Dear Tsadik,
I greatly enjoy your column in The Jewish Press – always fascinating. I own two beautiful antique wedding cups, about four inches tall, white porcelain with gold design; the words chasan and kallah (in Hebrew) appear individually on each one. I believe they may be of Russian origin but I am not sure. I’d be interested to know their value. Thank you.
Mrs. A. Weiss
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Dear Mrs. Weiss,
Thank you for your compliment, I highly appreciate it. Your submission for appraisal gives me an opportunity to briefly address a somewhat confusing aspect of the field of antique Judaica – and collectibles in general – which is the disconnect that sometimes occurs when a recognized rare item does not have a corresponding respectable monetary value because the marketplace has dictated it as such.
To explain: For Jewish ceremonial objects, in general, items made of silver are “king” when it comes to value. Any 18th, 19th, and early 20th century pieces made of silver always sell, be it to the casual collector, the advanced collector, or an institution. Other mediums, such as brass, pewter, tin, ivory, and wood, have had their ups and downs in the Judaica marketplace, as tastes and degrees of interest among collectors and museums change.
Sometimes this occurs for legal reasons: For example, ivory objects have been decimated monetarily due to wildlife protection directives issued by the United States government in 2014. Consequently, it is currently extremely difficult to sell anything made of ivory in this country, which in turn reduces the value of an ivory piece to a fraction of what it was before 2014. Also, in the last ten years, most Jewish objects made of brass have fallen out of favor with collectors, and their values have plummeted by 50% or more; this includes 18th century pieces. Items made of pewter have fared even worse than brass in just the last five years.
Conversely, the market has never been stronger for many types of Jewish textiles, especially those related to use in the synagogues of Europe and North Africa. I have reported on some of the record-breaking sales of textiles in previous columns of The Jewish Press, such as a 1920s era Bezalel School carpet that sold for $45,600 at Sotheby’s last summer (the highest price ever achieved for a Bezalel carpet), and $170,100 for an Italian Torah ark curtain dated 1717, which sold at Sotheby’s in 2022 (the highest price ever achieved for a Torah ark curtain). If you live in the South, you can see this Torah curtain on display at the institution that purchased it, the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Finally, we come to the last niche of Jewish objects – those made of glass, porcelain, and ceramic. Up until 30 years ago, antique Judaica made from these materials would generally fare well in the marketplace; a 1920s painted porcelain dish for havdala from Germany would easily sell for $300-$400; a 19th century glass kiddush cup with Hebrew inscriptions from Bohemia and Moravia (Czech Republic), a few thousand dollars. Then, inexplicably, Judaica made from these materials began to not sell at auction. Estimates in catalogs dropped, dealers were “sitting” with these pieces for years on end – finding no customer willing to purchase them, even with severe discounts – and with few exceptions, this is the reality in the marketplace since then, including the present day.
Your porcelain cups, decorated with gilding which includes professionally executed Hebrew words for bride and groom, are not Russian as you suggest. The photo you sent me of the undersides of the cups reveals a blurred, dark blue stamp depicting a flying eagle and the letters “C.T.” This mark indicates the cups were made in the porcelain factory of Carl Teisch, located in Silesia, a geographical area that in the 19th century was composed mostly of parts of modern-day Poland, and small areas of Germany and the Czech Republic. Teisch’s factory opened in 1845, and his hallmarks changed over the years; those seen on your cups indicate that they were manufactured sometime between 1875 and 1900.
Porcelain cups made in Germany, Silesia, Bohemia, Austria, and Hungary with Hebrew names or religious phrases do not often appear for sale in the marketplace, but when they do, they usually fail to sell, even with conservative estimates. However, I cannot recall ever seeing a pair of porcelain cups with Hebrew verses for a wedding. They are a remarkable survivor, and from the photos you sent, appear to have no damage or restorations. As pieces of Judaica, they are indeed rare. Unfortunately, because the cups date to the end of the 19th century, they do not have significant enough age for many serious collectors, and coupled with the fact that they are made of porcelain, even with the aforementioned rarity, I have to assign a value to your cups of only $800-$1,200 at auction.
A somewhat peculiar fact is that while glass and porcelain Judaica generally achieve disappointing results in the United States, they do remarkably better in the salerooms of Europe. I am confident that your marriage cups, if they came to auction in France or Germany, would sell for, at the very least, $1,500 at auction.
Best,
Tsadik
Dear Tsadik,
Is this menorah antique? It was given to me by a family of Jewish immigrants from Germany who came to the U.S. in the 1930s.
David Hoffman
New York, N.Y.
Dear David,
Yes, your Chanukah menorah is an antique, likely dating to the early 1930s. I have seen similarly designed examples, with the same bold, severe, angular lines, generally hailing from England and made during that era, in keeping with the latest fashion of the time – Art Deco.
What is puzzling to me, however, are the hallmarks that are displayed, which are intertwined initials “AF” – the maker’s mark – a crescent moon and crown, which is the national silver mark for Germany, and “925.” With rare exception, “925” was not a standard of silver used in Germany before World War I; “800” and “835” are the numerals I would expect to find next to the German moon and crown mark. Even how the German mark appears is a bit odd, as it is in a sharply struck square box, which is how British silver hallmarks appear. What is going on here?
I can envision two scenarios: The first is that your Chanukah menorah was made in England specifically for the purpose of exporting it to Germany to be retailed there, so a very “British” imitation of the German national mark was punched, alongside the number 925, which is the only standard of silver that England uses, better known as sterling. Another possibility is that it was indeed made in Germany, in the city of Hanau. Hanau was the center for making all kinds of replica pieces of silver, including pieces that had styles from other countries in Europe. Whenever I encounter silver hallmarks on antique Judaica that appear strange in some respect, invariably the answer ends up being that it was manufactured in Hanau.
So I’m going to assign two values to your piece: If it was made in England, it has a value of $700-$900; if it was made in Germany, $1,000-$1,500.
Best,
Tsadik
