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Tiffany & Company Candlesticks, ca. 1895

Value (2013) | $4,000 Auction – $6,000 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
My husband's mother passed away about a year and a half ago, and his brother and sisters and him were going through things. He asked me if I liked anything, and I fell in love with these. I thought they were beautiful.

APPRAISER:
Well, I definitely agree with you. I think they're absolutely stunning. Do you know anything about them?

GUEST:
We think they belonged to his great-grandfather. They were in the family and probably from the middle 1800s.

APPRAISER:
And is that who we see here?

GUEST:
This one here is his great-grandfather, and this is his grandfather.

APPRAISER:
Okay, well, it's a fabulous pair of candlesticks. Silver gilt. They're made by Tiffany and Company. It's a very different company from Tiffany Studios. But the Tiffany silver ranks amongst the best silver that was produced in America in the 19th century. They have the cachet, the caliber of a real top maker. Just tipping one back here, it has a series of marks underneath it. It says, of course, "Tiffany and Company Makers, Sterling." This is "925-1000," so for sterling silver, that's the parts per 1,000. Underneath that is the letter "T." Now, that's the date letter, 1891 to 1902. So for a short period, they used this date letter, but it helps us date these candlesticks very accurately. So they're basically the end of the 19th century.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
They are the Chrysanthemum pattern, okay? So we see chrysanthemum flowers and leaves all over, and in a wonderful sort of twirling, wrap-around style around the central stem there. The quality of the application of this silver paired with the fact that they're silver gilt...

GUEST:
And what's silver gilt?

APPRAISER:
Silver gilt is essentially where they've applied a gilt wash, or a vermeil wash, as it's sometimes named, to the outside of the article. It's just another layer of lavishness, really, that we can bring to this particular pair. How many of these do you have?

GUEST:
There's a set of four.

APPRAISER:
Really, so there's four. So we have two here...

GUEST:
And two at home.

APPRAISER:
Two at home, okay. I would imagine that the two that we have here would sell at auction for somewhere between $4,000 and $6,000.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
If you had the four together, you'd probably get somewhere in the region of $10,000 to $15,000 at auction.

GUEST:
Okay, that's very good to know.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
David Walker
Decorative Arts, Furniture
Freeman's Auctioneers
Philadelphia
Sotheby's
New York
Appraised value (2013)
$4,000 Auction – $6,000 Auction
Featured In
Boise, Hour 1 (#1801)
Event
Boise, ID (June 29, 2013)
Category
Silver
Period
19th Century , 20th Century
Form
Candlestick
Material
Gilt , Metal , Silver

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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