Fanti Wooden Stool, ca. 1920
APPRAISER:
Tell us how your family got it.
GUEST:
I think it was an estate sale or an auction. Long Island, New York.
APPRAISER:
It was your dad?
GUEST:
My dad.
APPRAISER:
And so, about what time would that have been?
GUEST:
I know it's been around over 50 years.
APPRAISER:
50 years.
GUEST:
So, yeah.
APPRAISER:
Okay, so did your dad tell you anything about the piece?
GUEST:
No.
APPRAISER:
All right, this stool is from Ghana.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
There's two tribes that do these stools.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The Ashanti and the Fanti. This particular stool is from the Fanti. This piece was not made for tribal use. This piece was commissioned, 1910 to 1930, by a colonial for a Fanti carver to carve this for him. There's a couple of ways that we know that.
GUEST:
Hmm.
APPRAISER:
The colonials were a little bit taller, so the stools are bigger. Now, these stools, in a traditional context, are for prestige and status. Only the wealthy people could have these in their homes. So, ironically, you have a colonial commissioning a piece for exactly the same reason-- as a prestige piece for his home. Now, in African art, we have decorative pieces, we have reproductions, we have fakes, we have folk art. Since this is a piece that is commissioned for sale, it's not a fake. I really look at these now more as folk art. And this is really a terrific example of a Fanti stool. The elephant is a symbol of power. We have inlaid eyes. We have one little problem on the back here. We do have one broken tusk. Now, that's going to detract a little bit from the value.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Now, one other thing that I want to show. If we look down here, we can see that we definitely have wear on the seat. In African art, once we know what something is-- whether it's a mask, a stool, a figure-- we want to see a wear pattern that is appropriate for that kind of object. This has been used in your family.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And that's great. So we have a terrific piece here, beautifully carved. In my gallery, this would be $600 to $900.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
In the decorative market-- that is, if somebody had this in a decorative center or a designer came in, and then the designer put it into a home-- it could be $1,000 to $1,500.
GUEST:
Really?
Appraisal Details
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