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Frederick Rhead Avon Jardiniere

Value (2012) | $3,000 – $4,000
Watch  

APPRAISER:
I wanted to talk about your piece today because like anything we look at, it's culturally and historically significant. A very famous potter by the name of Frederick Rhead was imported from England, where he worked at the Wardle pottery company, and he brought with him a decorative technique called squeeze-bag decoration. The squeeze-bag technique is executed as though a baker were decorating a cake. A bag, a slip-trail bag would be filled with this slip and then the artist would squeeze it onto the surface of the pot and what it leaves is a fairly textured surface. It's not as flat as if it was just painted. The decoration going around the top of this pot is an example of Frederick Rhead's squeeze-bag decoration. Furthermore, the body of the pot is covered with a stylized landscape of incised and painted trees. Very typical of the type of work Rhead did later on at the Weller company and the Roseville company, where he did Della Robbia and the Homer Laughlin China Company, and he did, he...Frederick Rhead created Fiesta ware. This is a very important...

GUEST:
Oh, he did? I didn't know that.

APPRAISER:
…famous potter. One of the most significant figures in 20th-century American decorative ceramics. So this pot represents work done by the first company he went to when he came here from England, and we'll show our viewers the marks here on the bottom. This hand-incised mark underneath the pot is Avon pottery company from Wheeling, West Virginia, which started in 1902. But also incised in the bottom, right over here, is Frederick Rhead's...it's "F.H." It's Frederick Hurten Rhead. Why the R's not there, I'm not sure, but there was no one else who worked at the company who had those initials. It's hand-incised by the artist. You've got a very cool jardiniere by the Vance Avon pottery company designed and executed by Frederick Rhead.

GUEST:
Oh, wonderful.

APPRAISER:
About a one-in-a-thousand shot. This is a pretty special piece. Should be worth more than it is, but as it is, it's still worth about $2,500 to $3,000. It's quite a valuable piece.

GUEST:
Thank you very much.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
David Rago
Pottery & Porcelain
Rago-Wright-LAMA Auctions
Lambertville, NJ
Update (2012)
$3,000 – $4,000
Appraised value (1998)
$2,500 – $3,000
Featured In
Milwaukee, Hour 1 (#0305)
Vintage Milwaukee (#1723)
Event
Milwaukee, WI (June 20, 1998)
Category
Pottery & Porcelain
Period
20th Century
Form
Pot

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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