Featured Carved Oval Wooden and Bronze Plaque

It has a few bits of damage but over very good, just needs a very good clean.

 

You've mentioned that it has been over fire & smoke & that you wondered whether to clean. You might have to ask a wood conservator to find out, but I wonder whether smoke, depending on what was being burned, can have corrosive elements in it. A museum wouldn't leave it uncleaned & unpolished. Some of our furniture people might have recommendations for gentle ways to de-grime.

 

I do have all the materials to clean and polish but it's a big job, it's not the size but it would need to be done very carefully and I might just get to the stage where I can clean one part but not another. I did give all the flat bits a gentle clean when I first got it and then I thought I should wait until I find out more about it. When it's on the wall it's not that noticeable, when I take close up photos it's very noticeable, especially when they can be enlarged many times its original size. What I really need to do is wait until I can rule out it being worth a lot of money then I'll be happy to try and clean it. I have been given a email address of a Dr of art who specializes in this field, she wrote a piece for the frame blog on Giusti but I've written to her twice but I've received nothing as yet, I don't know if she has even opened my emails as they have attachments. I will contact the lady who gave me her email and ask her to contact her and pass on my info.

 

Cleaning it up could accurately be described as a major undertaking, since it might just about kill you.

Giusti seems to be to frames what Hanau is to silver. Since he's working in the style of centuries ago, he has the works of multiple artisans from which to draw inspiration. What strikes me is how varied his work is.

It might not be worth as much as it would be if it were a verified Giusti, but surely it has great value in its own right & if offered at auction, to the right crowd, there might well be others who also suspect it is Giusti & would bid appropriately.

I forget & don't want to go back, have you enquired of any of the major auction houses for one of their quickie appraisals of what it might fetch at auction? Then you can decide whether their estimate is a lot of money or not.

 

I did ask Christie's if they were interested they said it will cost you £2000 for us to get it vairfied or not, I will say I didn't know how bad auction houses were back then. I suspected them to take a look and get it confirmed by one of their art experts and put it in to auction or say no thanks, I did consider the offer but what would be stopping them saying "couldn't find anything on it, £2000 please" without looking at all?
I can't find a price for Giusti anywhere, this is the only other confirmed Giusti I can find being sold by Butchoff.
https://issuu.com/artsolution/docs/...yvIHfugkBiDGbL9gAccFLIhNwgI0Tf66wcJKyphORERPM

 

When I spoke with Italy he is widely regarded as a Master, I got the feeling he is very highly regarded in deed. Until I find a price for his work I won't know, it may be a few thousand or it might be hundreds of thousands, I just don't know. If it's the later then that will be lots of money

 

I understand better. It's not just that you don't know whether your frame might be by Giusti's own hand (is there a 'workshop of'?), you have no benchmark for the value of a known Giusti. Aren't you in a situation: the best way to find out what a 'possibly' Giusti would fetch in the current market is to put your own up for auction.

 

The question I had in mind is what, off the cuff, do they think it might fetch without any assurance it is Giusti? Just on its own merits, what might it go for? If a couple of bidders were then to think they know a Giusti when they see one...all bets are off.

And that one has a 'noble provenance', so not a fair comparison.

 

Yes Giusti had students and ran a workshop but all the pieces that came from the workshop that I can find are frames and brackets ect with a Giusti paper label on the back not stand alone works in their own right. He later became a professor at the Uni of Siena.
Yes the Butchoff plaque does have provenance but if I can find a drawing by Giusti of my carving then I can say for sure it's by him.
My brother did some research on the name on the back and found out there are only 2 E A Calquhoun's listed in the last 200 years, one died poor and the other was stinking rich, he ordered a copy of his will but there was no mention of any furniture , his wife died 30 years later so we have ordered a copy of her will but it hasn't come yet.
I have now received an email back from the Dr of art I mentioned earlier, she will get back to me after asking her colleagues but she did say "What an extraordinary piece"
I haven't a clue what it would be worth if it isn't by Guisti, I know what I paid and I was the only bidder on ebay. I think it was one of those items that the right person didn't see it, it was listed in the right category.
Perhaps I got a bargain I'm not going to say how much I paid but it wasn't a lot, my brother laughed at what I paid lol

 

Not sure if you knew this but if you go on to the antiques roadshow website you can contact the appraisers through their website and they give you a free evaluation and appraisel. All you do is take pics and send them to through email. Try it out if you haven't yet. Just make sure you take the pics in good lighting and describe what you already know about it in the email. For example one of the pottery appraisers is suzanne perault. I clicked on her name on the antique roadshow website and her email and auction info came right up. You will just need to find the appraiser that does wood carving. Not exactly sure what category this would go under but they have all the names of the appraisers under art, pottery, glass, furniture etc. Give it a go and let us know what you find out.

 

Maybe I was looking in the wrong place or due to Covid but I couldn't find the appraisal bit at all Do you have a link?

 

Here is the link
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/appraisers/current/

Just scroll down. Underneath the pictures of the appraisers you will see their name and the category they specialize in. Just click the name of a appraiser that best fits your item and after you click their name another psgecwill come up with their contact info including email.

 

*page will

 

I now see the problem, I'm in the UK and the BBC don't do the same offer. It was a lovely thought though thanks.
I am emailing a doctor of art at the moment so I hope she can shed some light on it. I think the last resort is to go to a dealer and ask their opinion, any dealer will try and down play the carving even if they suspect it is by him to get a unrecognised price. If I say I'm not going to sell it they will ask me to pay for an appraisal and to an example Christies asked for £2000 A little out of my price band.