Q. Enclosed are pictures of a stand that someone has referred toas the "Sea Witch." I would like to know who crafted this piece andwhen. I would also like to know if it is one of a kind or just one ofmany, and what its value is. It's about 31/2 feet tall, and the tophas a diameter of 12 inches. There are several cigarette burns on thetop. I believe that this piece may be homemade.
A. When we received these pictures, we were very excited becausewe had never seen anything quite like this before. We decided to askaround to see if we could find anyone who was familiar with this sortof item.
What we found was that everyone had an opinion, but no one agreed -- at least no one agreed on the price.
There was a fairly general consensus that this piece is European -- probably Germanic, which would include an origin in places such asGermany, Austria and Switzerland.
The primary wood appears to be walnut, but there are ebonizedfeatures at the base of the statue, her coat and the urn that sheholds above her head. As for when this piece was made, we feel thatthere are several clues. The walnut suggests a 19th-century origin,and the leaf-design work on the top looks very much like the wood-burning decorations (pyrography) that were so popular during the lastquarter of the 19th century, and into the early 20th century.
The paw feet are also something of a clue to age as these becamevery popular right at the end of the 19th century and into the firstdecade or so of the 20th century. In fact, this type of paw foot isvery strongly associated with Edwardian furniture of the early 20thcentury. Taken all together, we feel that this piece is no earlierthan about 1885, and probably no later than about 1915.
Interestingly, the clothes the "Sea Witch" is wearing may beanother important clue to the date because this type of long narrowskirt was not really popular until around 1910, and this may meanthat this piece dates to nearer 1915. There is, however, what may bea contradiction in that the figure appears to be wearing somethingthat looks like a bustle, and this is more consistent with a costumefrom the late 19th century.
At any of these dates, the piece was probably meant to be a fernstand rather than a candle stand, but the cigar or cigarette burnsindicate that someone used it as a smoking stand at one time oranother. We feel that there is a strong possibility that this pieceis a one-of-a-kind made by an extraordinarily talented carver, andyou should not look at it as being "homemade."
In fact, this is an incredible example of a carver's imaginationand ability, and it is amazing that the beautifully carved wings havenot been broken off in the past 100 years or so. As for the value,one specialist said, "It is grotesque -- who would pay more than$1,800 to $2,000 for it?"
We agree that it is charmingly grotesque, but we also know that"grotesque" has a strong following in the marketplace, and anythingthis out of the ordinary should command an insurance replacementvalue in the $3,000 to $5,000 range. But that is strictly ouropinion.
Send questions to: Treasures In Your Attic, P.O. Box 12208,Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.
Scripps Howard News Service
No comments:
Post a Comment