Almeric Walter Nancy Pottery Vase, ca. 1890

Appraised on: August 15, 2009

Appraised in: San Jose, California

Appraised by: Riley Humler

Category: Pottery & Porcelain

Episode Info: San Jose, Hour 2 (#1417)

Originally Aired: May 17, 2010

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (2:17)

GUEST: This pottery was owned by my grandparents, and then my mother acquired it, and then when I was a kid, I didn't see it anymore, so I thought maybe I broke it or my sister broke it. But then my sister happened to be up in the attic after Hurricane Katrina, and she found these boxes, and when she took it down, this was one of the vases that was in the box. I was hoping she would find my train, but she didn't. (chuckling) I got stuck with the vase.

APPRAISER: It is signed on the side. It's signed "A. Walter, Nancy,” and it is a ceramic vase done by Almeric Walter, who is really best known as a glass artist. Walter worked in Nancy, France. Probably this piece would have been dated around 1900, maybe a little bit before. Mostly what we see on the Roadshow are pate de verre pieces, which are actually glass paste that Walter became very proficient at making, and they're multicolored pieces, typically glass paste forced into a mold and some really amazing creations. We see a fair amount of that. I think, from what I can tell talking to my colleagues, this may be the first piece of A. Walter pottery that we've seen on the Roadshow. It's a very typical piece, and the colors, interestingly enough, are very similar to the glasswork that he did. But being a scenic, it’s actually a very charming piece, very soft pastel colors. Now, there are some rather long and deep craze lines in the piece. Typically they all had these long craze lines in them. So it's not something that happened from your sister or from Katrina. It just seems to be consistent with the way the pottery was made. It doesn't seem to affect the value at all. Now, had you had thoughts of value?

GUEST: Well, I thought it was worth between five and eight, maybe, hundred.

APPRAISER: Okay. Well, it’s not too far off. I think probably an auction value on it would be more like $900 to $1,200.

GUEST: Okay.