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Harrison McIntosh Pottery Bowls

Value (2014) | $2,000 Retail – $3,000 Retail
Watch  

GUEST:
We brought two pieces of Harrison McIntosh pottery. Don't know a lot about them. We got them at an auction sale. My wife was bidding on some stuff at an auction sale, and there was a piece of carnival glass that she was interested in, and this was included in the box.

APPRAISER:
Okay, so you got them home and did you do a search on the Internet? What did you find?

GUEST:
Well, we looked and we didn't find really a lot. We couldn't find those patterns-- some similar, but not anything exactly like that.

APPRAISER:
The thing about Harrison McIntosh is he didn't do the same thing twice.

GUEST:
Cool... interesting.

APPRAISER:
He was a classically trained studio potter. He was trained by two very influential people: Glen Lukens, who was an outstanding award-winning studio potter, and also trained by Marguerite Wildenhain, who was a Bauhaus art school of Germany educated potter. Out of those associations came a level of detail that was just remarkable. The work that Harrison did, you'll never see something out of round-- executed to perfection almost all the time. Let's take a look under the bottom of these two. We have two different signatures, and I want to show those. So let's first go to this piece over here, and we see the McIntosh script signature.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
McIntosh started his studio in about 1954. And from '54 till about the early '60s, we saw him use this script signature. Now I'm going to jump over to this one over here, and we're going to see a different set of marks. We see a little impressed "HM," we see a paper label. We believe he switched to this impression sometime in the early '60s.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
Now, how much did you pay for that box lot?

GUEST:
I believe it was, like, $20 for the box, and there was this and several other things in there, including the carnival glass.

APPRAISER:
So what would you say if today, I told you at auction, it would be reasonable to expect them to be estimated between $1,000 and $1,500 each?

GUEST:
Each, really? Well, that's wonderful.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Matthew Quinn
Decorative Arts, Pottery & Porcelain
Quinn's Auction Galleries
Falls Church, VA
Appraised value (2014)
$2,000 Retail – $3,000 Retail
Featured In
Bismarck, Hour 3 (#1909)
Event
Bismarck, ND (May 31, 2014)
Category
Pottery & Porcelain
Period
20th Century
Form
Bowl
Material
Pottery

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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