Tag archives: appraisals

Shreve & Co.
By Elizabeth Stewart   |   December 26, 2023

Straight from Butterfly Lane, I have a question from a reader about a pair of candlesticks: PJ says he wants to sell the sticks you see in his photo, as they are not his wife’s taste, and have been inherited by him from someone to whom he had little connection. They are of significant weight […]

The Art of Michael Arntz
By Elizabeth Stewart   |   December 19, 2023

An artist in Montecito was gifted a unique ceramic charger plate found at a thrift store in Goleta, signed ‘M Arntz’; she writes that the blue glaze has a delicate shading of beige on a textured surface, a work of art. Indeed, it is. The work is by Michael Arntz, a local hero in the […]

Temple Lion
By Elizabeth Stewart   |   December 5, 2023

Apologies: the photo is not so good, but FK, an older resident of Montecito, sent me a Kodak photo of her Temple Lion in the U.S. Post, asking me if her Chinese ceramic was in fact late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as told by relatives, and, what is a temple lion, and why a lion? I […]

Tears in a Bottle
By Elizabeth Stewart   |   November 28, 2023

SR sends me a photo of a pink and blue gold gilded porcelain bottle with an ornate gold stopper and interesting “scoop” or funnel to the top in gilded metal. SR calls it a MOURNING BOTTLE, and says it was a gift of Sir Benjamin Rycroft (1902-1967), a pioneer in corneal surgery, and one of […]

The Family Archive
By Elizabeth Stewart   |   November 21, 2023

A reader’s Great Uncle Len lived, for almost 95 years, in a large house close to the Mission in Santa Barbara. Our reader has inherited the contents of Len’s precious steamer trunk, and is asking “WHAT do I do with a trunkful of photos, clippings, photos, schoolbooks, school report cards, ledgers from the family business, […]