WEBVTT

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GUEST: I brought in what I
believe to be is a silver
martini set?

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APPRAISER: When did
you acquire this?

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GUEST: In 1994, right after my
mother passed away. My siblings
said I was to

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take it 'cause I had room to
store it. My
great-great-grandfather was a
chief

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and engineer on a ship in Japan
for the Oriental Occidental
Lines.

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APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

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GUEST: Which was part of the
White Star shipping company. And
I believe that Mr.

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Allen was his friend, and for
some reason, Mr. Allen gave it
to my great-great-grandmother.

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APPRAISER: The presentation
plaque does say "Presented to
Mr. William Allen by the

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engineers of the steamship Asia,
March 27, 1908." We have a
13-piece sterling silver

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and hardwood... I would call it
a martini set or a cocktail set.
And as you can see,

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the pieces are decorated
completely in the round with
this really fine-textured... I

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would almost refer to it as
a skin for the background.

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GUEST: Hm!

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APPRAISER: And then these
beautiful, really realistically
rendered

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bearded iris. Wonderfully done.
Obviously a master at their
craft,

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the silversmith who worked this.
We don't know the specific
identity of that silversmith,

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because there isn't an
individual mark that indicates
that. But the pieces are marked

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identically on the underside of
each. "Arthur & Bond, Yokohama."
It's almost certain they

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would have retailed it, but we
don't know if they made it. They
were an English firm that,

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towards the end of the Meiji
period in Japan, opened a branch
in Yokohama. They also had
stores

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in London and Kobe, Japan. I do
think it was used. It saw some
actual possibly even fun times.

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GUEST: (laughing)

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APPRAISER: As we can see here on
the cocktail shaker, there is
some damage

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to a few areas of it from an
impact. Possibly being shaken a
little too violently...

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GUEST: (laughing)

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APPRAISER: ...and hit the
floor or the deck of the ship.

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GUEST: Right.

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APPRAISER: And then there are a
few other pieces in the set
throughout

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that have a couple of areas of
just minor dings. It's not
unexpected for a set of

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this age. There's almost never
this many pieces in the sets
that do come up. And

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having the tray is quite rare. I
would advise an insurance value
of $20,000.

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GUEST: Wow-- wow. Okay-- wow. Do
I have to tell my sisters and
brother?

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APPRAISER: (laughs) That's up to
you. They may see this, so you
might want to.

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GUEST: (laughing) They may see
this. Oh, that's terrific.
That's lovely, thank you.