam, dated 1722. So it's a very early piece. In Judaica, the Jewish ceremonial items, as you know, are pretty rare. There weren't a lot to begin with, and the fact that it survived all these centuries intact is a pretty amazing thing. The binding itself looks to be contemporary with the book, so the binding and the style is certainly what you would have found in the early 18th century. It's very elaborately and richly decorated. And if you think... You know, put into the context of history, Amsterdam was a very important center for commerce and trade in the 18th century, and the Jewish population was certainly large and very prominent in the merchant and shipping trades. So it's the kind of thing that would have certainly have been presented at that time to somebody of means. It has a few conditional issues which impact it a bit. On the front, it's missing a little bit of the decoration in the binding and, when you open it up, it would have had another title page-- an engraved and decorated title page. And, believe it or not, that's not the end of the world. What collectors will often do is find a copy of a similar work and get a reproduction of the title page and have it tipped into the book so that it's complete. Surprisingly, despite those factors, it is a very valuable book. It's something that is quite rare. And, I would think, for insurance purposes, you probably want to look in the $8,000 to $10,000 range.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: So, a little better than the roller blades in retrospect.
GUEST: Yeah, I guess so, huh?
APPRAISER: Thanks again.
GUEST: Thank you very much.
