That's a Good Question:

Personal Effects Love Disarmed Feb 2014

Question: Hi J., These belonged to my Mom and we have no idea where they came from. They were found in the sideboard in a felt bag. I have a set of 12 all identical. Are they worth much. I took them to a metal scraper and they offered me $400.00 for the set of 12. But I wanted to ask you first. If they were valuable I'd keep them for the kids. Should I insure them? Love the radio show and the newspaper column. Keep it up. Thanks.

As an act of disclosure, I did do an appraisal for this gentleman on this property and gained his permission to print this in the paper. Names and other personal information was redacted from the original email, for my readers here.

Answer: What a treasure to find! You have a set of twelve large dinner forks, and the pattern is the highly coveted, Love Disarmed by Reed and Barton Silversmiths. Silver doesn't get anymore detailed,storied or sexy than Love Disarmed. Its at the zenith of the Art Nouveau movement. Art Nouveau was an art movement characterized by flowing lines and a riot of patterns and symbolic meanings, circa 1880 – 1915. A set of twelve dinner forks are very good to find. Its a good thing you you sought help in determining value before you sent these pieces to the smelters pot. That would be tragic. Save the scrapers for damaged beyond repair jewelry and and thin sterling from the 1950's. A common set of average dinner forks, would range something in this neighborhood, but a pattern of this quality, won't live in this neighborhood.

Love Disarmed

I want you to look carefully at the workmanship of these pieces. You'll see that there is a central womanly figure, some call her Venus or Diana, the goddess of love and beauty. She's got a little cupid, the god of love, tucked up under one arm. One of her hands holds his little bow. Her other arm is over her head and behind her back, holding, and hidden in the folds of her flowing gown, are what many speculate are Cupid's arrows of love. She's not going to be taken aback by the advances of this small, but powerful god. If you remember your mythology, anyone pierced by one of Cupid's arrow will fall head over heels in love with the next person they see. All of this and a bevy of poppy flowers. The poppy leaves and blooms that surround Cupid have for centuries been a symbol of sleep, the poppies that appear in the Love Disarmed pattern seem to suggest that Venus / Dianna used the drowsy qualities of the poppy to induce sleep then and steal Cupid’s bow and most of his arrows. The details are amazing. There are some reproductions, from the 1980's up til modern times. But you can tell from the razor sharp details, details that are lost on recast pieces, that your forks will date to the early 1900's.

I did a little online research and I found many examples across the board, price wise. A replacement value, a value in which you would have to go out into the marketplace and purchase these forks, would be to the tune of about $300.00.... each! So that would make your recent find have an insurance valuation of about $3000.00+ for the set. Get them out from time to time and use them and think of your Mom! Its OK to polish them but not too much. Use a good polish and a soft rag and never a silver / metal dip. You want to leave the dark patina in the nooks and crannies, that makes the details stand out. Congratulations! Thank you for sharing them with us.