Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

Well, this is a very special collection that was given to me by my uncle, who purchased this, um, in New York in 1971. I guess he purchased it when I was about 11 years old, and for every birthday, he gave me a couple pieces. Um, and at the time, you know, not, I guess, real excited about it until I got older and started appreciating it more. But he basically gave me 44 pieces, um, I guess in the collection.

APPRAISER

Mm-hmm, you know it's English. It's Staffordshire. It's early 19th century, so we can date it, uh, to about sort of 1820 to 1830. Now, that... that is significant in the fact that it is a child's set and one would think that children's sets don't usually survive that long. It is rare to find a child's set of this early date. Uh, we find dinner services because grown-ups take care of things, but children play with this. So, um, I think that's what makes it special. I think the other thing that makes it special is the decoration of the pieces. Two boys playing with a kite and a hoop-- uh, very charming. A children's scene on a children's set-- always love that. And I think also significant is in the center, you have a gravestone. And I think that is to signify how many children really died early in the 19th century. The other thing is it's a very sophisticated set. This shape of the tureen is... is based on a Chinese export. Now, you have 44 pieces, uh, which is quite a large set, and you have serving pieces, which are important in... in a child's set, as well as in a grown-up set, uh, in an adult dinner service, which would look very much the same. Um, I would think, very easily, at... at auction for a set like this, you're looking at $3,000 to $5,000. And if you're thinking of an insurance value for it, you would have to probably double that value.

GUEST

Wow. Thank you. I appreciate it.

APPRAISER

Thank you. Thank you.