It's currently a down market for antique plates

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Dear Helaine and Joe:
I wonder if you could possibly tell me whether these plates are of any value. They are at least 60 or 70 years old as far as I know.
Thank you,
D.C., Naples, Fla.

Dear D. C.:
There are a number of plates here, but we are going to have to pass over the ones that are decorated with flowers because of space considerations. Suffice it to say that these have a relatively modest value, with the most valuable being the Haviland piece, which is lavishly decorated with fruit and leaves. It has an insurance-replacement value of between $200 and $350.
There are, however, two decorative wall plates that may be of special note. One is the exquisitely beautiful Bohemian portrait plate (or charger) titled "Roman Girl," and the other is the large Limoges piece titled "The Arctic Regions." This latter piece is far from lovely since it features the image of goats on ice or tundra, but it is a very rare image indeed.
The maker of the 13-inch-diameter portrait charger is Pfeiffer and Lowenstein, which was in business in Schlackenwerth, Bohemia -- now Ostrov, Czech Republic -- since 1871. The name of the firm changed to Porcelain Factory Schlackenwerth Josef Pfeiffer in 1941, but the company went out of business in 1945.
This company is not a household name among collectors, and this piece would have been much more valuable if it had been made by a more renowned manufacturer such as Royal Vienna. The portrait on this piece is surrounded by a lush Art Nouveau design in shades of pink and gold, but there is some question as to whether the central image is hand-painted or transfer-printed.
We cannot tell from the photograph, but we feel strongly that it is most probably transfer-printed. This piece is circa 1900, and, if transfer-printed, has an insurance-replacement value of $300 to $450. We are using such a large range because pieces of porcelain such as this one have declined significantly in both popularity and value over the past few years, and we feel this trend will continue in the near future.
The 12-inch-diameter "The Arctic Regions" is a little more difficult. There is no question it was made in Limoges, France, during the first quarter of the 20th century, but by exactly whom is open to some conjecture.
The name supplied by D.C. is not found among Limoges manufacturers, and we suspect that it was just misread. The name of the company starts with a "B" and may be one of several companies, such as Bernardaud and Co., or perhaps H. Balleroy. It is a pity that we cannot see the mark because this matter would be easily cleared up (hopefully) with just a quick glance.
In any event, we feel this piece was probably hand-painted in the factory and the arctic theme featuring animals is incredibly rare. There was a time when this charger would have been valued in the $1,400-to-$1,600 range. But we feel that at the current moment, that value has declined to around half that.
This is a shame, but the antiques market -- like the stock market --has its ups and downs, and this kind of porcelain is suffering a very down period right now.

(Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of "Price It Yourself" (HarperResource, $19.95). Contact them at Treasures in Your Attic, 5201 Kingston Pike, Suite 6 - 323, Knoxville, TN. 37919. E-mail them at treasures(at)knology.net.)

TREASURES IN YOUR ATTIC