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Christophe Fratin Bronze Sculpture, ca. 1850

Value (2013) | $10,000 Retail
Watch  

GUEST:
We bought it in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1965 from an antique shop. My husband worked next door to this antique shop, and we just window-shopped every day and finally went in and asked him if he'd take payments on it, and he did. I just loved it. I love the violence of it, in a way.

APPRAISER:
The piece you have is by Christophe Fratin, who's a very well-known French artist of his day. He worked in the middle part of the 19th century. There was a whole group of French artists working at this time. They were called animalier sculptors; they specialized in animals. And at this time, people liked these animals, they liked this whole subject, especially the violence of these figures in their natural setting. It was done probably in the 1850s or so. This is done in a French technique that's called sand casting, and these were cast in pieces and then assembled. So here we have... this whole thing is wiggly, and that's because this was cast separately and attached to the base. And if we look at the bottom, you can actually see how they're attached.

GUEST:
Right, okay.

APPRAISER:
The sculpture's made out of bronze.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
It's very clearly signed here on the side, "Fratin," and the signature's very sharp, and that's an indication that it was made in the period.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
Later bronzes were sometimes cast from earlier bronzes and you lose detail. The piece you have is beautifully cast. It's a great example of French casting from this period. Very nicely detailed and beautifully finished with the original patina on it. Many of these sculptures that we've seen on the show were cast by what was called the lost-wax process.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
Most of the sculptures we see are made out of spelt or white metal, and they're just very, very poor quality castings. When this was done, they didn't do a lot of foundry marks. It's more like in the 1870s and '80s, the foundries put their marks on there. Fratin was very, very famous. He did a lot of public monuments in Europe and he even did a sculpture for New York's Central Park.

GUEST:
Oh, I didn't know that.

APPRAISER:
Now, what did you pay for it?

GUEST:
If I remember right, it was $550.

APPRAISER:
And what was that, five payments of $100 or so?

GUEST:
It was something like that, true.

APPRAISER:
Earlier, you said you liked the subject matter, and it is interesting, this excitement of the horse, the horse below being attacked here. It's a great, great depiction of this event. It's just not popular today among collectors. However, it's still a desirable piece, and it's probably worth around $10,000.

GUEST:
Well, that's good to know. That's good to know.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Eric Silver
Lillian Nassau LLC
New York, NY
Appraised value (2013)
$10,000 Retail
Featured In
Boise, Hour 2 (#1802)
Event
Boise, ID (June 29, 2013)
Category
Sculpture
Period
19th Century
Form
Sculpture
Material
Bronze

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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