#Middlebury #Antiques
The English word “clobbered” has been used since at least the 1600s, but its meaning has changed. It still means beaten up, badly injured or damaged. But the word had a very different meaning in the 1700s. It describes porcelain dishes or ornaments with blue-and-white underglaze decoration that were altered. And in an auction catalog or antiques display, the clobbered alterations are not bad and not damaging, but enhancing, and not a reason to pay a lower price.
A pair of clobbered Chinese urns decorated with blue-and-white pictures of houses and a river were overpainted with colored flowers, leaves and a cracked ice design. The pair sold for $5,750.
The Chinese made most of the blue-and-white pieces in the late 1700s to early 1800s. They were shipped to many countries and overpainted with colored glazes because the public would pay more for colored urns or dishes. The decorations did not follow the blue-and-white outlines of the original glaze, but were applied as new pictures and ornamental designs over the old glaze. The English did the same overglaze decorating, but many thought it was damaged, not improved. The Germans called it “schwarzlot”” (blackish) decoration.
A pair of “Chinese Export clobbered porcelain vases” were sold at a New Orleans auction for $5,750. Clobbering in green, pink, yellow and copper red in the mid-1800s has added to its value today.
Q: Wouldn’t spoons made in the 1800s be worth more than the silver meltdown price? What makes sterling silver flatware eligible to be called “museum quality?”
A: Most old silver flatware is no longer popular and doesn’t sell well. People don’t want to bother cleaning silver. It needs to be washed by hand, polished regularly and stored properly in order to avoid tarnish, scratches and dents. It shouldn’t be put in the dishwasher with stainless steel or other metal flatware. Certain foods, rubber, felt, wool, oak and some types of paint will cause silver to tarnish. Silver flatware should be stored in special flannel bags or chests lined with tarnish-resistant flannel. Storing silver in plastic wrap or newspapers, or in cardboard boxes, causes it to discolor.
Sterling silver has a “meltdown value,” the cash price of the amount of silver the piece contains. “Museum quality” is whatever the museum decides it wants to include in exhibits as interesting art, design or history. Even the name of a famous or early maker doesn’t guarantee the piece is of great value. Best sellers include Tiffany, Georg Jensen and some top-of-the-line Gorham.
Current Prices
Creamer, porcelain, pink and brown border, company monogram, marked, Ellerman Lines, 1900s, 3 3/4 inches, $25.
Basket, purse, lightship, scrimshaw lid plaque, Nantucket style, signed, 7 x 9 inches, $125.
Tazza, bronze, gilt, cat, owl, arabesque, leaves, vines, berries, Antoine-Louis Barye, 7 1/4 x 6 1/2 inches, $170.
Fireplace, andiron, brass, steeple finial, ball, scrolling legs, ball feet, 22 inches, pair, $480.
TIP: If a white powder forms on a piece made of lead, or glasses or pottery decorated with a lead glaze, immediately remove the piece from your house. The powder is poisonous. Consult an expert conservator if it is valuable and should be saved. Do the ecologically correct thing if you must dispose of the piece.
For more collecting news, tips and resources, visit www.Kovels.com.
© 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.
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