American Association of Appraisers, Certified Member. 30 Years experience | (805) 895.5005 | elizabethappraisals@gmail.com
Dr. Elizabeth Stewart’s column appears every week in the LIFESTYLE & CULTURE section of the Montecito Journal. Email her your questions with high-resolution photos: ElizabethAppraisals@gmail.com.
CS sends me an image of a French advertising poster originally drawn by the under-appreciated Symbolist artist Lucien Levy-Dhurmer. CS’s family apocrypha claims this dates to the early 1900’s. He …
LH inherited two porcelain urns she displays in her home in Paso Robles. She asked me if they are ‘good’ Capodimonte. I answered, that they’re not the top of their …
D from up-state sends me a pair of American bookends in frosted glass with a turquoise blue bust of a woman, her hair as a bouquet of flowers. I put …
I confess that I LOVE this pottery piece. My partner John’s father collected this maker, Van Briggle Studios, founded by the husband and wife team, Aratus and Anne Van Briggle. …
People often ask me to appraise their piano. Since with great pleasure I do this for the Music Academy of the West, I’ll discuss the value of a reader’s piano. …
SG from Rancho Cucamonga sent me two doll photographs. I thought this a joke from my best friend Eli, who trained as a psychiatrist and knows about my rare phobia …
In Tuscany, in the Province of Pisa in Etruria, lies the ancient city of Volterra. In the 8th century BCE the city operated as an important Etruscan center. Many today …
What do I mean by cross collectible? And why should you know about this if you want to sell an object? Because online platforms usually ask you to list an …
JT, with tongue in her cheek, sends me two of her husband’s favorite toys: a 1959 Huckleberry Hound, marketed by the Knickerbocker Toy Co., and a Knickerbocker Pouty Bear, from …
Featured at the Unity Shoppe’s second hand furniture shop on State Street, P sends me a photo of a table she’s considering buying. She wonders about the period, the style, …