 Growing up, three generations worked side by side in the shoe store and leather repair shop owned by Mel Valkner’s parents. Naturally then he marveled when the appraiser, Nancy Druckman of Sotheby’s, on the popular television program Antiques Roadshow® being held in Durham, NC, valued an antique, weathered saddle leather basket at $3,000. The basket was originally given as a gift to a young bride for holding the keys of the house in the early 1800s. Of course, the family association was invaluable.
Mel telephoned the appraiser Ms. Druckman for more information who told him Sotheby’s had auctioned off a thick-leather basket in “mint” condition for $60,000! Baskets like these were not made anymore.
Mel asked his brother Donald, a superb craftsman, to help him make them again, something lasting and unchanging in this “throw away” society. Truly sparing no expense, they sought to produce the finest basket that could be made. Using leather nearly ¼” thick, the result was a richly polished, authentic saddle leather basket. A leather expert from Texas actually estimated, in his opinion with proper care and handling, that our baskets have a minimum life of 300 years! We’re very proud of that.
(Oh by the way, BAEKS sent a Manor® size leather basket to the appraiser as a gift, thanking her for the information. Ms. Druckman returned a beautiful handwritten note, calling BAEKS basket an “Antique of the Future – Built to Last™.”)
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