Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

It belonged to a gentleman named Jack Sawyer from New Orleans that collected antique glass. And he does have an exhibit in the New Orleans Museum. But we had gone to see him in Waveland years before Katrina. And I admired this.

APPRAISER

Waveland, Mississippi.

GUEST

Yes, Waveland, Mississippi. And I had admired the vase and told Jack, that's one of the prettiest things I've ever seen. Well, Katrina hit. A lot of his pieces were lost. But this and a bunch of others were saved. And he washed them and cleaned them up. When Jack found out that he was terminally ill he sent this to me.

APPRAISER

Very nice.

GUEST

So that's really all I know about it.

APPRAISER

So when you walked up to the table with it I thought immediately I knew what the pottery was. I know you thought initially it was glass.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

It does look like that. It looks like iridescent glass from the turn of the century. But it is a piece of pottery. And my suspicions were correct. It's a piece of Zolsnay pottery from Budapest.

GUEST

Oh!

APPRAISER

And this is there eosin glaze-and it changes as you turn it to the light. But it's a golden green luster. But what's really special about this-because the vase itself is okay as far as Zolsnay goes. But the metal work is rather exceptional. And so we have t wo, full peacocks on the piece, encircling it. Their tails end in the base that covers, covers the entire bottom. And then there are glass tiles inset to look like the eyes of the peacock feathers.

GUEST

Is this a metal base?

APPRAISER

It is. I thought so. The research I did said it is gilded pewter. It's also marked. It's marked Orion and 272, which is the shape number. And there is another one out there with the same number on the bottom. So I did a little bit of research and it turns out this is a collaboration between a Hungarian Art Nouveau company and a German Art Nouveau company. Orion was located in Nuremberg, Germany. They were only in business for three years, 1903 to 1906. They were bought out by a competing company in 1906. George Schmidt was the artist who worked this piece. So you have an Art Nouveau design in the German style, which is called Jugendstil. It means the children's style. And that's a German interpretation of Art Nouveau. Each country the practiced Art Nouveau had a different interpretation of it. We tend to think of the French interpretation, which is much more florid with natural life. Whereas the Germans could be a little more, they geometricize. It's a little more angular in the German style. So this is a very special thing, on today's market at auction, I would value it between $7,000 and $10,000 dollars. One, almost identical to this sold at auction within the last two years for $12,000 dollars. So my $7,000 to $10,000 is a bit on the conservative side but I'd rather be that way. But easily worth $7 to $10,000 dollars.

GUEST

Well, I loved Jack. But I didn't know he loved me that much.

Laughter

Laughter

MARLENE

Oh, my gosh. Well, I can't even think now. Oh, gosh. Well, David you have taken my breath away. You absolutely have.