1884 Thomas Webb & Sons "Swan's Head" Perfume Bottle

Appraised on: June 9, 2012

Appraised in: Boston, Massachusetts

Appraised by: Matthew Quinn

Category: Decorative Arts

Episode Info: Boston (#1704)

Originally Aired: January 28, 2013

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Appraisal Video: (1:38)

GUEST: I brought a goose head. It's a perfume bottle. It used to belong to my great-grandmother. She collected all sorts of glass, and this sort of made its way down the family. I was told it was cameo.

APPRAISER: Have you ever had it appraised?

GUEST: It was appraised in 1984, and they said it was about $900 at that point in time. So I've been keeping it sort of hid away so it doesn't get any damage.

APPRAISER: Tucked it away for safekeeping at that point.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: It is a cameo perfume bottle.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: It's produced in England, and it does have a sterling silver lid. And if we go in, we can see a set of hallmarks here, which track us back into London in 1884. It's a very, very important English glassmaker, and it was made by a company called Thomas Webb & Sons. And they produced these swan's head.

GUEST: Oh, it's not a goose head?

APPRAISER: It's not a goose head, it's a swan's head. Produced these swan's head in a variety of sizes and a variety of colors.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: Ruby is one of the better colors and probably the best color. This is the 5 1/4-inch size, which is a little bit smaller than a large one. And it's great that it's in its original box. Any clue what you think it might be worth today?

GUEST: I figured it was worth probably more than $900, but I've been told that collectible glass, people don't collect it as much as they used to. So I don't know what the value would be.

APPRAISER: Well, there are certain things that perform still. This particular piece, if you brought it into an auction today, conservatively would be estimated between $5,000 and $7,000.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Would not surprise me if it exceeded that number.

GUEST: Well, thank you very much. That's amazing.