Royal Doulton Sung Ware Bowl, ca. 1930

Appraised on: July 19, 2008

Appraised in: Chattanooga, Tennessee

Appraised by: Stuart Slavid

Category: Pottery & Porcelain

Episode Info: Greatest Gifts (#1620)
Chattanooga (#1312)

Originally Aired: April 13, 2009

IMAGE: 1 of 3  

Appraisal Video: (2:14)

GUEST: My neighbor gave it to me as a gift, and I knew nothing about it and she didn't either really. It came from a family member of hers down in Florida. She got it about 40 years ago and passed it along to me. She thought maybe it was Japanese.

APPRAISER: Well, it's beautifully enamel-decorated, and as we look through the piece, you have sort of a little bit of the flambé colors rubbed in with the various enamel colors. But what makes it really important is who made it and who decorated it. And let's take a look at the marks on the back side.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: It's marked with a Royal Doulton mark. The Royal Doulton Manufacturer in England.

GUEST: I've heard the name, yes.

APPRAISER: Long history of... of line of potters, and they did some amazingly good work.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Now, this is also signed in two other places. It's signed right here "Sung." Sung is a ware that was made in China in a much earlier period than this, but that's where the influence came from. And they call this particular style Sung ware. And it was done from a period of about 1920 to 1940.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: Also signed is this word over here, "N-O-K-E." And the gentleman's name was Charles Noke, and he was the chief designer for Doulton and had started working in Doulton from about 1899 and worked at Doulton till he passed away in 1941, and he established a number of the premier wares that were produced at Doulton from 1900 to about 1940. You see that wonderful, unusual glaze on the back side as well.

GUEST: That's what I like right here-- lots of greens and blues.

APPRAISER: And that's a technique that he pretty well perfected there, and even in the base here, you'll see that flambé -- just that red color that shows through here. So the combination of these marks would definitely place this properly between 1920 and 1940. Now, the condition of it is just fabulous. It really, really is a wonderful example of the ware. This type of Doulton is very collectible today. And at auction, I would expect it to sell in the range of $3,000 to $5,000.

GUEST: Oh, my. Oh, gosh. Oh, well, I'll have to tell my friend. She may want it back.

APPRAISER: Thank you for bringing it.

GUEST: Oh, well, thank you so much.

APPRAISER: You're welcome.

GUEST: That's exciting.