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Close Up | Poet Rainer Maria Rilke's Quote

Close Up | Poet Rainer Maria Rilke's Quote

Owner Interview | Korean Yayoi Stone Dagger, ca. 750 BC

Owner Interview | Korean Yayoi Stone Dagger, ca. 750 BC

Appraisal Collection | All Our Appraisals from Colonial Williamsburg, Hour 3

Appraisal Collection | All Our Appraisals from Colonial Williamsburg, Hour 3

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UND School of Mines Collection, ca. 1930

Value (2018) | $3,500 Auction – $4,500 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
This is all pottery from the North Dakota School of Mines, and the clay was from there. Most of it is from my mother and my grandmother. But I have a few pieces from the instructors, too. This piece... (chuckling) This wild-looking piece is one of my grandmother's pieces that she did. This is a piece that was done by one of the instructors, as was this, the Viking ship piece. This little piece, called the Telemarken, my grandmother helped design the design on this one, although it was made by one of the instructors.

APPRAISER:
What is the design?

GUEST:
It's dancing women. It's a folk design. And it says on the bottom, "Telemarken," and that's the valley that my grandmother's family came from in Norway. And that's one of my favorite pieces. Then she also made this little cow. They had a herd of Jersey cows, and on the bottom is the cow's name and the year that it was made. Her name is Kari. The next piece is one that my mother made, and it was designed after a Native American design. And the end piece is one that my grandmother did again, out at the university.

APPRAISER:
The ceramics department was set up in 1910 and went on until the '60s, and they taught so many thousands of students. It was about promoting clays from North Dakota, of which they had a great many. This is one of the special clays. This is Bentonite.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
And the pieces made of Bentonite clay could be painted on and fired in a single process.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
And most of these pieces are marked in the same way.

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
Which is with the U.N.D. Indigo stamp.

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
And this one is also signed by your mother. And it is a student piece.

GUEST:
Yes. It was like a community education class, people coming in from the community to take classes.

APPRAISER:
So some of these pieces that we see are made with sort of different levels of professionalism. And some are done, as you were saying, by instructors, such as Margaret Cable, who did this one.

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
And she was the head of the ceramics department.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
And this is Julia Mattson, who was one of the instructors.

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
And it's really good and tight.

GUEST:
Yeah.

APPRAISER:
A plainer piece like this...

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
...of which many were made...

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
Is worth about $200 to $300.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
At auction. A Bentonite piece like this, even though it's a little rough and fairly obviously done by a student, but because it's Bentonite...

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
It's probably about $700 to $1,000 at auction.

GUEST:
(chuckling) My goodness.

APPRAISER:
These are rare; animals are rare. People love cows.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
There is a little break, so that will cost it a little bit, but that would be $750 to $1,000.

GUEST:
(chuckling) Dear old Kari.

APPRAISER:
Pretty much the same with this, $750 to $1,000.

GUEST:
Oh, my goodness. (chuckling) Okay.

APPRAISER:
This one, about $800 to $1,100, on the Cable pitcher.

GUEST:
Oh, okay, sure, that's...

APPRAISER:
This piece, which is decorated with a prairie rose design...

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
It's also your state flower, isn't it?

GUEST:
Right, it certainly is.

APPRAISER:
And that comes up very often. That's a pretty popular pattern.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
And that has a good size and a lovely glaze. That's a molded piece. $1,000 to $1,500.

GUEST:
Oh, my goodness. (laughing)

APPRAISER:
And the humidor at the end, which is so bright and lovely and kind of unusual.

GUEST:
Very unusual, yes.

APPRAISER:
Unlike anything else I've really seen done there. That's $1,500 to $2,000.

GUEST:
(laughing) My grandmother would be just amazed.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Suzanne Perrault
Pottery & Porcelain
Rago-Wright-LAMA Auctions
Lambertville, NJ
Update (2018)
$3,500 Auction – $4,500 Auction
Appraised value (2005)
$5,700 Auction – $7,900 Auction
Featured In
Bismarck, Hour 2 (#1011)
Vintage Bismarck (#2320)
Event
Bismarck, ND (July 30, 2005)
Category
Pottery & Porcelain
Period
20th Century
Form
Figurine , Pitcher , Pot , Vase
Material
Pottery

Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

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."

Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.

Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.

Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.

Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.

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Explainer: School of Mines Pottery
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