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Appraisal Update | Cut Glass Centerpiece Base, ca. 1885

Appraisal Update | Cut Glass Centerpiece Base, ca. 1885

Extraordinary Finds | Hear More from Lowry About the Auction!

Extraordinary Finds | Hear More from Lowry About the Auction!

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Tade Styka Dolly Grey Portrait, ca. 1925

Value (2019) | $12,000 Auction – $30,000 Insurance
Watch  

GUEST:
This is a portrait that was of my, my grandmother. Her name was Clara Galassi. She was in movies in Europe. And her stage name was Dolly Grey. This was painted in Paris, I think, in the 1920s. The artist is Tade Styka.

APPRAISER:
How did she know the artist?

GUEST:
He just painted a lot of famous actors and actresses of the day, and writers... uh... politicians. I don't know exactly how they met. I think they met in Paris.

APPRAISER:
Do you know any of the films that she starred in?

GUEST:
I have a list of the seven or eight, but the few that come to mind are "Maratona," "Le Dolomiti" was a second one, and then "Metropolis" was a third one, I remember.

APPRAISER:
And that's probably around the age where she appears to be in this painting.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
In her 20s.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
Most likely.

GUEST:
She had just gotten married to my grandfather, and he was an engineer working for the Marconi House in Paris. And so that's why they had been there for a time in Paris. And my mother was born in Paris.

APPRAISER:
And what year was your mother born?

GUEST:
I think 1925? About the time that she was still making movies.

APPRAISER:
That's a wonderful story and...

GUEST:
It is.

APPRAISER:
It's fantastic that your grandmother was a silent film star.

GUEST:
Yes. I knew her briefly when I was a child, growing up. I'm not sure the year she died. It was after 1954. Probably 1958.

APPRAISER:
It is signed lower left, "Tade Styka." He was a Polish artist, born in Poland.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
In 1889. And he was born into a family of artists. His father was Jan Styka. His brother was Adam Styka. The father, Jan Styka, was very well-known for his portraiture, as well. He was also someone who lived and worked in France. So his son also started studying in, in France. He was working in Europe a lot, and then he, eventually, he emigrated to the United States. He did probably paint this in Paris, I, I believe. It's not... it doesn't say Paris anywhere.

GUEST:
Uh-huh.

APPRAISER:
But she was starring in a lot of movies that were...

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
....you know, German-made, and, you know...

GUEST:
German, and in Paris, yeah.

APPRAISER:
Yeah. I just fell in love with this painting as soon as I saw it. The expressiveness in her face. The way he depicts her hair falling around. It brings out her, her beauty here. Polish art is growing in value.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
And especially, this is kind of a Polish art dynasty, if you will.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
With the father and the two sons.

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
So the most recent high auction records for paintings by Tade Styka have been in Poland.

GUEST:
Oh, I see.

APPRAISER:
And his real name is Tadeusz Styka. The painting itself is oil on board. I would feel very comfortable putting an auction estimate of $12,000 to $18,000 on the painting.

GUEST:
Oh, okay, wonderful.

APPRAISER:
If you were going to insure this painting...

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
I would say to insure it for around $30,000.

GUEST:
I see, okay.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Gene Shapiro
Paintings & Drawings
Shapiro Auctions
Appraised value (2019)
$12,000 Auction – $30,000 Insurance
Featured In
Bonanzaville, Hour 2 (#2405)
Event
Fargo, ND (June 01, 2019)
Category
Paintings & Drawings
Period
1920s
Form
Portrait
Material
Oil , Paint

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.

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