"Old Iron for Japan" a WPA lithograph from 1936 and a 1938 protest

After this column was published in the newspaper, a neighbor of mine dropped over.  He remembered  scrap metal recycling for Japan in Berkeley in the 1930s. He was also stationed in Japan during the US occupation in 1945-1946.

This lithograph was done in 1936.  Artist Glenn Wessels was employed by the Federal Arts Program of the WPA

This lithograph was done in 1936.  Artist Glenn Wessels was employed by the Federal Arts Program of the WPA

Q.   Enclosed is a picture of a black and white scene of a cargo boat at a dock. The title “Old Iron for Japan 36” and a signature are written in pencil.  On the front is a plaque reading “Federal Arts Project” I cannot read the signature so anything you can find out about the print or the artist would be appreciated.

A.  Your lithograph print captures a sliver of time when between the Great Depression and the beginning of the Second World War when previously cordial economic allegiances between the US and Japan began to erode. In 1936, the artist himself, Glenn Anthony Wessels might have felt rumblings.

According to Edan Hughes’  “Artists in California 1786-1940”, Glenn Anthony Wessels was born in Cape Town South Africa in 1895 but he was really a product of Northern California.  He received his BFA from Oakland’s California College of Arts and Crafts and his MA from Cal; he later taught at both colleges.  In the 1930s he worked as an artist and technical supervisor for part of the Federal Arts Project.

The Federal Arts Project was part of Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Projects Administration (WPA). Designed to combat high unemployment of the depression times, the Federal Arts Project paid artists about $23.00 per week to produce a specified number of works and public murals. Wessels himself worked on murals at the Alameda County Courthouse, Oakland Civic Auditorium and Laguna Honda Hospital; as a Federally appointed supervisor for the Oakland area, it is possible but undocumented that he influenced other muralists.

At the same time the US was in its great Depression, Japan was growing as an economic powerhouse.  Their burgeoning economy was, however, held in check somewhat by the lack of raw materials in Japan. Japan was dependent on western resources – particularly metal and oil from the US. 

Attitudes towards Japan began to change in after Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931.  Feelings ran high in Europe and Australia where it was felt that the US was supporting Japan by supplying raw materials – especially scrap iron - used for armaments.  Atrocities by Japan against Chinese civilians in 1937, Japans alliance to German and Italy, and Hitler’s support of Japanese expansion into Asia triggered protests in the US.   By 1940, Roosevelt had put economic sanctions in place and stopped the export of scrap metal to Japan.

Protest march on San Francisco waterfront, 1938

Protest march on San Francisco waterfront, 1938

In 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. In 1943, due to the surging wartime economy in the US, the Federal Arts Project and the Works Projects Administration ended.

Glenn Anthony Wessel, like so many artists of his generation, stove to capture the realism of everyday life in the first half of the 20th century with an almost documentary efficiency.  In addition to his local murals, Wessels work can be found at the Seattle Art Museum and the Oakland Museum of California; the Achenbach Collection at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco has a print of this very lithograph.

The markets for 20th century realism and the markets for works by former WPA artists are strong.  Your lithograph, “Old Iron for Japan” would likely sell in the $200-400 range.

 

Japanese Ivory Figures - Who are they and are they legal?

I inherited a small collection of ivory figurines that were purchased in China in 1947-8.  My understanding is that these items cannot be sold, but do you know where in the San Francisco bay area we might be able to donate?

These Seven Lucky Gods were purchased 70 years ago.  Is it legal to have them?

These Seven Lucky Gods were purchased 70 years ago.  Is it legal to have them?

Laws regulating the sale of ivory have evolved over the past few decades.  In July 2016, President Obama signed a Federal law banning the sale of African ivory.  This ban served to both protect elephants and to eliminate the huge underground market for poachers. 

California laws are even stricter.  California Fish and Game Code section 2022 outlines the ban and exceptions.  The bill signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown took effect in July 2016. It details that rhino horns, teeth and tusks of elephants, hippos, mammoth, mastodon, walrus, warthog, whale and narwhal may no longer be purchased, sold, or possessed with the intent to sell. The expansive list of animals involved in the prohibition prevents traffickers from deceitfully advertising prohibited elephant ivory as coming from another species.

Owning your ivory figures if perfectly legal, as is giving them as a gift.

For clarification, I spoke with Lt. Chris Stoots of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.   Lt. Stoots confirmed that nothing in the law prohibits the possession or transport of ivory as long as there is no monetary exchange or commercial transaction. 

The law has exceptions:  ivory or rhino horn that is part of a “bona fide antique” with historical documentation and where the ivory comprises less than 5% of the volume of the piece is allowed.  (For example, your 100-year-old silver tea set with ivory insulators can be sold.)  Also allowed is the ivory or horn as part of a musical instrument (fiddle bow, piano keys) provided the ivory is less than 20% of the volume of the piece and the piece can be documented as having been made prior to 1975. 

For the text of the law go to California Fish and Game Code section 2022 (a).

So what do you do with your ivory?  You can surrender it to Fish and Game where they may use it for educational and training purposes. They also may use it in their forensic lab to establish a database of ivory types.   (Ivory, like gemstones, has distinctive patterns of lines.  By measuring the angles of these lines researchers can differentiate between elephant, mammoth or bone.)

You can give it as a gift. You can donate it for educational purposes (you cannot take a tax deduction for the donation – remember if ivory cannot be sold it has no monetary value). 

Your figures comprise a full set of Seven Lucky Gods.  These Japanese deities are derived from figures in different cultures and religions – Buddhism, Taoism and Shintoism –but as a group they bestow prosperity, luck, longevity, contentment and safety. 

From left to right they are Jurojin, Daikoku, Fukorokujo, Hotei, Benten, Ebisu and Bishamon.  In my next column I’ll explain who is who, their attributes and their apotropaic functions. 

 

Arts & Crafts, Mission, Craftsman and Prairie Styles - What's the Difference?

I have attached a photo of a lamp that I inherited from my great aunt.  It doesn't have a marking on it anywhere, do you by any chance have any idea what make of lamp it might be?
 

The slag glass shade and rectilinear lines indicate late 19th or early 20th century sensibilities

The slag glass shade and rectilinear lines indicate late 19th or early 20th century sensibilities


I am not sure if it has any value but, I was just curious as I know it is somewhat old.

As soon as I saw the rectilinear slag glass shade on your lamp I thought, “Prairie School!” But then I had to ask myself why?  What identifies this as Prairie style as opposed to Arts and Crafts, Mission or Craftsman? 

All of these schools of design share some characteristics:  oak, copper, bronze and glass are typical materials; forms are often boxy and right-angled; lines are uncomplicated and extraneous ornamentation is usually absent.  To help me sort out the differences, histories and historic context of each of these schools I turned to Lee Jester, an expert on American Arts and Crafts and former owner of Craftsman Home in Oakland. 

The term  “Arts and Crafts” is often used as a general term.  Rather than applying to just architecture or furniture, the term encompasses an ideal of social reform and anti-industrial idealism.  Originating in England in the late 19th century, the term is most closely associated with designer William Morris. 

“Craftsman” is the trade name for the handcrafted furniture made by arts and crafts advocate Gustav Stickely.  Beginning in 1901, he published “The Craftsman” magazine extolling the virtues of handwork, design and architecture.   In the US, “Craftsman” and “Arts and Crafts” were nearly synonymous and are often used interchangeably.

“Mission” style, Lee explained, was a term mostly used on the east coast.  Like Craftsman, Mission was a trade name but it marketed factory made furniture.  It originated in 1898 with Joseph McHugh in New York after he saw photographs of the interior of the 1894 Bernard Maybeck designed Swedenborgian church in San Francisco.  He copied the furnishings and erroneously described his line as deriving from California missions. 

The "Mission" style interior of the 1895 Bernard Maybeck designed Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco

The "Mission" style interior of the 1895 Bernard Maybeck designed Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco

“Prairie” is a design philosophy with roots in Chicago.  It developed from the idea that wide, flat, horizontal lines invoke the vastness the horizon. Frank Lloyd Wright is the most familiar name in this genre.  He designed his building to look as if they sprung naturally from the site.  His furnishings were not only specific to a building: he designated specific pieces to go with particular rooms.

Frank Lloyd Wright designed the furniture and lighting for his Robie House in Chicago

Frank Lloyd Wright designed the furniture and lighting for his Robie House in Chicago

All of these schools of thought shared idealism:  an appreciation for preindustrial craftsmanship, a concern for the welfare of workers, and the belief that the integration of art, textiles, furniture and architecture could result in cohesion and purity of thought.

I can’t quite tell what your lamp is made of but it appears to be a slag glass shade on a patinated bronze base.  The scrolled feet together with the lyre and wreath decoration suggest to me that this lamp embraces the arts and crafts ideal while not quite abandoning the decorative elements of earlier pieces. 

Your lamp could have been made by Bradley and Hubbard in the early 20th century; it could also be a mass produced lamp purchased anywhere in the last 40 or 50 years.  The value could range from $50 to $500. As an appraiser I’d have to see it in person to gauge the age and structure before I could assign a value.

Steer Horn Furniture - An Icon of the American West?

We have a steer horn chair that has been in the family for over 60 years. It is fabricated with steer horns on the outside with leather/vinyl for the seat and back.

We are trying to determine its age and value to see how to proceed with it going forward. Is this the type of piece you would be able to evaluate?

 I grew up in New Englander and have lived in the bay area for the past quarter century. Horn furniture is not something I’ve seen much of so, for expert information I turned to historian and collector Alan Rogers founder of the National Texas Longhorn Museum.  He generously shared his in depth knowledge of the form and his decades of historical research

Although it appears to be a very American form, modern horn furniture making – dating from the mid 19th century through the 1920s – seems to have been brought to America by Europeans immigrants.  Individual craftsmen made some pieces but furniture factories in Chicago, Texas and Kansas produced the majority of horn pieces we see today.

According to Alan, part of the horn furniture craze can be traced to the development of railroads bringing cattle to stockyards.  Processing longhorn cattle was expensive. The horns made loading, shipping and slaughtering the cattle difficult; horns scarred the hides of other cattle lessening their value.  Any use for the horns would help to offset the inherent liability of the breed.

The demand for antique horn furniture has increased over the past decade but so has the tendency for some sellers – out of ignorance or greed – to mislead buyers.  By the end of the 19th century ranchers had crossbred the horns out of the cattle industry and by the 1890s furniture makers were importing horns from Africa and South America.   So although horn furniture seems quintessentially American just about all horn furniture manufactured since the 1940s is made from imported horn.  Buyers can easily find horn chairs for sale but there is almost never information about the origin of the horns.  Alan feels that buyers would be reluctant to spend money if they knew they weren’t buying old Western American items.

This 38 horn chair was exhibited in the Long Beach, Ca Chamber of Commerce in 1914

This 38 horn chair was exhibited in the Long Beach, Ca Chamber of Commerce in 1914

As with most things, condition is a huge factor in value.  Horns are made of keratin – the same protein in our nails and hair.  If the furniture is kept indoors it can last for generations.  Pieces need to be protected from bright sunlight: over time exposure can cause the layers of keratin to separate and the horns to crack.  Horn furniture should not be stored in damp places like basements or garages – horns are delicious to roaches and some beetles. 

The size, shape and color of the horns in a piece of furniture influence the price buyers are willing to pay.  Experts have been able to identify a few individual horn furniture masters; these pieces can command thousands of dollars.  I’m sorry. I have no way of figuring out who or what factory made your chair.  While the upholstery is competently done the choice of vinyl instead of leather or fabric seems oddly incongruous.  Additionally, your chair is missing a decorative horn on one side.  These factors lessen the salability of the chair.   All that being said, I don’t think you’d have any trouble selling your chair in the $400-700 range. For more information about the history of this furniture, for advice about selling, for galleries of chairs, hat racks, cowboys and champion steer, or just for the fun of it visit Alan Rogers’ site: www.longhornmuseum.com.

An ancient symbol of abundance, balance and good fortune overtaken with imagery of hatred

This glass has been in my family china cabinet.  My father was in WWll and must have brought this back with him.  I would like to know anything about its history, as my father passed away before he could give us any details.

What a thought provoking glass.  While your father was in WWII it doesn’t necessarily mean that he was in Germany or that this glass was smuggled out from a Nazi sympathetic restaurant.  Indeed, I’ve seen examples of Nazi inspired bar ware and those glasses were decorated with the swastika symbol clutched in the talons of a bird.

I prefer to see your glass as having a decorative motif that goes back thousands of years and is found in dozens of cultures. 

The Swastika is a simple and ancient symbol.  The Oxford English Dictionary traces the word to the Sanskrit “svasiku” an amalgamation of words that basically translate to “good to be” or “fulfilled.”  It is considered an auspicious sign and shows up in cultures throughout Asia, Europe and North America.

The symbol is frequently seen on Buddhist bronzes.  When Buddhism was brought to China from India about 2000 years ago the symbols, too, were adopted.   In China the shape is referred to as “Wan” and the four arms represent balance and good fortune.  To other cultures the four arms depict rivers, seasons or four cardinal points on a compass.

In the Bon region of Tibet sees it as a“yungdrung” an eight-petaled lotus and a symbol of permanence and wisdom.  In Thailand it is known as “Ji” and it depicts the universal balance between the two life forces Yin and Yang:  Yin is represented by the branches and Yang by the background.  When the symbol is spinning nothing is either fully black or white.

In Nordic countries the symbol is typically called a “fylfot” and is thought to depict the whirling hammer of Thor.  In Christian Celtic and Norman countries it is called “Brigid’s Cross” and “La Croix Gammce.”  The Basque people use a stylized symbol as a main design element.

 

Navajo Whirling Logs

Navajo Whirling Logs

In Native American including the Navajo, Apache and Pima cultures the symbol is usually called a “whirling log.”   This image, too, is a holy one connecting man to the gods, the forces of nature, protection, peace and abundance.

The symbol was a popular one until the early 20th century.  Boy Scout troops used it, an American airborne division in the First World War used it; it was considered a good luck and protection symbol and frequently decorated postcards.  As a symbol of prosperity, it was a popular motif on California fruit crate labels.  A successful Sacramento pear grower marketed their fruit as “Swastika Brand

1920s era fruit crate label

1920s era fruit crate label

 

German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) found the swastika symbol on pottery when excavating the ancient city of Troy.  According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, the populist volkisch movement embraced Schliemann’s research in the early 20th century and took the symbol on as an identity of Aryan identity.

How terribly sad that an ancient and so well traveled symbol of abundance, balance and good fortune has been overtaken with such imagery of hatred. 

The monetary value of your glass is questionable.  You can’t sell it on eBay because that company has banned items that promote violence, hatred, racial or religious intolerance or memorabilia associated with organizations that promote those views.   You can toss it or you can attempt to reclaim the symbol as one of abundance, balance and good fortune.

 

 

 

 

 

What makes a quilt "Crazy"?

While cleaning out an aunt’s estate, we found a banker box full of fancy embroidered robes and quilts.  My great grandmother taught in China in China in about 1915 or 20 so we guessed that these were things she brought back with her as souvenirs. 

 We don’t have space to display them and don’t want to be responsible for them.  Could you suggest a museum that we could give them to? 

Not "Crazy" like insane! "Crazy" like shards of glass!

Christian missionaries – usually single men or married couples - began to open schools in China by the mid 19th century.  By the 1920s it finally became acceptable for single women to live and work as missionaries.   This was probably the time your great grandmother was there.  I’d urge you to keep the collection together until you can find more information about her – letters and diaries from this period fascinate scholars. 

However, I do give you permission to separate the fancy silk and velvet quilt.  This is not Asian at all but may have been something your great grandmother brought with her to China as a reminder of home.  This colorful throw is a Victorian Crazy Quilt (note capital letters) and it’s possible that it was made as a going away present for her.

To learn more about these quilts I contacted Julie Silber.  Julie is a world-renowned quilt expert and author.  First of all, she explained how the name came about. “The simple definition of a “crazy quilt” is a quilt that is composed of unrepeated shapes.  Plain, fancy, and in-between, if a quilt is made of random-shaped pieces of any fabric, it is known as a Crazy Quilt.”

The term “Crazy” does not imply that the makers were bonkers:  it most likely derives from pottery. During the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the hugely popular Japanese pavilion shocked and fascinated viewers with displays of pottery finished with glazes that “crazed” or split and cracked into glass like shards.   Crazing became a craze!

While most of us think of quilts as exemplifying a house wife’s frugality, Victorian Crazy Quilts were showcases made as much for display as for warmth.  Fabrics were often costly velvets and silks and many of the pieces were embroidered or painted with motifs from women’s lives.  Women making these quilts could afford expensive fabrics and had the leisure time to decorate them.   

Crazy Quilts were usually made by women of leisure who had time to embellish and funds to afford luxurious fabrics

Crazy Quilts were usually made by women of leisure who had time to embellish and funds to afford luxurious fabrics

Your quilt exhibits fine examples of embroidered fishing scenes and musical instruments, chenille and appliqued flowers, and painted panels and insects.   While the overall aspect is random pieces feather stitched together, you can see that the quilt is actually made up of 12 distinct blocks. 

Looking at each of the blocks must have delighted and comforted your great grandmother during her travels. She would have been reminded of home and of friends and of happy times.  A fun project for you would be to figure out some of the motifs:  was your grandmother named after one of the flowers shown in the quilt?  Did she collect butterflies? Was she an adventurous explorer? Was she musical? 

I hope you can learn more about her.  The more you can associate the quilt with the people who made it or enjoyed it the more value it will have for your family.  Most museums aren’t able to take donations like this – while each quilt is unique the form was pretty common.  If you wanted to sell the quilt to a collector a fair price would be in the $300-500 range.

 

 

 

 

Get the Scoop on Victorian Serving Utensils

I bought a shoebox full of silverware and assorted stuff at an estate sale.  Mixed in with the knives, forks, spoons and other items were some things I can’t identify.  I hope you can tell me what these things are. 

Scoops - the one on the left does not belong in the dining room

Just about everyone has a drawer or box where they toss things too good to throw away but with no apparent use.  These boxes of frugality and practicality are usually filled over generations and often hold a few treasures.   They often come out at holidays and are stuck back away because no one is exactly sure what they’re for.

Here’s the scoop on your mystery pieces. 

The piece that looks like an apple corer is actually a cheese scoop.   Cheese scoops are serving pieces – the scoop stays with the cheese, which is likely, a runny Brie or smelly Stilton.

The long narrow piece is a double-sided marrow scoop.  Marrow, the rich stuff in the middle of bones, was considered a delicacy until the early part of the twentieth century (Although I’ve counted no fewer than 11 hip restaurants in the east bay which feature marrow on the menus.)  Snapping a bone with your fingers or cracking it with your teeth was hopelessly vulgar.  Those who could afford silver services had this special implement to scrape the marrow out of bones.  The larger end of your implement was for beef bones; the narrower end for fowl. 

The piece that looks like a medieval torture device is actually part of a carving set.  The vase shape end is fitted over the bone of a roast or joint.  When the screw is tightened the carver has a safer, more stable grip on the meat. 

The piece with one pointed and one scooped end is a lobster pick.  (Although now that we have a Dungeness crab season again I guess it could be a crab scoop)  The little shovel like instrument is used to scoop tea leaves into the pot.

If the tiny scoop is in your dining room then get it out and put it in the medicine cabinet where it belongs!  It’s an ear scoop used remove excess earwax in pre Q-tip times.  (It’s been said that Leonardo Da Vinci used his mistresses’ earwax as a component in some of the paints he mixed:  no wonder modern artists can’t replicate his technique!)  This tiny implement sometimes had rings on the handle so they and other small toilet articles could be worn around the neck or hung from the waist. 

As far as value goes, what more could you want than great conversation pieces?  The monetary value depends on the material they’re made from.  Your cheese, marrow and tea scoops look like sterling so they have a value of $50-100 each.  If the bone holder is part of a carving set with a knife and fork the set would sell in the $100-200 range.  Most hostesses would supply a lobster pick to each guest so having only one means the value is only ten or fifteen dollars.   I can’t tell what the earwax scoop is made from but if you found a buyer you could charge twenty of thirty dollars.

 

 

"Sulfur Charged" Bellows (don't belong on the hearth)

I'm hoping you might offer insight on this peculiar Item, a sulfur charged bellows.  I had been earnestly hunting a strong, serviceable bellows for some time when I acquired these at an Estate Sale in 2014. The craftsmanship suggests some antiquity (late 19th?). The sulfur reservoir features a manufacturer’s mark. Note the extended, 'surgical' snout.

 I'm advised that the device functions as bellows, but manipulating the stopper permits a sulfur blast, on demand. This, apparently, for "Ooohhh!" "Aahhhh!" reactions from those present. Is there any value to the bellows, beyond a curious Museum piece?

 

"Ooooh" and "Aaaaah" reactions might turn to "Eeeek"  and "HELP!"

Blasting sulfur into a burning fire would certainly elicit some ooohs and ahhs.   You might also some hear some shrieks of “eeek” and “help!”

I’m not sure how you identified these as “sulfur charged bellows” but perhaps you smelled some residue on the stopper.  I’m sorry to report that they probably aren’t safe on your hearth; your bellows belong in the barn with your farm tools.  You have agricultural bellows probably from the time of the phylloxera blight at the turn of the last century.

In the mid 19th century, vines and fruit in French vineyards began rotting.  By the turn of the century, somewhere between one half and two thirds of France’s vineyards had been destroyed and the affliction threatened to spread across Europe.  The culprit was the North American native Phylloxera aphid. Infected vines had to be dug up and destroyed.  Eventually France imported phylloxera resistant rootstock from the US, grafted their vines onto it and rebuilt their vineyards.

Commercial use of pesticides grew rapidly.  Pulverized sulfur sprayed onto crops proved to be an effective, inexpensive and safe to use fungicide and pesticide.   Your bellows, with their pointed nozzle, could blast clouds of sulfur on leaves and into roots of plants, protecting crops from pests. 

Sulfur spray is still used today in many agricultural settings

The Del Taglia Company in Italy made your bellows; founded in 1890, the company still produces agricultural equipment and sprayers in the Signa area of Florence. They are still in business today.   Modern sprayers aren’t nearly as elegantly crafted as yours: yours would sell in the $100.00 range.

I contacted my Home and Garden colleague Joan Morris about the current use, safety and efficacy of sulfur spray.  Her response“Sulfur still is available and used widely, especially in California's vineyards.  It's good at controlling pests, but if used at the wrong time, it can harm bees, and of course, you don't want to inhale the stuff!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family History Can Add Provenance - And Value

Last year in Cornwall, England, an estate dealer was cleaning out a house after the death of its elderly owner.  The family had separated out items they thought were worthless and set them aside for the trash.  Luckily, the liquidator searched through the thrash and found a 7-inch tall bust of a cat.  The statue had stood on the hearth for decades and everyone assumed it was a worthless reproduction treasured by a cat-loving woman.

This figure of a cat had been in the family for decades.  Turns out it is an Ancient Egyptian Artifact!  It recently sold for $80,000. (photo courtesy of Penzance Auction, Cornwall, England)

After examination, experts from the British Museum determined that the bronze figure dated to the 6th century BC!  The figure sold for just over $80,000.  

Several years ago, I was called to examine a group of unframed prints that a San Leandro man had inherited.  He found the prints – stiffened between a piece of folded cardboard - in a large manila envelope.  The prints were poor quality and nearly worthless but, when we unfolded the cardboard, we found it was a 1911 uncut sheet of 179 Pacific League baseball cards!

Uncut sheet of Obak Tobacco cards had family provenance: it sold for $16,000 (

The creased sheet, printed by the Schmidt lithography company in San Francisco, sold for $16,000!

Encouraged by shows like “Antiques Roadshows” and “Treasures in the Attic” and even “Storage Wars” folks everywhere hope to find that lost masterpiece at a thrift store or yard sale.  In reality this rarely happens.  However, looking at family histories or asking about backgrounds can often guide an appraiser or estate dealer to look more carefully at property.  In the case of the Egyptian artifact, it turns out that the woman’s deceased husband had worked for Spink and Sons.  Spink’s, was a London Gallery London gallery specializing in the sale of ancient Egyptian artifacts. The connection to the gallery that sold the household collection of archaeologist Howard Carter added provenance and verisimilitude to the find.

The San Leandro man inherited property from his great uncle.  Turns out his uncle had worked for Schmidt lithographers of San Francisco.  Schmidt’s was the company contracted to print the cards inserted in packs of Obak cigarettes!  Again, family history provided provenance and a logical story for how the sheet was acquired in the first place. 

On the other hand, I recently wrote an inventory for a 102-year-old woman. This lovely centenarian has a Matisse that she has treasured for decades although she had no recollection of where she got it.   She planned to leave this, “her most precious possession” to a niece.  In fairness to the other beneficiaries, the woman believed that the monetary value of the lithograph is such that the niece should be exempted from receiving other personal property of the proceeds of the sale.

In reality, her Matisse was a lithograph with a monetary value of about $200.   When the woman learned this she was disappointed and chagrinned.  She finally recalled buying the print as a souvenir of a Paris trip.  She gave the print to her favorite niece and willed equal portions of her estate to all family members.   

Family history can help determine the provenance and monetary value of an item.   If you’re visiting family this holiday season ask about the things you’ve always taken for ranted.  You may not end up with a treasure but you’ll certainly end up with new appreciation for your heritage.