China Painted Candy Box, ca. 1910

Appraised on: July 14, 2007

Appraised in: San Antonio, Texas

Appraised by: Suzanne Perrault

Category: Pottery & Porcelain

Episode Info: San Antonio, Hour 3 (#1209)

Originally Aired: March 24, 2008

IMAGE: 1 of 4  

Appraisal Video: (2:13)

GUEST: I lived next door to the little lady in Florida. She was a schoolteacher, and a very refined little lady. Her father was a tailor in, uh, Muskegon, Michigan, and during the Depression, he lost it all. And she had a sad story to tell you along with it. She was married, and they kind of depended on me as they got older. And she told me the story. Her uncle took her picture and had this made, and this was one of the pieces that they gave me. I've had it on my coffee table, you know, ever since. We put a little candy in it now and then. I'd rather children wouldn't drop it, you know, (laughs) because it's sort of precious.

APPRAISER: We see a lot of pieces of china painting here at the ROADSHOW, and this is what that is-- china painting being a craft that was very popular, uh,
starting in the 1890s and going on through to the '30s. And we usually have these done mostly by amateurs, though I know that professional artists did it as well. But you see those very seldom. And you almost never see them with a portrait. This would have been, probably, a little candy jar, just like you're using it. So, what year do you think this was done?

GUEST: Not later than 1910.

APPRAISER: That sounds about right. This one is not signed-- very often, the pieces are signed by the artist, who was quite proud of what he or she was doing. Usually, what you have underneath is the mark of the blank--

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: --but that's kind of irrelevant as far as, um, the value or the artistry.

GUEST: Who did it.

APPRAISER: Yes. So this is just delightful, because it has a very sweet, sweet likeness of this beautiful child. It's surrounded with this type of enameled, jeweled decoration. It's absolutely precious. So, um, on the market, if you found this in a retail store, somebody who did not know this child may ask somewhere between $500 and $600. For the family, for people who knew her, of course, this is absolutely priceless.

GUEST: Yes, it's priceless, uh-huh.