Antiques Roadshow tells realtor who brought an old vase that it's ‘worth more than the condo he sold’
A Miami realtor was shocked to learn how much his glass vase was worth at the popular PBS Antiques Roadshow. The guest, who got the piece as a gift from a real estate client, was shocked to learn that the vase's value was more than the $48,000 condo he sold to the client. Expert appraiser Arlie Sulka revealed that the item was a Venini vase, made by renowned Italian artist and designer Fulvio Bianconi.
A piece worth a fortune
The guest who brought in the blue-and-white striped vase told the expert that it was a gift from the father of his first client to whom he had sold a condo about 30 years ago.
He said that the man had collected art glass and since he had a lot of pieces, he decided to give one away to the realtor. The guest then says that he thought it was made in Italy. The expert notes that he was right, and adds that it was designed by renowned artist and designer Fulvio Bianconi in the early 1950s.
She explains that the vase was made by a master glass worker at the Venini workshops in Murano. She describes the vase as very elegant and very Italian.
Furthermore, the expert says that the vase's shape mimics the 'female form' as Bianconi was known to produce similar works. She then turns the vase around to show how from a different angle, it looked more like a woman's body.
She explains that the technique used to make the vase was called 'Zenferico' in which glass canes are fused together. In the close-up shot of the vase, the long strands of the glass canes in the "Retter" configuration are clearly visible.
Sulka then mentions that while vases with such configuration have appeared in marketplaces, so far none of the pieces found were paired with the Zenferico technique. Thus, she says it was harder for them to evaluate the price of the piece as they can't be found anywhere.
She says after speaking to her colleagues, they concluded that in a retail venue, the vase could go for as much as $65,000. This was about $17,000 more than the price of the condo he had sold to the generous client and her father.
The guest was knocked off his feet when he heard the vase's worth. He couldn't stop laughing out loud in joy.
The expert adds to the joy by saying that the market for such unique glass pieces has seen crazy jumps with some items fetching a quarter of a million dollars.
While the vase was a viable find, it doesn't come close to the most valuable item that was discovered on the Antiques Roadshow. The 1914 Pocket Watch manufactured by Patek Phillipe in Geneva, remains the most valuable item of the show, estimated to be worth between $2 and $3 million today.
The watch was handed down by the guest's great grandfather who owned the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch. It features a complex design that shows the moon phase, normal time, and also the time of two other time zones as well.
