A man was stunned to discover that his $4.99 vase from Goodwill was actually worth $100,000.
The yellow 1920 Overbeck vase was featured on an episode of Antiques Roadshow earlier this week, when an unidentified guest brought it along to an event in Indiana.
The owner of the piece told appraiser David Rago that he and his wife were shopping at Goodwill when he saw the “beautiful” item on a shelf.
When told it could fetch between $50,000 and $100,000 at auction, the man replied, “My heart is pounding!”
The buyer added: ‘I knew the quality was good, but I didn’t know anything else about it, so I picked it up and looked at it,’ the vase’s owner said.
A man brought a 1920 Overbeck vase to an event that aired on Antiques Roadshow. Appraiser David Rago told him it would fetch anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000
“There were markings on it and I thought, ‘Well, I don’t know who it is, but for $4.99 I’m going to buy it.’”
Rago gave a brief description of Overbeck’s pottery and turned the vase over to show the owner the ‘OBK’ mark that appears on almost all of his objects.
He added that the initials ‘E’ and ‘F’ below the ‘OBK’ are the initials of two of the sisters who made the vase.
Female potters produced a variety of pieces in the 1900s. According to the appraiser, women produced their best work in their “late teens, early 20s.”
The appraiser praised the vase’s design, which shows ‘a geometric distillation’
Rago explained that he knew there was a tree in the design because of the branches and leaves, which are shown as triangles
According to Rago, the vase from 1920 ‘fits into that path of power’.
He added: ‘The conventional design is a design technique from the Arts and Crafts period that uses a geometric distillation of the original design.’
‘You see that conventionalization in this design. You have the repeated design. It’s five or six times around the vase.’
The appraiser also mentioned the running man in the striped suit and the “big pink sun” shining through a tree.
Rago explained that he knew it was a tree because the branches and leaves are depicted as triangles.
“It’s colorful, handmade, crafted… It’s a really good piece of Overbeck.”
David Rago told the owner that the initials ‘E’ and ‘F’ under ‘OBK’ were of two of the sisters who made the vase
Overbeck pottery was produced between 1911 and 1955 by Margaret, Hannah, Elizabeth and Mary Frances Overbeck.
According to Waynet, most of the four sisters’ work is inspired by their surroundings.
The sisters collaborated on most of their pieces and the initials ‘E’ and ‘F’ on the Antiques Roadshow vase stood for Elizabeth and Frances.
The women have won awards for their work in Paris, Chicago and New York, among other places. Their work can be seen in museums throughout the country.
Art lovers can also view their work at the Overbeck Pottery Museum in Cambridge City.
Their works occasionally surface on auction websites. One of their works from 1915 was auctioned last April for $52,920.
The value of the expensive vase was estimated at $35,000-45,000 before purchase.