1927 Erik Magnussen Original Drawing
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GUEST:
This is drawn by Erik Magnussen, who was my grandmother's first husband. He designed this for Gorham silver.
APPRAISER:
Erik was brought over from Denmark because he was already a world renowned silver designer, by Gorham in 1925 for just a brief period, 1925 to 1929. And he designed this coffee service called the "Cubic coffee set" in 1927, based on the Cubist motifs that Picasso and Braque were evoking in their French cubist paintings. This is the artist rendering before, presumably, the coffee set was made. The coffee set was made. It was heralded by The New York Times as being the lights and the beauty of New York City or Manhattan. It evoked skyscrapers, the Jazz Age. You can see it here, the gold wash on top, and then there's an ebonized wash that's on top as well and it's to give it dramatic light changes you would see during the course of the day. And this is what the artists were responding to at the time. It's arguably the most magnificent, most important 20th century piece of metalwork in America.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
The finished set is now in the Rhode Island School of Design. And here we have the original drawing. We think a minimum of $10,000 to $15,000 in the auction market today.
GUEST:
Wow, that's surprising. That's great.
Appraisal Details
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