RECUT: Newport, Part 4

♪ ♪ CORAL PEÑA: Not even a hurricane could stop "Roadshow" when we visited Newport, Rhode Island.

That's quite a nice gift.

Yes.

That's, uh... that's exciting.

(laughs) PEÑA: Stay tuned for more surprises now in part four of "Antiques Roadshow Recut: Rosecliff."

♪ ♪ PEÑA: Back in 2017, "Roadshow's" cameras found treasures inside and out at the historic Newport mansion Rosecliff.

Rosecliff, completed in 1902, still has guests marveling over its grandeur and elegance 100 years later.

What treasures did "Roadshow" experts marvel at on our visit to Rosecliff?

Take a look.

WOMAN: This dragon was at my mother-in-law's house from the time I can remember.

APPRAISER: Where is the house?

The house is in Newport, Rhode Island.

My in-laws bought the house in the 1950s, and the house was built in 1881.

This dragon, with his-- he has another dragon that goes with him-- were original to the house.

Okay, so, age-wise, it's exactly where I would put these, around 1880, 1881.

The monumental size was something that the Victorians were doing with all of the revival styles.

It's not an andiron, it's not a chenet, it really is an ornament for the front of the fireplace.

And like you said, it would have a pair, a matching pair.

Right.

And this chain would swag across to protect from the fire.

It's bronze.

Along the top here, you can see traces of silver plating.

So I think it was silver-plated at one time, and heat and age have kind of worn it away.

Okay.

It's a classic mixture of different elements that you see in Victorian style all the time.

You have a hippocampus tail, you have harpy claws and wings, you have this crazy serpent-like dragon neck.

The face to me is the most interesting, because it's not a dragon face at all.

Not at all.

It looks like a Scotty or some other terrier.

And my best guess is, this was a whimsy put together by the original owners, and this dog head may have been a pet of theirs that they were sort of commemorating or honoring.

Yeah.

That's quite wonderful.

So, we don't know who the maker is, it's likely a custom piece.

It's unusual and it would be an unusual taste.

Assuming that the mate is in similar condition to this one, I think a fair auction estimate would be $5,000 to $7,000.

Very nice.

It's a very nice example.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

I think we'll keep 'em.

(both laughing) ♪ ♪ WOMAN: I brought a very old copper pitcher that I'm hoping to find out if it really is very old, and who made it, and why they made it so big, because if you fill it up with water, then it's extremely heavy.

I got it in Tucson 20 years ago, but I'm not sure where it's from, and I haven't been able to find anything about it online.

APPRAISER: They don't have any signatures on them, so they're just pretty snowflake brooches.

MAN: Right, right.

Value's going to be about $25 apiece.

Uh-huh.

♪ ♪ APPRAISER: Where did you get this?

At one of the secondhand stores, yes, and probably paid three, maybe four dollars for it.

You did just fine with it.

I would put flowers in this and be very happy.

You have a piece of handmade pottery, and you know it's handmade.

Primarily you can see the throwing rings.

So when this was raised from a ball of clay...

Yes.

...it was raised up and these finger marks were imparted.

And sometimes they smooth them off and sometimes they don't, but this is-- I call this hippie pottery.

Oh, okay.

(laughs) Before World War II, Americans didn't make a whole lot of decorative pottery.

They made utilitarian ware.

Oh, really!

Oh!

But after World War II, people started throwing clay.

Oh!

Okay?

So part of getting back to the Earth movement, and macramé, and weaving, and throwing pots.

And so this is a rather coarse grain of clay.

Yes.

But an amateur potter sat at a wheel, threw it, raised it, decorated it with glazes, and fired it, and made a really beautiful decorative piece.

There's a lot of it out there.

Ah, okay.

Hippie pottery, as I call it, proliferates.

Yes.

And so this is primarily decorative value, maybe ten dollars or $20.

But a really pretty and functional piece, and something I would be happy to use in the house.

Well, that's more than we paid for it, so... ♪ ♪ She belonged to my maternal grandparents, and they purchased her in about 1960.

And I think that she was originally part of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller collection, and they sold her at a sale at B. Altman department store in New York.

And my grandparents, who lived up around the St. Lawrence River, I don't know how they heard about this particular sale, but they went to New York and brought her back.

And the year they bought it would have been... Around 1960, maybe 1962.

When I first looked at her, I thought that she might be by one of the big carvers in New York City, like Samuel Robb or Thomas Brooks.

Mm-hmm.

But after talking to a couple of colleagues, we all decided that she was made in a different shop, probably in the 1880s or the 1890s.

Mm-hmm.

The heyday for trade figures like this would have been in the 1890s.

It would take a lot of more research to figure out who exactly carved her, but that's kind of secondary at this point because it's such a great figure.

Mm-hmm.

She's very attractive, she has a great face.

She's had kind of a rough life.

She fell over somewhere along the way.

Oh, dear.

I noticed that she had L-brackets on her legs.

Uh-huh.

and she also has a stick over there on your side.

Yes.

One of the things most people don't know about with these is that they started out as a single log.

And if you look right here in the top of her head, you can't see it, but you can put your hand up there and you can feel... You feel that plug?

Oh, yes, uh-huh.

When she was first made, she was a big log, and that was where she was attached to the lathe where they rough-turned her down to get her to a certain size.

But here's where the story gets really interesting.

You see that number over there on the bottom?

Yes, number eight.

Well, in 1956, Sotheby's did an historic sale of cigar store Indian figures.

Okay.

And other American folk art.

It was the Haffenreffer Collection.

Oh, okay.

And this was one of them.

So what must have happened was, Colonial Williamsburg-er Abby Aldrich might have bought this or more of them, and then decided which one they wanted to keep later.

Uh-huh.

And that makes the story from your grandparents completely believable.

Uh-huh.

As far as her paint goes, she's probably second-generation, you know.

Okay, I was wondering about that, whether she'd been repainted.

Anybody ever talk about what she's worth?

No.

I remember my mother saying something about maybe my grandparents paying about $3,000 for her, but I think that that would have been more than they would have been willing to part with.

I read a "New York Times" article from 1974 about the Sotheby's sale in 1956.

Uh-huh.

And the highest price for one of those in 1956 was $2,050.

Uh-huh.

So if Colonial Williamsburg had played at the upper level in 1956, in order for anybody to make money, it probably would have had to have been $4,000.

Uh-huh.

We feel like a good retail figure for this would be $25,000 to $35,000.

Uh-huh.

They were not trying to be historically accurate about the figures.

They were trying to create a figure that would advertise tobacco and the tobacco products.

Yeah.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: The only furnishings original to the mansion seen today are the planters in the ballroom.

These pieces were re-acquired for Rosecliff by its final private owner, J. Edgar Monroe.

I am an avid collector of paintings in general.

My great-great-grandfather painted landscapes, and I have several of them, and I'm very happy to have them.

And so when I look at a painting, I just see the detail in it.

And the subject matter of these particular two paintings were just exquisite.

The fact that, you know, one's on one side of the door and one's on the other, listening.

I got them in New York, in Chelsea, at a garage flea market that is no longer there any longer, but... A long time ago or... About three years ago.

What did you pay for them?

$100 for the pair.

Well, they're wonderful examples of Second Empire fancywork, as I like to refer to it.

Okay.

The artist is Glisenti.

Signed here, and this piece is signed here.

It's a diptych, which are two paintings that are talking to each other.

And often we don't see that.

Often, they'll be separated at birth for whatever reasons.

But here, we have this gentleman who's knocking on the door, and on the other painting, the lady who is very coyly listening to it.

What do you think about this narrative?

I love it.

(laughs) I mean, it's just intrigue, rendezvous going on, right?

Absolutely, and that's why the artist painted it.

At this point in the late 19th, early 20th century, they were very interested in this very sort of coquettish, roguish, high-society look.

And these two paintings are a terrific example of them.

The paintings were painted in the late 19th, early 20th century, probably in Italy, and painted for the European high-style market.

The other aspect of the pictures that was very important is the detail of the work that you see.

And there is incredible detail, especially in the male figure.

The female, I believe, has a little condition issue, and I don't know if that's something that can be cleaned off or restored in some way.

They may have been overcleaned at some point in their life.

They are oil on canvas, so they are quite stable.

I don't see any need for lining or anything like that.

They're wonderful pieces, and as I said, they really do fit right into Rosecliff.

The moldings around the doors are exactly what we see in this wonderful building.

You couldn't have brought better paintings.

For auction, I would estimate them at between $2,000 and $3,000.

Wonderful.

(chuckles) And for insurance, I would suggest an insurance value of $5,000.

How wonderful, that's great.

Do you think she's going to let him in?

I hope so.

I don't know...

I don't know... (laughing) ♪ ♪ WOMAN: She was thinking it was an original number one.

No, number one has holes in the bottoms of the feet.

Uh-huh.

Okay.

And it has eyebrows that are just, just like a volcano.

They're just arched at 45 degrees.

Okay.

In this condition, $600, $700.

Okay.

And these were businesslike things.

I mean, these were headhunters who would go up into the jungles, and these would afford protection.

This was probably made...

This is a tourist replica, yeah.

This was made within the last 40 years, I think, all right?

Okay, sounds good.

And worth about $100 for the pair.

For the pair.

All right?

All right.

It's a vase that has been in my family at least since my grandfather.

When he passed, it went to my mother.

She had it always in a place of prominence in her house.

She loved it.

So I always remember it growing up as a kid.

It just has a lot of sentimental value to me, and I think it's beautiful.

I know there's a mark at the bottom, but I don't know anything about it.

I think we had it appraised probably in the early '70s.

Okay.

Probably about $1,000, but I don't know.

Okay, okay.

That's probably...

But I don't have anything written about it, so...

Okay, well, we're really thrilled that you brought it to "Roadshow" today.

This is a flower basket made by the Whiting silver company.

Whiting, okay.

And Whiting silver was originally started in Massachusetts around 1840, and then it transplanted to New York City, and continued to make silver all the way through till 1924, when it was absorbed by the Gorham silver company.

Right.

They made many, many wonderful things, including flatware and hollowware, but this represents one of the finest examples of what they made.

And the decoration is really beautiful.

We've got these wonderful entwined leaves all the way down.

And then as we get down there, you've got one blossom here, but I want to spin forward here.

You have these fabulous chrysanthemums.

The decoration is really wonderful.

And then as we continue around, it actually moves down the handle all the way down to the leaves here.

Yeah.

Then you have this pierced latticework base, as well, at the bottom.

It's a really beautiful example of Whiting's work.

We know it's made by Whiting because it has their mark on there, and it's got a couple of other stamps we can talk about, as well.

Starting at the top, it says, "Spaulding & Co." And, actually, Spaulding was a very high-end retailer in Chicago.

So it was actually made by Whiting and retailed by Spaulding in Chicago.

Interesting.

Then below that, we have the Whiting mark, which is this wonderful little figural stamp.

Then it says "sterling," and four numbers, which would have been the model number.

Okay.

And then right below that, there's this very interesting little triad sign.

It's a little trefoil sign, which is actually the date mark for 1910.

Oh.

So we know all about it.

Yeah.

It's a really, really lovely example of their work.

Now we get to value.

Okay.

It's a really wonderful example.

The silver market in some ways is tied to its weight.

This exceeds that head and shoulders.

Okay.

And, interestingly, in doing some research, we were able to find some similar examples.

So we can really nail down a value on it.

Oh, good.

If I were to see this to come up today for auction, in 2017, I would recommend an auction estimate of around about $5,000 to $7,000.

Okay.

(chuckles) A little more than I thought it was going to be.

That's... that's exciting, actually.

Wow.

If you chose to insure it, I would recommend an insurance value of somewhere between about $10,000 and $12,000, to replace it.

Okay.

It's not going anywhere, it's staying at my house, right where... Actually, on the same piece of furniture my mother kept it on is where it stays.

♪ ♪ PEÑA: Harry Houdini was Tessie Oelrichs' guest at Rosecliff after he completed one of his signature tricks-- escaping from shackles in a locked box that had been thrown into the sea from a neighboring estate.

WOMAN: This is a toy car that belonged to my father.

And from what I understand, he got it from his mother, who may have got it at a yard sale.

I find it really interesting, because it is an example of a Curved Dash Oldsmobile.

Yes.

Now, the Curved Dash Oldsmobile was the first major production vehicle in America.

And it influenced toy companies, so this was made by Acme Toy Works.

So you see the big "A" on there, and it's a very accurate portrayal of a Curved Dash Oldsmobile.

So Curved Dash Oldsmobile started about 1901.

This was a toy from about 1903.

It was one of the very first pressed-steel, heavy-gauge automotive toys made in this country, which became much more popular, say, in the '20s.

But back in 1903, this was pretty radical.

And it has a very big mechanism, and rubber tires.

We do have a little tire problem.

We need to have a change there.

But it's in beautiful condition, it's baked-on enamel, it's a beautiful car, and the stenciling is real fine.

I love the red scroll-- it just has a great look.

On the market, retail, it's about $800.

$800, nice.

♪ ♪ My great-grandmother lived in Hawaii at the turn of the last century, and when she came back, she brought the coral necklace, and my mother had it restrung with the other beads.

Well, you've probably heard on the "Roadshow" a lot of times, things aren't meant to be cleaned.

This could be cleaned.

Okay, I wasn't sure.

The enamelwork is nice quality, it's just dirty.

And it dates to about 1900 to 1920.

Okay, I got it in about 2000.

And what'd you pay for it?

$20, I think.

$20, well, that's a good deal.

'Cause I think at auction today, this would make about $150 to $250.

Really?

It's terrific, really nice.

Not terrific enough to get on TV, but still terrific.

MAN: I lived in New York from 1979 to 1985.

I worked construction, I'd gone to art school.

One of my friends that I worked with, Chris Sedlmayr, Jean-Michel Basquiat used to work for him as a helper.

Chris and I, and another gentleman, were business partners.

And one Christmas, he gave me this as a Christmas present.

It's quite a nice gift.

Yes.

It's an early piece from, I think, 1979.

You brought with you a letter.

What does the letter tell us?

The letter is from my business partner, who gifted me the drawing for Christmas.

Gives the history of when it was drawn in his loft, when he gave it to me, and then he also had to sell some of the drawings, which Jean-Michel later returned to his loft and signed them because he heard he was looking to sell them.

Well, as I said at the onset, what an amazing thing to have.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, born 1960, tragically died in 1988.

Here we are in September of 2017, and as for now, at a little over $110 million, the most expensive work by an American artist ever sold at auction is by Basquiat.

This is an oil stick on paper.

We know that he is an artist who was largely self-taught, had artistic predilections as a young man, ran away from home, had parents who were of Puerto Rican and Haitian descent.

He was somebody who by the early 1980s had a career that really took off.

He was in the circles of artists such as Julian Schnabel, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol.

His brief association with Madonna made him quite famous, as well.

Basquiat's work is fraught with signs and symbols.

And, depending upon the works, undertones that speak of class, race, social upheaval.

Often figural, but not always, often accompanied by words that can take on many different meanings.

The crown that we see there in the upper right appears in many of his works.

We believe that this is a genuine work by Basquiat.

That the committee that makes the official pronouncements-- or did-- has disbanded makes it somewhat problematic relative to being 100% certain that it's an authentic oil stick drawing on paper.

We think today, in 2017, on the supposition that the work is genuine, I would insure the work for $400,000.

Ooh.

That's good.

But it's not... we won't sell it, we'll keep it.

PEÑA: This is part four I found this at Brimfield about a year ago.

So tell me right off the bat, how much did you pay for it?

$75.

Okay.

The man I purchased it from said that that's what he paid for it at auction, and he just wanted rid of it.

Well, let's talk about what it is.

A lot of people would call it a jug or a pitcher, but I would call it a wine ewer.

And at the time it was made, the Italian Renaissance was very much part of the modern taste.

Mm-hmm.

Even for a house like this one we're in right now, the big houses of Newport, they loved the Italian Renaissance style.

And so they bought pieces of the actual Italian Renaissance that you can see in some of the great Newport mansions.

And they also bought things that kind of looked in that style.

Mm-hmm.

But this would have been very popular.

I'm talking about the late 19th century.

The 1870s was kind of a high point of what we call Renaissance Revivalism.

And a number of potters made things that spoke to that style, including the English potter Copeland.

Now, when we talk about English majolica-- and this is a great example of that, majolica referring to the colors, the glazes on it-- there are a number of makers that come to mind, the best-known being Minton and also Wedgwood, made...

These two big firms made great majolica.

But Copeland were a slightly smaller firm, but very respectable.

And they made, in my opinion, some of the best majolica that was made in England.

The quality of the modeling is superb.

And I looked it over, and I think it's in perfect condition.

Which is unusual for something of this age and fragility, so I think you did great.

It's not a hugely valuable thing, but I'm going to say, in a good auction, this is going to bring four or five times what you paid, but let's put it in an antiques shop, in a retail setting like you bought it.

I think it's $700 in a good antique shop.

Thank you.

Very nice thing.

PEÑA: Thanks for watching.

Tune in again for another great episode of "Antiques Roadshow Recut."