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Bradley & Hubbard Plant Stands, ca. 1880

Value (2016) | $4,000 Auction – $8,000 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
I brought you two fern stands. I believe they're Bradley & Hubbard from the 1880s to 1890, I think. And I'm hoping to find out what their value is.

APPRAISER:
Okay, and how did you get them?

GUEST:
I got them through an estate, through another estate that kind of got passed down through estates, and finally I bought them.

APPRAISER:
And how much?

GUEST:
I really don't remember. They were in the hundreds.

APPRAISER:
About how many years ago was that?

GUEST:
That I bought them? About ten to 12 years ago.

APPRAISER:
Okay, did they come to you as a pair?

GUEST:
A pair-- they did.

APPRAISER:
They did come to you as a pair, okay. They descended as a pair. Were they really made as a pair, I'm not sure. I think somebody just had two plant stands that they acquired.

GUEST:
And they're so different, yeah. And I did research and saw the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW had had one of them back in '07 in San Antonio, I believe, and appraised one, but the value seemed to run from $500 to thousands.

APPRAISER:
Yeah. They are made by Bradley & Hubbard, and we know that because it's featured on the back of their show catalog, or their trade catalog.

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
They're typically referred to as plant stands. These are interesting and attractive tables for a number of reasons in my mind. They represent the Industrial Revolution, where we're mixing art and industry together to form artforms, and this is really what this represents. It's done in the Aesthetic Movement. And it's basically about every object doesn't just have a purpose, but it's to be artful. And as you can see from these, they really are.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
What's interesting here, though, is the metal. These are made of brass, and they're really a counterpoint to the dark and dreary rooms of the Victorian era. So now we have this bright spot. So you see them in interior views in their original settings and how spectacularly brilliant they are.

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
And brass is like silver—these should be polished. You're not doing any harm in polishing them.

GUEST:
I have not polished them.

APPRAISER:
And they would show that way, and that's the way they were intended to be seen and you're not doing anything to hurt them.

GUEST:
Were they electrified early?

APPRAISER:
They were not.

GUEST:
Ah.

APPRAISER:
They were not using electricity as frequently as they are today at the time these were produced. So we don't know when they were electrified.

GUEST:
No.

APPRAISER:
And if we start from the bottom and just look at this overall stance, we can see they almost look like a rocket ship, you know, with this little platform and the base. It's very explosive, very colorful, that mixture of metal and tile like we see here on the top, this beautiful, hand-painted tile that corresponds with the column when we move down it here. And you can see what happens to these more often than not is that there's damage, and they're so challenging to repair that I think they're oftentimes discarded.

GUEST:
Ah.

APPRAISER:
So, made in America, inspired after the Centennial Exhibition of 1876,so they're really 1875 to 1885.

GUEST:
Okay, all right, good.

APPRAISER:
Done in New England, and we know who made these, and Bradley & Hubbard was a really interesting company. At their peak, they employed a thousand people, had showrooms in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, so these aren't one of a kind; they made more than one.

GUEST:
Did they have artists do these individually?

APPRAISER:
I don't think so; they were commercially done. So they were still hand-painted and finished that way, but I don't think that...they're rarely signed. We're going to turn them on here so the audience can see. They do come up... I shouldn't say frequently, but you can find them, and prices range from roughly $2,000 to $4,000, so at auction, we'd estimate each at $2,000 to $4,000.

GUEST:
Wonderful. Okay, my husband will like to sell them. (both laughing)

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Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Brian Witherell
Furniture
Witherell's
Sacramento, CA
Appraised value (2016)
$4,000 Auction – $8,000 Auction
Featured In
Fort Worth, Hour 1 (#2101)
Event
Fort Worth, TX (July 23, 2016)
Category
Furniture
Period
19th Century
Form
Table
Material
Brass

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.

More on This Appraisal

Appraisal
Aesthetic Movement Plant Stand, ca. 1880
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