GUEST: This is an object that has been in my family for as long as I can remember. We know the artist-- he's no longer living. He died in the 1960s, Ilya Schor. But my grandfather, my father's father, was good friends with Ilya Schor. I don't know exactly when they connected, whether it was when they were both still in Europe, or whether it was when they were in New York, where they came. So, Ilya Schor was born in what is now Poland, and he emigrated through Paris, was in Paris for a while, and then eventually in New York. And my grandfather came from Germany, and then also through Paris. And then eventually in New York. But I remember Ilya Schor very well from when I was a child. I have no idea how this ended up in our family, you know, if, if Ilya made it for my grandparents or whether they commissioned it from him. But we have many things that he did. And his content is almost always Eastern European Judaica, Judaism.
APPRAISER: There's a lot to love in his designs. And he really was an amazing artist who worked across all media.
GUEST: Mm-hmm, yeah.
APPRAISER: I mean, he did woodcuts, he painted, he did silver, gold, sculpture. I think you may very well know this. His family spent time in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and he would pick up pebbles on the beach, and he would paint them and give them as gifts.
GUEST: Oh, really? See, I didn't know that.
APPRAISER: Yeah, some of them were fantastic. And I think he just was always working. I mean, he had not as long and fruitful a career as he could, because he died fairly young. He died in 1961, when he was in his, I think, his late 50s.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Within a couple of years, there were exhibits at major museums recognizing his work, sort of as an artisan really sort of the leading American Judaic metalworker and flat art, as well.
GUEST: Yeah. And I know his wife, Resia, who is also no longer living, but she also became a silversmith and jeweler.
APPRAISER: Yeah. It's silver. It is, I think, the largest piece of Ilya Schor's work that I've seen.
GUEST: Oh, really?
APPRAISER: It's interesting that it's, it's marked "Paris." He was, as you mentioned, in France in the late '30s, I think, like, from 1937 through probably 1940. He tended to do things on commission. So he was commissioned, he did make gifts. Sometimes things are inscribed.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: A particular dedication. But something of this size I don't think would have been made without an owner in mind.
GUEST: Ah, okay.
APPRAISER: So, a lot of materials were used. This has sort of Jewish themes, but it doesn't have a purpose as part of a ceremonial, ritual use.
GUEST: That's right, yeah.
APPRAISER: So there are scenes of animals, a boy playing a fiddle, the fiddler on the roof-- it's a romanticized view of shtetl life in Eastern Europe. The work is cut. So, it's cut work on a sheet of silver, then applied. But, again, this is the largest piece. The design is just fantastic. You know, I saw this, and I was, like, "Wow."
(both laughing)
APPRAISER: Value-wise, there aren't a lot of comparables. To my knowledge, this type of form hasn't come up. I know a lot of other items that have. I would say for an auction estimate, between $100,000 and $150,000.
GUEST: Oh, my goodness. Well, we're not planning on selling it, but that's good to know. That's amazing. And I'm in touch with his daughter now, and she knows that we have this, you know. But, you know, so between $100,000 and $150,000, wow.
APPRAISER: Yeah, it just, you know, it's just a fantastic piece, both, you know, the scale, the type of craftsmanship, the imagery that's used. But this really, epitomizes the work he's best known for.
GUEST: Wonderful. I'm so glad that we own it, then.
