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Sèvres-style Painted Porcelain Box, ca. 1905

Value (2020) | $4,000 Retail – $6,000 Retail
Watch  

GUEST:
This was my great-grandmother's originally, and it was presented to her in 1953. I just remember it, growing up, on my grandmother's counter and it was her treasure chest. Then we inherited it when she passed away. As a kid, I thought they said it was French and that it was a couple of hundred years old.

APPRAISER:
Uh-huh.

GUEST:
But I think that's what they look like in the pictures, so... I really don't know-- I'm guessing it's at least 53 or 56 years old.

APPRAISER:
It is porcelain, and it's completely hand-painted. All of the design on the top, these two couples at an evening party, in an 18th-century French-style dress, is completely hand-painted. Then we have this wonderful, hand-applied raised gold surface on the top. It's very intricate, with birds and a crowned fleur-de-lis, there's a lion's head, and then all kinds of grapes and vines and so forth. We've got hand-painted scenes on the front, down here below, and then on the sides. Now, there's a mark on the underside, and we can look at that. Let's turn it over like this, very carefully, and we see that there's a hand-painted blue mark with an F inside of it. And that is the mark, traditionally, of the Sèvres factory in France. However, I've got some bad news for you. It's not actually made by the Sèvres factory.

GUEST:
What are those marks there?

APPRAISER:
When it was fired, there would have been little bits of porcelain that would have stuck down from the firing, and they would've ground down the little bits of rough porcelain so that it would sit perfectly flat. So that was just part of the manufacturing process.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
There's also an interesting label here on the underside that has a printed description, which may have been from an auction at some point, is my guess. The mark on the underside has a date, and that would indicate that it was made in the mid-18th century, which would be about 250 years old. But actually, it's about 100 years old.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
It was made by an unknown factory in France and by an unknown artist, but still very high quality. And we see boxes like this, but they're usually much smaller. We see lots of little ring boxes, we see larger ones, jewelry caskets, and they all have these Sèvres marks. As recently as perhaps 30 years ago, almost everyone thought that these were made by the Sèvres factory. Despite giving you the bad news that it has a fake Sèvres mark and that it's really not Sèvres, it still has very good value. A retail price would probably fall somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000.

GUEST:
Wow.

APPRAISER:
It is the largest Sèvres-style box that we have ever seen.

GUEST:
Wow.

APPRAISER:
So that's a pretty good price for a fake, so to speak, isn't it?

GUEST:
Absolutely.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
David Lackey
Pottery & Porcelain
David Lackey Antiques & Art
Houston
David Lackey Antiques & Art
Update (2020)
$4,000 Retail – $6,000 Retail
Appraised value (2006)
$8,000 Retail – $12,000 Retail
Featured In
Tucson, Hour 3 (#1109)
Vintage Tucson 2021, Hour 1 (#2504)
Event
Tucson, AZ (June 17, 2006)
Category
Pottery & Porcelain
Period
20th Century
Form
Box
Material
Porcelain

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.

Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.

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