Mougin Frères Pottery Vase, ca. 1930
GUEST: I'm from New York City. I came down on the bus.
APPRAISER: Just to come to ANTIQUES ROADSHOW?
GUEST: Just to come to ANTIQUES ROADSHOW. It wasn't easy, but I got here.
APPRAISER: I love what you brought us, and how'd you come about it?
GUEST: I got it as a gift. One of my neighbors that I befriended, I assisted him going to the store, cooking dinner. That's how I got it.
APPRAISER: When we see something this quality, this kind of combination of colors, this scale, this type of glaze, it looks like the work of two brothers who were potters in a place called Nancy in France called Mougins. And we'll turn it over. And sure enough, there it says, "Mougins, Nancy." Nancy is the town that the Mougins brothers worked in.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And they were active from about 1900. At the time they started, they were making what we call Art Nouveau pottery.
GUEST: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Very colorful organic designs.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: But by the time the '20s roll around and into the '30s, their style evolves with modern taste...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...into what we call Art Deco design.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Now, this piece is very Art Deco. I would date it to the later 1920s...
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: ...and into perhaps. around 1930, '31, '32.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: These bold green leaves are not leaves you'd find in Nancy, which is in the Lorraine region of France. But this was a time in French history when the French really discovered their, kind of, colonial world.
GUEST: Mm-hmm
APPRAISER: There was a big exhibition in Paris in 1931...
GUEST: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...called the Exposition Coloniale. They brought exotic creatures, animals from Africa, and they brought designs of palm trees and exotic flora into the French taste.
GUEST: Oh, okay.
APPRAISER: So we see a lot of that kind of thing…
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: ...around the late '20s, into the early '30s. It's made of pottery, not thrown on a wheel. It would have been cast, slip cast. And then it's glazed in a rich coloration. There's a kind of mottled brown here, matte-ish brown here, slightly metallic, and this slightly metallic green. It's very, very effective.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: These bright blue fruits, just a great example of the Mougins brothers' potting skills.
GUEST: Mougins brothers.
APPRAISER: You've got something special.
GUEST: Oh, I thought so. (chuckles)
APPRAISER: Yeah. If we put it in an auction, it's going to bring somewhere between, one of my colleagues said between $1,000 and $2,000.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: I'm going to say a good estimate, at auction...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...would be between $1,200 and $1,600. So I think that's--
GUEST: (chuckling): Oh wow. That's good. That's-- That's good for a gift, eh?
APPRAISER: That's a nice gift you got right there.
GUEST: That's right.
APPRAISER: Now it's worth that, largely because it's perfect.
$1,200 - $1,600 Auction
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Understanding Our Appraisals
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.
