How Much to Buy "Spring"?
Young Zack learns about his family's set of figurines with the help of appraiser Nick Dawes. Now if only Zack can track down Spring...
Apr 15, 2005
In Portland, appraiser Nick Dawes encountered a young man with a taste for antique figurines. Zack told Nick that his set of three figurines belonged to his great-grandparents, who gave them to his grandmother, who passed them down to his dad, who handed them down to him. The three figurines Zack brought to the ROADSHOW are named Summer, Autumn, and Winter. (Winter is his favorite.) "Every time I go look at them, they look sad because Spring's missing," Zack lamented.
Nick told his young friend that his treasured figurines are originally from England. "We see these figures sometimes but we don't see them very often with a mark," he said, turning one statue over to show the mark of "Dixon, Austin, & Co." This told Nick that the figurines were made around 1820 in Sunderland, which is in northeast England.
One thing Nick wanted Zack to notice is the distinctive hue of the robes on the figurines. "This kind of pinkish color that the robes of the figurines have, we call that Sunderland Luster, because Sunderland is the town that made this luster kind of famous," he explained. "But we don't see a great deal of Sunderland Luster of this age in this country, especially figurines. These are nice early ones."
After examining the minimal damage to the figurines, mostly little cracks and chips, Nick gave Zack an appraisal of $1,500 to $2,000 for his three figurines. "I figure what you should do is go looking for Spring," advised Nick. The set of all four figurines could be worth $3,000.
"That's what we're gonna try to do, we're gonna try to call my great-aunt to see if she has it—we think she has it," said Zack.
But if his great-aunt doesn't have the missing Spring figurine, Nick says a replacement can probably be found on the market, if Zack is interested. These days he says, unsigned, Spring goes for between $400 and $600.
Dennis Gaffney is a freelance writer in Albany, New York. He has been a contributor to Antiques Roadshow Online since 1998.
