My grandmother gave me a 4ft Italian statue that she had received as a wedding gift many years ago. I believe that it may be valuable. I don't know who it's made by because my grandfather covered the bottom with old newspaper and felt. Could you possibly tell me if this is valuable?
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Interesting piece!
If you decide to remove the felt and paper from the bottom be very, very, very careful. It is hard to tell from the photo what she is made from, but I know that glue and these fragile pieces is a recipe for breakage if not done very carefully (chunks of the bottom can come off with the paper and felt and ruin the piece).
You could try to put the piece in a tray of warm water and see if the paper and felt will come off without doing damage. Do not force it.
Unfortunately, you may get it all off successfully and find that like most of these pieces, it is not marked.
I did a quick check and found nothing exactly like her, which I found surprising since at least one home on every street in my neighborhood when I was young had a figure like her in their living room or entry way.
Since she is going to be impossible to sell online (shipping would be a recipe for disaster), I suggest taking her to a reputable antique/vintage shop and having them value it for your market and sell her for you.
Where I am, even if she was a name brand, so to speak, the values are between $10 and $100 depending on condition and what it is made from. This is because there is a glut of them in my area.
In other areas there may be few and the demand high, which makes values higher.
Post back with an update on if you sell and how it goes.
PS, if you are not selling and just want to know value, talk to the vintage store about wanting to know insurance value. This will be higher than "retail" value, but it will give you a ballpark on what you could sell it for now.
Thank you so much! She's worth more sentimentally...so will not be selling her. But I've always been curious as to her value. I'm thinking she's porcelain or ceramic. When I turned it over to look at the bottom, I could see a little hole in the newspaper.
Enjoy her!! Please post back what you learn! You can ask a dealer for value and info so you can decide if you need to have an insurance rider on her. You probably won't but asking is OK.
I am fortunate that the dealers in my town are very open and willing to share/educate.
Looking forward to hearing what you learn!
I would advise you to remove the newspaper and felt to reveal any markings.
First off you should try and find out who made this by removing the felt from the bottom. If this one is not possible the next step would be to contact a vintage dealer or an antique dealer to talk with them about this piece.
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