1761 George III Columnar Candlestick Set
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GUEST:
I brought these candlesticks from my mother-in-law's estate. And you know, it's a set of the four.
APPRAISER:
Uh-huh.
GUEST:
She loved them. I know that they're special, but I don't know what their value is.
APPRAISER:
Did she ever tell you anything about them?
GUEST:
She saw them when she was traveling and she wanted them. And I think that maybe she didn't get them while she was there. I think she was in maybe England, I don't know. So she came home and wanted them and called back and got them.
APPRAISER:
So she saw them, she fell in love.
GUEST:
She saw them, could not forget them, bought them.
APPRAISER:
That's the way to do it. So are you ready to find something out about them?
GUEST:
Yeah, please, tell me something about them.
APPRAISER:
So when you first look at these, you know that they're something special.
GUEST:
Yes, they're beautiful.
APPRAISER:
They have the beautiful design. And the reason collectors really love English silver is that it's really well hallmarked. So you can go into your books, I can see that the maker is Emick Romer, and he is a silversmith working in the 18th century in London. The year is 1761.
GUEST:
Wow, 1761, okay.
APPRAISER:
And they were made in London.
GUEST:
Okay, great.
APPRAISER:
So these are very early George III candlesticks.
GUEST:
Beautiful.
APPRAISER:
And they're really quite nice. They're very special. There's a little bit of wear, as you would expect to see from...
GUEST:
That many years of use, yeah.
APPRAISER:
When we look over here at this candlestick...
GUEST:
Yes, okay.
APPRAISER:
...this piece is marked with the maker's mark and the sterling mark.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So we know that these all belong together. What very often happens...
GUEST:
So the four were made together.
APPRAISER:
The four were made together. What very often happens is one of these pieces might get lost.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
So you don't have, necessarily, real associated... you get an associated piece. But these are marked, and we know they were all together. Do you have any idea what your mother-in-law might have paid for them?
GUEST:
A couple of thousand, several thousand, maybe.
APPRAISER:
If these came up for auction, a set of four George III candlesticks, it would probably bring in the $8,000 to $10,000 ballpark at auction.
GUEST:
Wow, okay, that's great.
APPRAISER:
Yeah?
GUEST:
Yeah, no, that's more.
APPRAISER:
You happy?
GUEST:
Yeah, very happy.
Appraisal Details
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Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
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