Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: Well, this belonged to my mother's oldest brother, John.

He was born in the late 1800s.

He was in World War I, but we don't know exactly where he got it.

We think he learned about beautiful art when he was in Europe, and then he wanted to build a beautiful house when he came back.

And he was going to have a niche, and this owl would be the feature.

But then he had some financial setbacks and he never built the house.

And he eventually gave this to his youngest sister, my mother.

It's been in the family ever since.

My parents gave the owl that belonged to my Uncle John to my brother John.

He's blind, and so he could feel it.

And, uh, it was part of his home for a while, and then he gave it to our other brother, who's interested in ceramics.

But none of us know anything about this owl and that's why we're here.

APPRAISER: We have seen, over the years, products by this company, which is sort of, as a generic term, is referred to as Amphora.

And very often, the Amphora pieces that come here are Art Nouveau, they're figural, as well, but they're not figural with animals.

They're usually figural with ladies.

So to see a sculptural item like this, of a completely different culture, that was made in, obviously, in three dimensions, but, but that was used in a way to help your brother as a tool to be able to have through his life, I think that is, it's such a, it's such a, a beautiful part of this story, and it's not something that gets considered when we look at decorative arts.

Amphora, uh, went into business with family members Riessner, Stellmacher, and Kessel in the Teplitz area of Bohemia in 1892.

This company was in an, is in an area that was very rich in ceramics because they had the, the, the medium that was available, and also the rivers.

It was close to Prague and to Vienna, so it was right in the middle of everything.

The company changed many times.

The company split up and went on.

And by the time this owl was made, it was after 1918, possibly into the early 1920s.

I don't think any later than that.

And I will show you the mark.

So we have a stamp here, which is how we often see the, the later pieces of Amphora.

And it describes Czechoslovakia, which is where it was made.

And the number is probably related to the actual shape, the mold number, but it could also have been for the person who painted it.

So I don't know.

This lovely bird, most likely a great horned owl...

GUEST: Mm!

APPRAISER: ...is glazed porcelain.

Owls were collected and, and depicted for many different reasons.

They meant to evoke knowledge, wisdom, sometimes death.

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: If you saw this in an antique store, a nice design store, these days, if it were there at somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000, I would not be surprised.

GUEST: Oh, wonderful.

Well, my Uncle John was very smart, and I know owls are supposed to be wise, and so is my brother, so I'm just delighted, thank you.