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Meissen Porcelain Figurine, ca. 1875

Value (2012) | $4,000 Retail – $6,000 Retail
Watch  

GUEST:
My husband was from Corpus Christi, Texas, and it was in his family. His father ran a drugstore in Corpus Christi, and his mother, Johnnie May, bought the luxuries. And she didn't hesitate to spend her money on luxuries.

APPRAISER:
Well, this would have been a luxury to own back then. It would have been expensive at any time that you might have bought it. Now, how long have you had it?

GUEST:
I've had it for 31 years.

APPRAISER:
This piece is incredibly fragile, and there are lots of fingers and toes and arms and heads and plants and fish--there's a lot to break there. And there is virtually no damage. A tiny bit, but not much. Do you have an idea who may have made this?

GUEST:
Well, I think it's Meissen, but I'm really not very cognizant of antique kind of things.

APPRAISER:
This is a group with two female nudes, and here we have a baby-type figure in a net, trapped with fish, and another figure here. The detailing is exceptional. We can look at the faces, the coloring on the face, the eyes, the lips, the separation of the fingers is really quite good. The quality of the modeling and the quality of the painting tells me that this is Meissen. So let's look at the underside. We do have an appropriate Meissen mark. It's like two crossed swords, but at the ends of the swords and the hilts are two dots and that mark is generally thought to have been used between about 1850 and about 1924. And there's another really important number there, which is really hard to see. It's C-35, and that's the model number. So we can use that number to look this up and see which figurine this is. And the name of this figure is "The Capture of the Tritons." Which is from mythology, and Meissen did a lot of figures with mythologic type themes. Now, this was originally modeled by a famous modeler at Meissen named Kändler, and Kändler was active in the 18th century. But Meissen saved the molds, and they reused them over and over through the years. Now, based on the mark, we know that this was made between about 1850 and 1924. But in looking at the detailing and the coloring, I would date this to the last half of the 19th century. So the late 1800s would be when this was made, but it was over 100 years after it was originally modeled by Kändler for Meissen. Because of the age, because of the quality, I would estimate a retail value to be between $4,000 and $6,000. This is a quite nice example.

GUEST:
Johnnie May would be very proud of that if she were living.

APPRAISER:
She would, yes.

GUEST:
Very nice, very nice. Thank you.

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Appraisal Details

Appraiser
David Lackey
Pottery & Porcelain
David Lackey Antiques & Jewelry
Houston
David Lackey Antiques & Jewelry
Appraised value (2012)
$4,000 Retail – $6,000 Retail
Featured In
Rapid City, Hour 3 (#1715)
Event
Rapid City, SD (July 14, 2012)
Category
Pottery & Porcelain
Period
19th Century
Form
Figurine
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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