GUEST
When my husband and I were going through his parents' home, when we were disposing of the contents, my husband said, "Pick the things that you would like to have," and this was one of the items, and I know nothing about it, and I have tried researching and I can't find anything about it.
APPRAISER
And you just liked it?
GUEST
Love it, and anyone that sees it wants to know about it.
APPRAISER
Yeah. It's really a wonderful piece.
GUEST
Thank you.
APPRAISER
And it's signed very clearly right here at the top, Camille Faur, and it says, "Limoges."
GUEST
Correct, that I was able to figure out. I couldn't get the artisan's name, though.
APPRAISER
Right; he's very well-known as an enamelist. This vase is enamel on copper.
GUEST
Okay.
APPRAISER
And he worked in the 1920s, and as a matter of fact, he exhibited at the famous International Art Deco Exposition in Paris in 1925, and this is a wonderful example of his work, and it was made in Limoges. And Limoges a lot of people know for porcelain.
GUEST
Correct.
APPRAISER
But actually, Limoges started making enamel on copper in the 12th century. And they made it from the 12th century-- there were some disruptions because of wars in the 14th and 15th century, but then in the late 15th and early 16th century, they continued to make enameled on copper works, and they make them to this day. And when you look at the lip here and then the base here, it's pretty scuzzy-looking.
GUEST
Yes.
APPRAISER
And it doesn't seem to really go with this.
GUEST
No.
APPRAISER
And the reason is, this is terribly corroded. This foot and this lip are actually made out of silver.
GUEST
You're kidding.
APPRAISER
They made this out of silver to finish it off, and what's happened over the years is, the silver has tarnished and corroded. So this actually can be...
GUEST
Should it be polished?
APPRAISER
This can be cleaned off, and I think it would give a very nice look to it, because it would contrast the wonderful surface. What's particularly nice about Faur is not just that it's enameled, but he's able to build up this texture, and the texture is all around, so what you have are these wonderful wisteria flowers coming down, and they're beautiful, they're colorful, but they're also in this wonderful high relief. His work is very desirable. He did these very naturalistically like this, but he also did very Art Deco-looking ones that have geometric designs. This is a very large size. This technique is very difficult to pull off.
GUEST
Okay.
APPRAISER
To fire this enamel, which is like a glass paste, on the copper. If you over-fired it, the whole thing could melt and it would just slip down. A piece like this at auction would bring between $5,000 and $7,000.
GUEST
Oh, my gosh, you're kidding.
APPRAISER
No.
GUEST
(laughing): Oh, geez. I wasn't expecting that one. Oh, my goodness.
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