Antique Pickle Castor Faux Pas

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Ralph and Terry Kovel mistakenly reported on May 5, 2006 that the pictured Homan Silver Plate pickle castor sold for $1,650 at Pansy’s Elegant Glass. The article, Unusual Design of Pickle Dish Adds to Market Value, has been reprinted in various newspapers, under various titles, over the past week through King Features Syndicate. A screenshot of the article as published in The Commercial Appeal appears below. [UPDATE: The article has been removed from The Commercial Appeal newspaper web site and does not appear in its archives - scroll down for screenshot of original article.]
Left: Screenshot of the image from the syndicated article. Caption states:

“This castor set looks like a canoe on a silver wagon. It was made by Homan Silver Plate Co. in the 1890s and sold this year by Pansy’s Elegant Glass at RubyLane.com for $1,650.“

A visit to Pansy’s reveals that this pickle castor is still available with the original $1,650 price tag marked-through and reduced to $1,200 (see screenshot below). (Update: Castor dish remains unsold as of January 4, 2007) (Update April 26, 2007: The shop Pansy’s no longer exists at Ruby Lane)

Dorothy Rainwater, expert in American silverplate, quoted the 2000 price for an almost identical Homan Silver Plate Pickle Castor at an estimated $90-125. While we expect that the value of a similar antique pickle castor has increased considerably since 2000, both the original and reduced prices may be well above current market value. When shopping for antiques, research sold prices from multiple sources and use good judgment. Market value is generally the average of what same or similar items have recently sold for in varied markets including what an informed collector is willing to pay, not necessarily what one antique dealer is asking for an antique item. Avoid impulse purchases whenever possible. Also be aware of all the antique reproductions out there.

Screenshot of article as it appeared on The Commercial Appeal web site on May 5, 2006. After this new information began circulating, the article was removed from the web site and does not appear in its archives. It appears to have been removed from all publications.

Ralph and Terry Kovel are well-known and respected in the antiques industry. Together they have authored several antique identification and price guides. We suspect that reporting this silverplated pickle castor as sold and valued at that amount was merely an innocent mistake by someone on their staff.

For a very nice selection of antique silver pickle castors, see this site:
McCulloh Antiques

Article updated January 4, 2007 and again on April 26, 2007

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 6th, 2006 at 5:05 pm and is filed under Holloware / Tableware, Reference Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.