Lee Caswell: Now, can you tell me have you brought us one pot or a hundred pots here?

Owner: (laughs) Well, I think it’s actually one but there’s certainly a lot of pictures of pots.

Lee Caswell: Yes. Tell me where you got this vase.

Owner: This was passed down to me by my grandparents. I think they got it at an auction many years ago.

Lee Caswell: In the Calgary area?

Owner: In Calgary, yes.

Lee Caswell: Well, it’s a really interesting one. I mean, there isn’t a pot pictured here that you can’t quite think of, I mean there’s gilded ones, there’s ones in every size, colour, description, blue and white and every age. That’s the interesting thing, it’s showing what the pot make was really capable of doing and showing the history of the pot. Do you know how it’s made?

Owner: I have no idea.

Lee Caswell: It’s made on a wheel and then all this cut decoration and then as far as the enameling and the gilding, that’s all done later, but it’s built up layer by layer. A lot of thought went into making a pot like this.

Owner: Wonderful.

Lee Caswell: It probably dates to the early part of the century. But just, design-wise, it’s got everything going for it, just exactly what the marketplace wants. Where these sell for the most money is in Japan, there’s quite a following…

Owner: So it’s Japanese? I always thought it was Chinese!

Lee Caswell: No, it’s Japanese. That’s Suma Ware. And as I say, what we have is just a cornucopia of designs and colours and shades and styles. Any concepts of values or… ?

Owner: I have no idea.

Lee Caswell: No? Well, this one is one of the best you’ll come across and value-wise it would be upwards of Ten Thousand, I would say…

Owner: Oh, my goodness!

Lee Caswell: Seven to Nine to Ten Thousand.

Owner: Wonderful.

Lee Caswell: It’s the décor on the front that we just are… blown away by.

Owner: Thank you!

Satsuma Vase $7,000 - $10,000

more Great Canadian Antique Stories

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