Mount Washington Royal Flemish Ewer, ca. 1894

Appraised on: July 9, 2011

Appraised in: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Appraised by: Kathleen Bailey

Category: Glass

Episode Info: Minneapolis, Hour 2 (#1617)

Originally Aired: May 14, 2012

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (2:55)

GUEST: 45 years ago, my wife and I saw an ad for an estate sale. And the family turned out to be an old line Minneapolis, Minnesota, family. And we went into the house, and my wife noticed this vase. It didn't have a tag on it. And I spoke to the man that was handling the sale. And he said they wanted something like $200 for the vase. And I said, well, we were recently married, and I didn't think we could afford it. "Would you take $50 or $60?" He says, "Okay, “ I'll do you a favor. I'll give it to you for $60." About 25 years ago, I took it to a museum. They had their glass curator take a look at it. And she says, "You know what you've got here? You've got a piece of Flemish glass." And she says, "You have a coat of arms in here." This was actually destined for the Romanov family. She said, "I can't give you an estimate at this time."

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: "I can only tell you that it's very, very valuable."

APPRAISER: This vase was made by the Mount Washington Company. It's an American-made piece, made in Massachusetts.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: Yes.

GUEST: I can't believe that.

APPRAISER: And it is called Royal Flemish. And these are typical designs that they do on their glass. It's high-end glass. It's made to look like stained glass. The interior is a little bit dirty, so we're not seeing the color as much as we should. But the color will just shine beautifully when it is clean. You do have a nice rope handle. This is a cup lip. But it's not a vase. It's actually an ewer. And as far as this decoration, they put this on a lot of their glass. And it's a coat of arms in the gilt golds and the nice beautiful shield here. This probably has nothing to do with Romanovs whatsoever. However, you can easily see how it could be mistaken. It is an unsigned piece. Most of their glass is not signed. It's a beautiful, beautiful piece.

GUEST: About how old would you say it is?

APPRAISER: This was patented in 1894. Value is somewhat affected when you have a little damage. And fortunately, the damage is on the foot rim. Today, for retail, this would be $6,000 to $8,000.

GUEST: Oh, my God, really? $6,000 to $8,000?

APPRAISER: Oh. Yes.

GUEST: Wait until my wife hears that.

APPRAISER: Okay.