Tribal Arts

Mezcala Figure & Mayan Pendant

Appraisal: Mezcala Figure & Mayan Pendant

Transcript

GUEST: When my mother was pregnant with me, she was turning 40, and my father had befriended the widow of Carlebach, the famous art dealer and collector. And he ended up purchasing about 20 pieces of pre-Columbian and African art as a collection for my mother for her 40th birthday, and these are two of the pieces.

APPRAISER: So now without revealing your mother's age, that would have been approximately when?

GUEST: Approximately about 27 years ago.

APPRAISER: Okay, we apologize to your mother for saying that. What have you learned about them?

GUEST: Well, the shell piece was used in an art show at a museum, and they said that it was from the high Mayan period. It might have been a piece of jewelry. And then the jade piece has never been appraised. We don't know much about it. It might be Costa Rican or Mexican, we're not totally sure.

APPRAISER: Okay, let's start first with the Mayan shell piece. It is Mayan-- I think it's from Guatemala-- and it's carved shell. And this is what we would call a prestige piece. It has holes up here in the top, and it could either have been worn as a pendant or it could have been sewed onto a garment. This is from a group we call Mezcala.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And this is from the western side of Mexico. This one dates 100 to 300 B.C., and when you say high Mayan, this one over here, it's 600 to 900 A.D. Now, Carlebach was pretty much done by the end of the '60s.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: And so if we find an object that has Carlebach or Klejman or one of those early dealers in New York, we know that all by itself, that's really great provenance. Since these are both Carlebach pieces, that immediately got my attention. I don't know whether you saw my eyes get bigger.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: Collection history is really a big deal, so that's important. But now there's another reason why it's important. In 1970, the United Nations passed something called the UNESCO Convention, and this was to protect the patrimony of various countries. Now, most important museums in the United States are using that date of 1970 as a "do not access something after" date. In other words, they're using it as a firewall saying, "If we know where this thing's been prior to 1970, it's okay."

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: So that added provenance is really a big deal. How much do you think your father paid for these?

GUEST: I know that the shell was purchased for upwards of $1,000, and that the jade statue was probably between $300 and $400.

APPRISER: Okay. There is an issue that we have in pre-Columbian art. Anytime anyone sees something green, it's jade. I would have to describe this as a green stone until it was tested and I could say definitively it's jade or jadeite or that sort of thing. So it's green stone at this point.

GUEST: Would that change the price at all?

APPRAISER: Probably not in this case, because I think it's a pretty strong piece regardless. Okay, let's get to the good part.

GUEST: (laughs)

APPRAISER: Now, on the shell piece, it's beautifully executed, it's really nicely done, you have that museum provenance. I'm going to say $4,000 to $6,000 on that. Now, $4,000 to $6,000 would be, like, a gallery price. I would not be surprised at all to see that at $8,000 to $12,000 if you were in some important gallery on Fifth or Madison or something, in New York. On the Mezcala piece, it has this beautiful angularity. The sculptural quality of this is great. It's a little bit small, but it's elegant and it's got that great collection history. I'm going to say $4,000 to $6,000.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Now, again, I wouldn't be at all surprised if, say, this were in an auction or it was in a great gallery and it went for $5,000 to $7,000 or $6,000 to $10,000. I wouldn't be surprised, but I want to be conservative and I don't want you to come after me later.

GUEST: (laughs)