A very rare spoon, what do I do?

[shofs]

Hey everyone! I'm new to the forums and somewhat new to treasure hunting. The past 6 months I've been gold and silver hunting at garage sales/estate sales and have had no problems finding the value of the treasures I find using 925-1000.com and ebay ect. However I recently acquired (for $2 wooo) a French 950 silver spoon made in 1900 at a garage sale that I think might be highly collectible and I have no idea what to do with it. Its a pretty small only 5.5" and 25g but I can't find any history anywhere of this spoon ever being sold online in any auction and the only place I even found another picture of it was from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York!!

Heres the Link
The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Souvenir spoon

Here is the closest thing to it I found to it ever being sold. Its a different design but very similar both Christofle and Louis-Oscar Roty.
Very RARE Figural Sterling Spoon Charles Christofle Oscar Roty Signature | eBay

I guess Charles Christofle was a pretty big name in French silver and Oscar Roty was "one of the most celebrated medallists of the Art Nouveau period." according to Wikipedia. So my question to everyone is what do you guys do when you find this type of little treasure? If I was to sell it should I just use ebay?

 

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[jamey]

nice

 

[vpnavy]

1st - Since this is your first post - welcome aboard from the great state of Pennsylvania (USA).

2nd - You might consider calling the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 212-535-7710 and talking to them about your spoon. They may ask you to send them pictures, etc.

3rd - You might consider browsing Sub-Forums: Colorado for information (i.e., clubs, hunts, finds, legends, maps, etc.) directly related to your state.

 

[diggummup]

Welcome to Tnet. Nice spoon. You can contact Christie's and ask them if it is worthy of their auctions. Here are the people you need to talk to about silver objects-

• Jeanne Sloane
  
  
  Department Head
  jsloane@christies.com
• Jennifer Pitman
  
  
  Head of Sale
  jpitman@christies.com
  Tel:+1 212 636 2250
• Adam Brandow
  
  
  Specialist
  abrandow@christies.co

If they aren't interested then try ebay. With ebay, when it comes to something rare (and valuable) start very high and see if you get a bite. Those in the know will bid or they won't. Do a 10 day auction starting on Thur. nigh so it will end on Sun. night, in order to get the most exposure. Offer international bidding on this one just make sure you get the postage/insurance/tracking amount right, Global Express probably. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[capt-zero]

Another option, save it for the next generation. You then get to keep it in your collection and display it proudly/properly. Being and old and dottering fool, though, I might have a different perspective.

 

[diggummup]

Another option, save it for the next generation. You then get to keep it in your collection and display it proudly/properly. Being and old and dottering fool, though, I might have a different perspective.

True, unless your like me and don't have kids.

 

[Iron Patch]

You know anyone who speaks/reads French? The best place to put it is probably on Ebay France. (There's many more items from him there than .com) If you know ebay well you can probably navigate through to list it, but I always get caught up on trying to get the shipping right so someone speaking the language would be a good help.

 

[shofs]

Thanks for the info this is really a great forum! I think I'll be sticking around I like you guys
As for the spoon I might start with contacting the Museum and seeing what they have to say.
Next I think I'm going to check out any French auctions to see if I can find one that sold. I forgot ".com" was limited to America!
Finally, Christie's will be contacted to see if they would like to feature it.

THANKS TO
-vpnavy
-capt-zero
-diggummup
-Iron Patch

You'll bee seeing more posts from me in the future! I've only been silver hunting for half a year but I already have some crazy stories and piles of great stuff to show off!

 

[capt-zero]

Diggummup, I don't have kids either. I think that makes me a bit more of a sucker for my nephews and neices. Now the next generation is here and one of my great-neices plays me like a violin.

 

[mojjax]

You take nice pictures - Welcome !

 

[McKinney_5900]

True, unless your like me and don't have kids.

Kids nowadays don't care about treasures. Even my siblings and I wasted many of our parents valuables after death, so if you want to do the next generation a favor, sell it and leave the money. jm2c.

 

[Generic_Lad]

Kids nowadays don't care about treasures. Even my siblings and I wasted many of our parents valuables after death, so if you want to do the next generation a favor, sell it and leave the money. jm2c.

Depends on the "kid" yeah, there's some that don't care but I myself am pretty young but I'm collecting coins/silver/art.



If you do decide to sell it on eBay, remember that condition is everything. Since it looks like these spoons were gilt, you should seek expert advice before cleaning because you could easily damage it. I'd assume that if you decided to consign it to a major auction house that they would clean it for you.

I think that the key is exposure, sometimes its very hard to sell something that's truly rare when compared to something that is moderately scarce. The people who would buy this would most likely either be:

1) Antique souvenir spoon collectors
2) Oscar Roty collectors
3) Collectors of Art Noveau silverware
4) Collectors of 19th century French silverware

Once you've established who would be most likely to buy your item at a price that you want, then you can narrow down options to sell it.

 

[Iron Patch]

Thanks for the info this is really a great forum! I think I'll be sticking around I like you guys
As for the spoon I might start with contacting the Museum and seeing what they have to say.
Next I think I'm going to check out any French auctions to see if I can find one that sold. I forgot ".com" was limited to America!
Finally, Christie's will be contacted to see if they would like to feature it.

THANKS TO
-vpnavy
-capt-zero
-diggummup
-Iron Patch

You'll bee seeing more posts from me in the future! I've only been silver hunting for half a year but I already have some crazy stories and piles of great stuff to show off!

I highly doubt an auction house would be interested in a single spoon unless it was very substantial. Plus it doesn't really make sense to me when you can sell it yourself and keep more of the money. I would only use those places for something bigtime that I needed all the main players in one spot for.

PS: A few years ago I played a role in selling a pretty rare medal and not only was Stacks NY little to no help, the info. they offered was actually incorrect and if the owner of the medal would have taken their word for it she would have lost many thousands of dollars. So you have to do your own homework, and once that's complete you should have an idea of how much you want, and won't need someone selling it for you. Back in the day those who had the books and the knowledge had a lot more power over us than they do now.

 

[diggummup]

I highly doubt an auction house would be interested in a single spoon unless it was very substantial. Plus it doesn't really make sense to me when you can sell it yourself and keep more of the money. I would only use those places for something bigtime that I needed all the main players in one spot for.

PS: A few years ago I played a role in selling a pretty rare medal and not only was Stacks NY little to no help, the info. they offered was actually incorrect and if the owner of the medal would have taken their word for it she would have lost many thousands of dollars. So you have to do your own homework, and once that's complete you should have an idea of how much you want, and won't need someone selling it for you. Back in the day those who had the books and the knowledge had a lot more power over us than they do now.

All true and good points but you can still contact these people and if they are interested then you know you have something rare and valuable. Just because it is only a single spoon doesn't negate the fact that it could be worth major dollars. I have seen a single spoon sell for $78,000, granted it was from the estate of George Washington so... I don't think this spoon is worth anything near that (a few hundred maybe) but, contacting them is part of the "homework". Myself, I would never use an auction house to sell something because of the fees. They charge anywhere from 25-40% depending on who's selling it and then you have to wait 1-3 months before they cut you a check.

 

[jerseyben]

I know I have seen "ORoty" signed on a coin before. Did he design the Franc possibly?

 

[diggummup]

I know I have seen "ORoty" signed on a coin before. Did he design the Franc possibly?

He designed the Semeuse image that was used on it. He also made a lot of medals and did some work for Tiffany too.

 

[shofs]

Ill try and keep you guys updated with what I've found.
@ jerseyben I know he did design some French coins as diggummup said
Heres the "Semeuse" which he is very well known for.
Google Translate

Also, I found a museum; Musée Oscar Roty in Jargeau, France which is dedicated to just Oscar Roty. Their website is French but google translate can help there. I found a picture of a similar spoon on the site!!!... but again its not the exact one. Heres the translated link.
Google Translate

Digging more into the Metropolitan Museum of Art I found that the spoon was made to celebrate the turn of the century back in 1900. Now what to do with all this information